Bob Lake's Integrity and Experience over Activism

Bob Lake is Montana’s last chance to have a practical, experienced voice

on the PSC. Bob is a man of integrity, a business man who owned and

operated Lakeland feeds in Hamilton. He knows what it is like to manage

utility expenses. I served on the Commission with Bob. We both pledged an

oath to uphold the laws that are there to protect the customers of Montana

utilities.

Recently, I read an “Opinion” article by Gail Gutsche. Although she is

entitled to her own opinion, she is not entitled to her own facts. She is

a self-proclaimed activist who’s previous work experience includes Planned

Parenthood and NARAL. She has a history of sacrificing Montana ratepayers

in the name of high-cost renewables. Ms. Gutsche is deceiving voters about

the solar projects she speaks of. These small solar projects are gaming

federal laws and will litter the landscape of Montana at 5-6 times the

market price for the next 25 years! Northwestern Energy (NWE) has already

testified that this exceeds the utility cost by $150 million. Montanans

like clean, renewable energy, but at a reasonable price! Both MDU and

Northwestern Energy have developed renewable projects this year at

reasonable prices.

Colstrip Unit 4 generation is among the cheapest power available. The

claims made by Ms. Gutsche are intentionally misleading. She shows her

true colors when she faults NWE for the outage. NWE was not even the

operator of the plant. This issue is in court and will likely be

overturned costing the ratepayers the original cost plus additional legal

cost. I would take $8.2 million for base-load generation over $150 million

for intermittent solar any day. The CU4 decision was very telling and

demonstrates how Commissioner Bob Lake’s thoughtfulness and vision make

him a much better candidate for the PSC.

 

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