Much Of MT Choking On Smoke (In May) But At Least Now They're Free From Pesky Climate Laws!!

[hatrack]

Montana Republican lawmakers have passed legislation that bars state agencies from considering climate change when permitting large projects that require environmental reviews, including coal mines and power plants. Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the bill last week, marking what could be considered the nation’s most aggressive anti-climate law. Under House Bill 971, Amanda Eggert reports for the Montana Free Press, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and other state regulators can’t consider greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts when conducting environmental reviews for large projects. The move builds off a decade-old state law that already banned the state from considering “actual or potential impacts that are regional, national, or global in nature” in such reviews.

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Montana’s climate has changed notably over the past century, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, leading to snowpacks melting earlier in the year, more frequent heat waves and increased risk of wildfires. In fact, Montana’s own 2015 climate assessment found that the state’s annual average temperatures have increased between 2 and 3 degrees Fahrenheit from 1950 to 2015, with winter and spring temperatures rising upwards of 3.9 degrees. That report also found that between 1951 and 2010, the state’s average winter precipitation decreased by roughly an inch and the number of days exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit in any given year grew by an average of 11.

But despite those impacts, Montana Republicans have fought tirelessly to thwart policies that could threaten the bottom line of coal, oil and gas companies in the state. The Treasure State—a nickname referring to the wealth of minerals found in Montana’s mountains, including coal—has long benefited from a bustling fossil fuel industry. The Bakken formation, one of the largest onshore oil and gas fields in the United States, lies partially in eastern Montana. The state also contains the largest recoverable coal reserves in the U.S., with six coal mines still active and nearly half the state’s electricity coming from coal-burning power plants.

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Still, the bill that Gov. Greg Gianforte signed into law last week could set a new precedent for anti-climate policy. Not since North Carolina passed its 2012 law, which prohibited government agencies from using anything but historical data on sea level rise when drafting development policy, has a state legislature so aggressively sought to squelch modern climate science. By the time North Carolina’s law passed, opponents had successfully weakened it so that agencies were only banned from considering scientific climate projections for four years. Montana’s law contains no such amendment and extends to all climate-related impacts, not just sea level rise.

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16052023/todays-climate-montana-anti-climate-law/

[2naSalit]

1. I have watched the...

Climate change in Montana over the past forty+ years. I have to spend much of my time indoors during this smoke event. Already having headaches from it.

Started about 30 hours ago and isn't letting up despite rain moving through. You can't tell other than it just gets darker and then there's rain falling. And it's probably laden with particulate matter bring acid and other unfortunate substances to the flora and fauna on the ground.

Serious tequila sunrise this morning, guess the rain clouds have moved on.