08-05-2025
Montana faces opportunities, challenges, for energy transition
A beaver dam slows the water of the Snake River, creating a beaver pond. (Photo by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, via Flickr)
The future of energy will be bolstered by lessons from beavers, enthusiasm from lawmakers, and consultation with tribal nations.
Those were some of the messages panelists shared Wednesday at the Clean and Affordable Energy Conference hosted by the NW Energy Coalition with an estimated 100 in attendance throughout the day.
Patrick Yawakie, a lobbyist with the Blackfeet Tribe and conference panelist, said non-Native American companies and state agencies have a long history of failing to consult with tribes on energy.
He said those entities have left tribes in the dark on development within their reservations.
'There needs to be much more transparent and regular conversations that are happening with the tribes and these entities,' said Yawakie, also co-CEO of Red Medicine, a civic engagement and lobbying organization.
The conference focused on energy resources for tribal communities, reliability and transmission, and energy efficiency and housing.
The NW Energy Coalition is an alliance of more than 100 organizations, utilities and businesses in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and British Columbia that promote clean, affordable energy.
Panelist Gerald Wagner, with the Blackfeet Nation, shared the way the tribe is applying the way beavers work to help with water storage and, therefore, energy conservation.
Beavers build dams, which hold onto water, and in Montana, spring runoff is taking place earlier, and the land is becoming arid more quickly, Wagner said.
As a pilot project that mimicked the ways of beavers, the Blackfeet dammed a couple of smaller streams, he said.
He said workers, 10 or 12 Native American youth, collected earthen material, such as rocks and willows, and then built a series of dams roughly 50 yards apart.
The dams don't stop the water, but they slow it and allow storage. He said cameras took pictures of the dammed areas every 12 hours, and the effects were visible.
'The riparian zones came back, vegetation came back,' said Wagner, director of the Blackfeet Environmental Program for the tribe.
The idea is part of the Blackfeet Climate Change Adaptation Plan from 2018, and the dams were installed as part of a pilot project around 2021, he said. They are good for a season or so, and then require patching.
'If you look at the beaver, they're always maintaining their structures,' Wagner said.
The larger idea, he said, is to observe what is occurring in nature, and then apply the lessons toward green energy.
He said the dams may result in less energy use because people don't have to look for water or buy it.
'If you've got it stored, your wildlife, your cattle, your horses have more access to the water,' Wagner said.
Montana needs more energy transmission capacity too, and panelists discussed the work underway and how to expedite energy development so it doesn't take 15 or 20 years.
Appropriate planning from the beginning is key, panelists said.
Maranda Compton, an attorney and founder of Lepwe, said whether talking with communities or tribal nations, it's important to hear criticism and have dialogue about projects.
Lepwe is a consulting firm providing advice and education to tribal nations and entities that seek to engage with tribes.
Developers need to understand tribal nations are government entities with their own political processes and priorities, Compton said.
'Really understanding who in the government should be involved, what the tribe's strategies and goals are, and how your project can work with those strategies and goals I think is really, really important,' Compton said.
Compton said a direct relationship between planning and development groups and tribal nations 'has largely been missing,' and more robust conversation is needed, well before permitting is underway.
The energy summit took place on the heels of the 69th Montana Legislature, and Makenna Sellers, with the Montana Renewable Energy Association, said lawmakers see the need to increase transmission capacity, and they understand the urgency.
'State lawmakers are more open and proactive about how we can solve transmission than ever before,' Sellers said. 'I've never seen more unanimous interest and policy prioritization happening at the state legislature on transmission.'
Sellers said some proposals didn't make it to the finish line this year, but Sen. Daniel Zolnikov, R-Billings, sponsored a study resolution that will look at how state government can help solve regulatory barriers.
'Lawmakers are very open minded to some creativity here … this was the first session that I've seen this with seriousness,' Sellers said.
Senate Joint Resolution 21, to study the power grid, says competitive policies in some jurisdictions hinder transmission development, and as a result, hurt ratepayers and markets. It calls for an examination of a cooperative interstate compact.
When it comes to energy conservation, Yawakie said homeownership also plays a role, especially on the Flathead Indian Reservation, where he lives.
If people don't own their own homes, he said, they can't access programs such as those that help people install solar panels, and many tribal members live in poverty and in low income housing.
'Probably the biggest issue that lies on our reservation is the lack of homeownership to be able to access a lot of these (energy conservation) programs,' Yawakie said.
Brant Johnson, with Grid United, talked about the North Plains Connector project, a high-voltage transmission line being developed to connect the eastern and western electric grids in Montana and North Dakota.
Johnson described it as a 'giant extension cord' that can transport power in either direction and be moved whichever way the market needs.
It's intended to improve the reliability of the electrical grid and provide electricity when people need more power, such as during extreme weather.
'The value is in trying to make a grid that's bigger than the weather,' Johnson said. 'The wind doesn't blow in Montana at the same time that it's blowing in North Dakota.'
He said energy demand peaks in the east at different times than in the northwest, so the needs can counterbalance each other. He said more work remains, but the project is 'a nice start.'
'It did catalyze something,' Johnson said.
