Elinor Smith Wind energy development in southeast Montana is facing pushback. Some say the energy projects will help the economic development of the region, while others say they cause a public nuisance. All of this comes as the Trump administration pushes for further investment into gas and oil energy. Montana Free Press' Tom Lutey dug into the issue. Tom, thank you so much for being here today.
Tom Lutey Thanks for having me.
Elinor Smith Of course. So to start off, can you explain what wind development projects we're talking about here?
Tom Lutey Well, the project we're talking about is known as Glendive Wind. It's a 770 megawatt project that touches on three counties, McCone, Prairie, and Dawson counties. It's been in the works for a while. I think it was initially proposed back in 2018.
Elinor Smith So there's been quite a bit of disagreement surrounding this development. What are the arguments in support of wind energy in the area?
Tom Lutey You know, I think just like it would be for oil and gas. I mean, if you happen to have land and you see an opportunity for a lease to, maybe get some extra revenue off of that property, you're always happy to see that. And I think that's the situation here for most of the people who signed these contracts back in 2018. And for the most part, really weren't on the community's radar until 2024. You know, at that point in time it got a little closer to development, and once the neighbors – no pun intended – caught wind of this, all hell broke loose
Elinor Smith So, what are the neighbors saying? What's the issue between the development and the community?
Tom Lutey A lot of the community concerns that are expressed in meetings are visual. People do not like the look of windmills. That's a lot of it. There are also some rather interesting health claims about wind turbine syndrome and sheets of ice flying off the tips of wind turbine blades and fiberglass flying from wind turbine blades. And the detractors, for the most part, dominate the public square. I think the leaseholders have sort of retreated and just wanna wait and sort of see if the project goes through.
Elinor Smith And all of this conflict is happening as the Trump administration is pushing for more oil and gas energy development. How does this wind energy development fit into that larger picture?
Tom Lutey Well, Trump certainly pivoted away from renewables. You know, the focus in Montana really has been more on coal. We saw the president use a state of emergency to grant an expansion of Signal Peak Mine and to give that underground coal mine access to coal so it can continue to export coal to Japan. We've seen waivers of emissions requirements for Colstrip. And of course, we've seen an expanded interest in new coal leasing, new coal mine leasing in Montana. We don't know what will become of that yet, but that's sort of the focus.
Elinor Smith So, states like Washington and Oregon, they still have a clean energy requirement that's coming up and they'll still need wind energy or clean renewable energy. What does the future of this wind power development look like in Montana?
Tom Lutey Yes, regardless of what the federal government does. State policies in Oregon and Washington have mandated that their utilities phase out fossil fuel or energy from fossil fuels. And they're still expected to do that. And so it doesn't really matter if the federal government phases out production tax credits for wind, which they're doing. There is going to be demand in Oregon and Washington. And really what we've seen for wind development in Montana since at least 2020 is driven by policy in Oregon and Washington, clean energy policy in Oregon and in Washington. I mean. We've added more than a gigawatt of nameplate capacity in wind generation specifically for utilities in Oregon in Washington.
Elinor Smith Well, Tom, thank you so much for coming in today to share your reporting and to get us up to date on what's going on with wind development in southeastern Montana.
Tom Lutey Sure, thank you.
Elinor Smith Of course.
