Montana
Why fight a 'clean and healthful' environment when it's good for all Montanans? • Daily Montanan
Montanans are witnessing an inexplicably vicious attack on the ruling by the state’s Supreme Court that the plain language of the constitution guarantees “a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.”
What we haven’t heard is why a dirty and unhealthful environment is good for anybody — or the future of our state.
Truly, why would anyone think they or their kids or grandkids would be better off with a degraded and toxic environment? Yet, the court’s decision has sparked a misguided rebellion against the environmental laws that protect all Montanans — and an attack on the judiciary as if it’s some kind of enemy of the people.
But it seems pretty clear that enemies of the people don’t rule to protect the people. And ensuring that the laws passed by the Legislature comply with the Montana Constitution is the primary job of the Montana Supreme Court. It’s the foundational checks-and-balances upon which our system of government relies to ensure the executive and legislative branches stay within constitutional mandates to preserve the rights of the people.
Making war on the environment is a dead-end street — which we’re increasingly finding out as the tragedies driven by atmospheric pollution stack up along with the hundreds of billions of dollars to deal with the aftermath. So, where’s the wisdom in deciding to protect polluters at the cost to the rest of the populace?
How about this little truth: Pollution does not discriminate between Republicans and Democrats, nor Independents, Libertarians, or any other organizational clusters regardless of what they call themselves. Nor does polluted air or water recognize any boundaries — we all need clean air and water, which is not only a shared resource, but a shared responsibility to provide those vital necessities to nourish, not poison, our people.
The fact is, we have many good environmental and conservation laws on the books that serve all our people well. There’s simply no good reason why one political party or another should be against those laws, none at all.
Perhaps one of the greatest mistakes of the “environmental movement” was attaching itself at the hip with the Democratic Party. Yet, in Montana’s history, it has often been Democrat governors who have been responsible for some of the worst environmental decisions.
In the mid-1980s, Democrat Gov. Ted Schwinden cut the coal severance tax in half to supposedly make Montana competitive with Wyoming. He succeeded in losing hundreds of millions of dollars for the Coal Tax Trust Fund, but it didn’t save the coal industry because distance to market was the deciding factor.
Democrat Gov. Brian Schweitzer morphed into the “Coal Cowboy” within one year of taking office. His mission? Save the coal industry by peddling economically ridiculous proposals for coal-to-liquids when fracking was producing record amounts of cheap oil and gas.
Democrat Gov. Steve Bullock allowed radioactive waste from the Bakken fracking operations to be disposed of in Montana’s landfills — because it’s illegal to do so in North Dakota.
Of course Republicans have their own rogue’s list of bad decisions and policies — but there’s not room in one column to cover all those.
There’s absolutely no reason whatsoever why a clean environment should be partisan. The great attractions of Montana are our clean rivers, our blue skies, and an abundance of fish and wildlife that are the envy of the nation and world. The Constitution plainly states: “The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana” — and that’s a legacy worth upholding.
HELENA, Mont — Gov. Greg Gianforte is backing a new effort to keep data centers from driving up Montanans’ power bills.
This week, Gianforte announced Montana is signing on to the Ratepayer Protection Pledge — an initiative endorsed by President Trump.
Several major technology companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and XAI first signed the pledge back in March.
The pledge comes as data center development continues to grow — raising questions about how much new energy will be needed and who will pay for it.
NBC Montana spoke with Julia Haggerty, professor of geography and department head of earth sciences at Montana State University, about whether Montana’s power grid is ready for that growth.
“Not without resolution of significant transmission bottlenecks and massive amounts of new generation. So, while our grid is adequately, relatively adequately equipped to serve the needs of our current load base, it’s definitely not equipped to accommodate the new demands without a lot of expansion,” she said.
According to the pledge, data center developers will pay for new power generation, and infrastructure needed to support their operations.
“It does align with ongoing regulatory efforts to ensure that the cost of new generation associated with data centers is borne by the developers of those data centers and not customers,” Haggerty said.
The governor’s office says Gianforte’s support of the pledge is designed to encourage responsible data center investments while protecting Montana ratepayers from long-term costs.
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at July 7, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Mega Millions numbers from July 7 drawing
02-31-35-36-63, Mega Ball: 12
Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from July 7 drawing
09-21-24-29, Bonus: 15
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 7 drawing
27-43-48-49-50, Bonus: 02
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
- Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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