Rash of Climate Bills Fail to Advance in Montana’s Republican Controlled Legislature

A series of bills which sought to tackle, monitor or challenge the issue climate change failed to pass the Republican-controlled legislature in Montana before it adjourned on April 25.

• Introduced by representative Nary Dunwell, a Democrat, HB 193 would establish a carbon tax and create ways to distribute the revenue from it. The bill would require large sources of greenhouse gases to pay $10 per ton emissions and would require the state to develop and implement a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 25 percent by 2035 and 50 percent by 2050. SB 189, the Senate version of the bill also failed to pass.
• HB 415, introduced by Representative Joe Read, a Republican, aimed to deny the scientific consensus on the issue of climate change by declaring that reasonable amounts of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere have no verifiable impacts on the environment and that humans have a negligible impact on the climate. The bill sought to prohibit the state from participating in any federal regulation discussion about limiting greenhouse gas pollution.
• SB 190, introduced by Senator Mike Phillips, a Democrat, required the state to develop a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions below 2010 levels by 25 percent over the next 2 years, 50 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050.