Bill to control riverside development draws fire

HELENA – Riverside landowners asked state lawmakers last week to scuttle a bill that would require builders to keep their distance from the banks of Montana's rivers and streams.

House Bill 455, sponsored by Rep. Michele Reinhart, D-Missoula, specifies 10 major rivers in Montana as “Big Sky” rivers. Also known as the “Big Sky Rivers Act,” the bill would establish streamside setbacks at either 150 feet or 250 feet from the high-water mark, depending on the slope of the land. The bill also requires up to 150 feet of vegetation.

Existing buildings and development would be grandfathered in.

Supporters said the bill would keep Montana’s rivers and streams clean by preventing unnatural erosion. They also said houses and developments located near a river detract from its natural beauty.

The Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Department of Environmental Quality and several environmental groups supported the bill.

But opponents said the bill was an attempt to take private property without compensation.

“This is a bad bill. It’s wrong and it’s evil,” said landowner Tom Greil. “What they’re going to do through zoning is steal our land for open space.”

Others said several counties already have setback regulations and no blanket set of rules will work on all rivers.

Senators line up behind anti-abortion measure

A bill to deny Montana's right to privacy as a legal defense for abortions passed the Senate 28-22 last week and is headed to the House. It needs an improbable 72 votes to make a future statewide ballot.

Senate Bill 46, sponsored by Sen. Dan McGee, R-Laurel, would ask voters to amend Montana's constitutional provision for the right to privacy, which currently says the right "shall not be infringed without a showing of compelling state interest.” McGee's bill would add one sentence, saying, "The protection of unborn human life is a compelling state interest."

Senators debating the bill spoke for over an hour last week. Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder and one of several Democrats supporting the bill, said humans should respect all life, with no exceptions.

One of the few Republicans to oppose the bill, Sen. John Brueggeman, R-Polson, said he opposes abortion, but without including contraceptives in sex education, this bill will only create larger problems in the future.

As a constitutional amendment, the bill needs the votes of at least 100 of the 150 legislators. If that happens, the initiative would be on the ballot in 2010.

GOP bills would set rules for carbon sequestration

Two Republican lawmakers last week outlined bills that would regulate carbon sequestration, the process of capturing carbon dioxide produced by large fossil-fuel power plants and storing it underground.

Sen. Keith Bales, R-Otter, unveiled the details of Senate Bill 489, which would put the sequestration program under the Board of Oil and Gas.

By assigning the program to the board, the state could request primary authority for sequestration from the federal government, Bales said. The bill would require underground monitoring of carbon dioxide reservoirs to ensure against leaks and would establish a fee for each ton of the gas stored. The money would be put in a special fund to cover unexpected costs.

A similar bill was tabled in committee earlier this session by Republicans in a party-line vote, but Bales said he is confident his bill will pass.

The earlier bill would have put the program under the authority of the Department of Environmental Quality and the Board of Environmental Review.

Meanwhile, Rep. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip, outlined House Bill 338, which would allow pipelines to carry carbon dioxide under the same rules and regulations that apply to oil and gas pipelines. HB 338 passed in the House 90-9.

Ankney said it was time for Montana to get moving on carbon sequestration, to create jobs and so power plants can sell their carbon dioxide.

“I think we’re way beyond the argument, ‘Is there global warming, is there not global warming,’” Ankney said. “Let’s get on with it.”

Baucus urges lawmakers to boost children's health care

U.S. Sen. Max Baucus urged state lawmakers Wednesday to fund Montana’s part of the voter-approved expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Earlier in the day, Republican members of a budget subcommittee blocked efforts to appropriate the state’s share of extending CHIP coverage to some 30,000 uninsured Montana children.

This fall Montana voters approved I-155, the Healthy Montana Kids Act, but Republicans said last week the state doesn’t have the $35 million it would cost to fund it, even though the federal government would put up another $70 million in matching funds.

Baucus remarked on the “little dust up” over CHIP funding during an address to a joint session of the state Legislature.

“Children’s health insurance is not a partisan issue,” Baucus told legislators.

Bill would exempt projects from air-quality review

A legislator from Roundup wants to exempt air-quality permits from state review, making it easier for energy plants and other large projects to get up and running.

Senate Bill 440, sponsored by Sen. Kelly Gebhardt, R-Roundup, states that the federal Clean Air Act provides an adequate environmental analysis of potential building projects, making reviews under the Montana Environmental Policy Act unnecessary.

Gebhardt said his bill would attract businesses to Montana and remove a redundancy in the permitting system. The public will still have a say in potential projects, he added.

Supporters said the bill would help create jobs in Montana.

Candace Payne, a lobbyist for Southern Montana Electric Generation & Transmission Cooperative Inc., said the bill would help her organization pursue its power projects.

The co-op recently blamed the state regulatory process and lawsuits for its decision to shelve plans for a coal-fired power plant near Great Falls. The co-op now hopes to build a smaller, cleaner natural-gas plant instead.

But many of the bill’s opponents said MEPA’s review of SME's proposed plant helped them understand its implications. Others said the federal Clean Air Act does not account for impacts such as home devaluation, dust, noise, heavy equipment on rural roads, seismic activity or emergency services.

Death-penalty ban passes Senate, heads to the House

A bill to abolish Montana's death penalty survived the state Senate Tuesday, passing by a vote of 27-23.

Senate Bill 236, sponsored by Sen. David Wanzenried, D-Missoula, would replace capital punishment with life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Lawmakers debated the bill for an hour Monday, with supporters' arguments ranging from costs to morality. Some said that, because of required appeals, administering the death penalty is more expensive than life without parole. Others worried about wrongful convictions, while still others equated the death penalty with murder.

Sen. Gary Perry, R-Manhattan, said he began supporting death penalty abolition last session. He said life in prison without parole is essentially a death sentence in which the offender dies "according to God’s timetable."

However, senators who opposed the bill said the death penalty is needed as a deterrent and a tool to help prosecutors obtain guilty pleas. Other said they voted against the bill because some criminals deserve to die for terrible crimes.

Committee blocks bill to change redistricting

A House committee has blocked a Victor Republican’s plan to change the way legislative districts are drawn.

Redistricting follows every national census. The party out of power in the Legislature routinely complains that “gerrymandering” gives the majority party an edge.

House Bill 500, sponsored by Rep. Gary MacLaren, would have reduced the state districting and apportionment committee from five to four members. Currently, the constitution calls for four members chosen by the Legislature who vote on a fifth member to become the chairman. If they can’t agree, the decision goes to the Supreme Court.

MacLaren said the process gives the party in power an unfair three-to-two majority to create districts they hope will benefit their party in the next statewide election. He said an even number of commissioners could make fair decisions.

But Rep. Sue Dickenson, D-Great Falls and vice chairman of the House State Administration Committee, said she was unsure a four-person commission could work together on such a divisive issue.