Time to shut down Colstrip

I live in southeastern Montana on my family’s ranch, about 100 miles downwind of Colstrip, where a lot of the electricity used in Washington is generated. I am writing to ask the people of Washington to tell their state regulators to shut Colstrip down.

As a farmer, when I think about all the ways global warming is already impacting our place, I simply cannot imagine how my family can continue to grow food, feeding the people you care about. Rising temperatures will not only directly harm crops but bring with it increasing drought, more extreme weather, and increasing problems with insects and weeds. I believe it will become impossible to feed the world by the end of the century if we don’t shut down Colstrip.

From my experiences with wind erosion, I assure you that eastern Montana has excellent wind resources. Power from Colstrip could very easily be replaced by wind farms spread across Montana to continue giving the people in Washington all the electricity they need.

The transmission line already in place from Colstrip to Washington is perfectly located to reduce fluctuations in power supply. Where the wind in Washington blows most during the night and during the summer, it blows most here, in Montana, during the day and during winter. It’s a perfect combination. Even better, electricity from a wind farm in Montana, near Judith Gap, costs half as much as power from Colstrip!

Do the right thing by my family and yours: Shut down Colstrip.

This story was originally published December 24, 2015 at 2:36 PM with the headline "Time to shut down Colstrip."