MEIC Official
@meic-official.bsky.social
66 followers 28 following 63 posts
Protecting Montanans' right to a clean and healthful environment since 1973. Currently in the MT Legislature. www.meic.org/action-center
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meic-official.bsky.social
Panelist include:
🔸 MEIC Energy Transition Engineer Nick Fitzmaurice
🔸 The Nature Conservancy’s recently retired Senior Advisor and Renewable Energy Strategy Co-Lead Nels Johnson
🔸 NW Energy Coalition Senior Policy Associate Ben Otto
meic-official.bsky.social
⚡Join this webinar on Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 4:30pm on how the future of clean, affordable, and reliable energy is built on improved transmission and large, coordinated energy markets.

More info at meic.org/transmission...
meic-official.bsky.social
Can Montana Grow Without Losing What We Love?

MEIC’s Sustainable Communities Director, Laura Collins, explains how Montana’s patterns of growth threaten our landscapes, communities, wildlife & way of life. We can chart a better path by planning for growth that respects the environment & our future.
meic-official.bsky.social
It’s Earth Gives Day! 🌎 This day of giving highlights nonprofits driving environmental progress to protect our planet's future.

Today, the first 10 donations to MEIC of $100 or more will be matched by Earth Gives!

🌱 Visit our page to show your support for MEIC:
www.earthgives.org/organization...
meic-official.bsky.social
"Some energy experts say West Virginia is a harbinger of what could happen as President Trump champions fossil fuels and throttles renewable energy.”
meic-official.bsky.social
The numbers don’t lie. Coal. Is. Expensive.

“West Virginia is awash in coal, natural gas and oil, making it the fifth-leading producer of energy in the United States. Yet the state’s electricity costs have risen much faster than the national average."
Energy Bills Are Soaring in America’s Coal Capital
www.nytimes.com
meic-official.bsky.social
“The Yellowstone River should not be a dumping ground for toxic waste, and DEQ has been turning a blind eye for years,” MEIC's Anne Hedges said.

After years of allowing CHS Refinery in Laurel to discharge arsenic & other pollutants into our waters, Montana DEQ is proposing a measly $100,000 fine.
DEQ puts forth maximum fine for CHS refinery's toxic pollution into Yellowstone River
From June 2021 to January 2025, CHS failed 32 of 44 tests examining the toxicity of the wastewater the refinery dumps into the nearby Yellowstone River.
billingsgazette.com
meic-official.bsky.social
"They shouldn’t raise our energy prices or damage property values. Our community shouldn’t sacrifice water quality or quantity. We shouldn’t compete for power with data centers during winter storms that strain grid reliability. I want our community to gain rather than lose in this deal.”
Viewpoint: Proposed Butte data center a massive energy sink
Sarah Borduin writes, I'm not interested in opposing the data centers in entirety, but I am interested in ensuring that what is promised is the reality. They shouldn’t raise our energy prices.
missoulacurrent.com
meic-official.bsky.social
MEIC joined Earth Gives 2025 🌎 This nationwide campaign supports nonprofits advancing environmental, climate, wildlife & renewable energy solutions.

⚡ Donating through Earth Gives supports MEIC's work to accelerate Montana’s clean energy future. Visit our page:
www.earthgives.org/organization...
Reposted by MEIC Official
nrdc.org
NRDC @nrdc.org · 8d
The Trump administration is hell-bent on propping up one of America’s oldest, dirtiest, and most expensive power sources. They’re expanding coal mining on public lands by up to 31 times the current operations and delaying pollution safeguards while endangering communities and our planet.
meic-official.bsky.social
The plant will emit 25 million tons of GHG into Montana's atmosphere, yet DEQ’s environmental assessment downplays impacts of this significant increase in pollution.

This ignores the harm to the neighbors in Laurel who have to live with this polluting plant on the banks of the Yellowstone River.
meic-official.bsky.social
Because MT DEQ refuses to present an honest analysis of the climate impacts of the methane gas plant near Laurel (again), we are challenging its inadequate review (again).

“We hate doing the same thing again, but if DEQ is not going to do its job we’re left with no choice,” said Anne Hedges, MEIC.
Groups sue DEQ again saying Laurel gas plant review ignores climate harm
The case could be one of the first tests of the precedent set by Held v. State, a landmark Montana Supreme Court climate ruling that made international headlines last year.
billingsgazette.com
meic-official.bsky.social
Because MT DEQ refuses to present an honest analysis of the climate impacts of the methane gas plant near Laurel (again), we are challenging its inadequate review (again).

“We hate doing the same thing again, but if DEQ is not going to do its job we’re left with no choice,” said Anne Hedges, MEIC.
Groups sue DEQ again saying Laurel gas plant review ignores climate harm
The case could be one of the first tests of the precedent set by Held v. State, a landmark Montana Supreme Court climate ruling that made international headlines last year.
billingsgazette.com
meic-official.bsky.social
“Once again, DEQ ignored Montanans’ constitutional right to a stable climate when it failed to disclose the impact of a whopping 25 million tons of greenhouse gases from NorthWestern Energy’s large methane gas plant along the Yellowstone River,” said Anne Hedges, executive director of the MEIC.
meic-official.bsky.social
While EPA's data ranks the Colstrip power plant in Montana as the 10th highest emitter of CO2, satellite and aircraft monitoring show it actually ranks 5th when running at full capacity.
karinkirk.bsky.social
Trump thinks canceling greenhouse gas reporting means no one will know how much CO2 is being emitted.

But Trump is wrong.

Thanks to satellites and aircraft, anyone can see who is polluting, and how much.

Here are the 5 largest CO2 plumes in the US.
No surprise: All are coal plants 🏭
meic-official.bsky.social
Join us for a panel discussion during Missoula's Climate Solutions Week on Monday, 9/29 at 5:30pm⚡

MEIC, Rep. Shelly Fyant & Honor the Earth will discuss the false promises & impacts of nuclear energy & why it's not the climate solution we need right now.

More here: tockify.com/climatesmart...
meic-official.bsky.social
Nuclear generation is too expensive, too risky, and too slow to develop to meet our energy needs.

Nuclear is failing, and AI can’t rescue it. Read more from Amory Lovins in Utility Dive: www.utilitydive.com/.../nuclear-...
meic-official.bsky.social
Anne Hedges, MEIC executive director, on data centers coming to Montana ⬇️
montanademocrats.org
Billionaires want you cold and broke next winter so that they can run their AI computers. Call your commissioner and demand that Montanans won’t pay for the energy increases for data centers - (406) 444-6199 #mtpol
meic-official.bsky.social
In this Substack article from The Land Desk, Jonathan P. Thompson writes about how data centers are colonizing the West's power grids, upending the energy transition, and placing the financial burden on utility customers.
@landdesk.bsky.social

Read it here: www.landdesk.org/.../data-cen....
meic-official.bsky.social
Raise a glass to clean water! 🙌💧

In an ongoing battle to defend Montana waters against Canadian coal mining pollution, the Montana DEQ denied a petition from Lincoln County Commissioners that would have doubled the amount of allowable selenium pollution in Lake Koocanusa.
meic-official.bsky.social
MEIC will be at Sunday Streets Missoula on Sept. 7! ⁠

This event encourages us to rethink one of our largest public spaces - our streets. By temporarily closing the streets to cars, we can experience how our communities can be more livable & build support for broader transportation choices.⁠
meic-official.bsky.social
Protect Montana's Waters from Toxic Coal Pollution!

➡️ We need you to ask MT DEQ to stay strong in its defense of the selenium standard that protects aquatic life, Montana’s world-class fishery, and communities and Tribes from Canadian mine pollution.

📢 Comment by Aug. 13: meic.org/bill-tracker...
meic-official.bsky.social
The U.S. Department of the Interior approved an expansion of the Rosebud coal strip mine in Montana, the sole source of coal for the highly polluting Colstrip power plant.

This expansion will further jeopardize water, wildlife & the climate, while driving up electricity costs with expensive coal.
meic-official.bsky.social
"And while our congressmen hide behind press releases hyping this new law, keep in mind that it will result in not only lost and destroyed public lands, but higher energy bills, increased wildfires, increased drought, more flash floods, and more intense heat waves.”
dailymontanan.com/2025/07/22/m...
Montana Congressional delegation's public lands bait-and-switch • Daily Montanan
Columnist Anne Hedges, the executive director of the Montana Environmental Information Center, has said that the state's congressional delegation didn't protect public lands, they just sold out them o...
dailymontanan.com
meic-official.bsky.social
“Trump is illegally delaying clean air laws from his desk because polluters make more money when they just dump their toxic chemicals in our air,” said Patrice Simms, vice president of litigation at Earthjustice’s Healthy Communities program.
www.eenews.net/articles/tru...
Trump eases industrial pollution limits
The president gave roughly 100 chemical plants, ore processors and other facilities two more years to comply with recently strengthened regulations.
www.eenews.net