Op/Ed: Delivering Rural Broadband Across Montana (Ravalli Republic, Hamilton, MT)

Montana consistently ranks at the bottom of the country in Internet connectivity — that's inexcusable. There's no question that we can do better, and we must do better for the sake of our economy as a whole and those living in our rural communities who need broadband access to thrive in the 21st Century.

Rural Internet has become a necessity as many Montana families rely on it for telework, healthcare, and their children's education. It's time that Helena help deliver broadband to every corner of the state.

Fixing this issue is critical to Montana's future, which is why it's part of the "Roadmap to the Montana Comeback" laid out by Governor Gianforte. For years, Democrat policies have blocked any progress on this issue by way of Steve Bullock's veto pen.

But now, Republicans in Helena are unified in moving Montana forward. With the first Republican governor in 16 years, the legislature has the incredible opportunity to pass conservative legislation that will make a real impact on Montanans' lives for years to come.

Now we can pass conservative laws that will make a noticeable difference for Montanans by making the Treasure State competitive again. Cultivating a business-friendly environment in the last best place will modernize and grow our economy, allowing Montanans to reap the benefits of the private sector's efficiency, ingenuity and innovation.

That's why I'm sponsoring Senate Bill 51 — to ensure Montana's continuing prosperity by providing accessible and affordable broadband through property tax relief.

Greater broadband accessibility and affordability are vital to any competitive economy of the 21st Century. Montana's continuing prosperity relies upon its ability to embrace and adapt to accommodate modern economic and technological trends.

SB 51 welcomes telecom companies to deploy the last mile of Internet connections in the rural areas and communities that make Montana unique. Not only will the bill initially incentivize companies to build more broadband infrastructure across Montana, but SB 51 also provides long-term solutions by requiring companies to use their savings from the program in building out cables even further.

The high-tech sector is the fastest growing industry in Montana, and we must support this industry by passing Senate Bill 51. Providing rural broadband allows tech businesses to bring more good-paying jobs to our rural communities, revitalize local economies across the Treasure State, and enable all Montanans to enjoy reliable Internet access no matter where they live.

Senate Bill 51 will deliver rural Montana access to the same opportunities as the rest of the state, allow our entire state economy to evolve in the 21st Century, and boost all industries, from agriculture to high-tech, from Sula to Sidney.

Oregon: Willamette Falls Paper Co. Is Getting the Electricity Service It Wanted — And That It Needs to Survive, The Company Has Said — After Settling a Dispute with Portland General Electric (Portland Business Journal, OR)

The company and its forerunner, West Linn Paper Co., had accused PGE of wrongly denying it the “long-term direct access” status that West Linn Paper had before ceasing operations in October 2017. The rights were valuable because West Linn Paper had paid off fees that are required when companies bypass their local utility to buy energy from an electricity service supplier or at market prices under the direct access program.

Willamette Falls Paper has said regaining its previous status could save it as much as $4 million a year in electricity costs over other PGE options.

PGE had maintained that the mill’s long-term direct access rights ended when West Linn Paper dropped its service with an electricity service supplier after it shut down, “and then accrued several months of missed power and light payments to PGE, (and) PGE closed West Linn Paper’s accounts without protest.”

The companies were in a contested case before the Oregon Public Utility Commission, both offering extensive written testimony to support their positions. But in late December, they told the PUC they had settled the matter.

In an emailed statement this week, PGE said the settlement acknowledges that West Linn Paper had indeed passed its long-term direct rights and obligations onto Willamette Falls Paper.

“In addition to receiving the assignment, WFPC also assumed WLP’s outstanding obligations for unpaid retail electric service provided by PGE,” PGE said. “Both parties look forward to a cooperative relationship in the years ahead.”

Willamette Falls Paper Co., which restarted the mill in July 2019, declined to comment on the settlement or its current operations. According to federal records, in April the company was approved for a Paycheck Protection Program loan worth $2.3 million. The company reported 128 workers in that application, the Small Business Administration records say.

Oregon lawmakers called for a direct access program in a 1999 bill, intending to bring competition into the electricity market. It has spawned many fights, most frequently over PUC-established “transition charges,” fees that direct access users pay for several years to compensate the utility — and by extension its ratepayers — for system investments that were made in expectation of serving the customer’s load.

Some companies say transition charges are too steep to make the program viable, but others, including Nike, nonetheless find direct access a pathway to energy that is greener or cheaper — or both — than what the utility offers.

 

Outgoing Trump Administration Signs Off on Oregon Wave Energy Test Center Lease after Long Delay (Portland Business Journal, OR)

How much the delay costs remains to be seen. But on its last full day in office, the Trump administration gave Oregon State University a long-awaited lease in federal waters. It’s expected to pave the way for on-time construction of a $73.5 million wave energy test center, though not without adjustments.

PacWave South is envisioned as the ultimate proving ground for testing wave energy converters, offering developers four permitted testing berths each capable of handling up to five devices, in what scientists call “one of the most consistently energetic wave environments in the world.”

The vast bulk of the funding is lined up, and the project has cleared its major regulatory hurdles. But before beginning offshore work, it needed a lease from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, a Department of the Interior agency, in order to get a construction and operation license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The lease went through on Tuesday — more than two months after OSU President F. King Alexander wrote a letter to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt pleading with him to finalize a matter BOEM itself had apparently approved in early August.

“I urge your attention to the DOI’s important but time-sensitive review of the PacWave South lease agreement,” Alexander wrote. “If the marine construction start date of April 2021 is missed, construction will be delayed by a year which will add significant costs to the project.”

April through September, when the seas are calmer, is the time of the year to do the key work on the project — horizontal directional drilling to create the conduit for the subsea cables that will connect the test center, 6 nautical miles off Newport, to the shore.

While Alexander told Barnhardt that missing that window would set the project back a year, Dan Hellin, PacWave South’s deputy director, said project leaders and their contractor have since figured out a way to stay on course to complete the project in 2022 and have it open for testing in 2023: They’ll brave potentially rough fall and winter conditions.

“It’s a little more complicated and a little more expensive, but the work can be done through the fall and into the winter,” Hellin said.

How much more expensive? Hellin declined to say, adding that it will depend on how severe the weather is.

Hellin was diplomatic in discussing the Department of Interior’s slow action on the lease.

“We’ve been involved in permitting for seven and half years and there have been a number of delays,” he said. “It’s really just the nature of the beast.”

He noted, though, that if the delay were due to questions Interior had, the department never asked them of PacWave South. That left the university president pleading and project leaders waiting and hoping.

They had begun to think the matter would fall to the new administration. Then word came this week.

“We got a call late (Tuesday) letting us know that the lease documents had been FedExed,” Hellin said. “It was a nice surprise.”