Schweitzer, Brown spar over energy in debate

By MIKE DENNISON of the Standard State Bureau - 10/08/2008

Montana gubernatorial candidates Republican Roy Brown, left, and incumbent Democrat Brian Schweitzer shake hands as they take the stage for a debate at Montana State University-Billings Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Billings Gazette, Casey Riffe)

Energy issues dominated the fourth debate between Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Republican challenger Roy Brown on Tuesday night, as Brown insisted Montana can do more to develop energy - and that he would be the governor to do it.

"Don't you think that it's a perfect time to have a governor who knows something about energy development so we can do something about it instead of just talking about it?" said Brown, a petroleum engineer and former partner in an oil production firm.

Schweitzer, however, insisted that his administration is largely responsible for increased production of oil, natural gas, coal and electricity in Montana during his first term in office - an assertion Brown disputed several times during the hourlong debate.

The Democratic governor noted his role in bringing together the Crow Indian Tribe and an Australian developer who wants to build a coal-gasification and fuel production plant on the Crow Reservation in southeastern Montana. He also said he thinks Montana regulations on energy development are just about right.

The two candidates also had starkly different views on the state budget and a children's health insurance initiative on the state ballot this year.

Brown, a state senator from Billings, is trying to unseat Schweitzer, a farmer and rancher who grew up in Geyser.

The two men took the stage Tuesday night at the Petro Theatre on the Montana State University Billings campus for their fourth public debate of the campaign.

Libertarian Stan Jones, also in the race this year, was in the audience but wasn't part of the debate, which was co-sponsored by The Billings Gazette and MSUB.

As they have in previous debates, Brown and Schweitzer clashed over whether the governor can take credit for recent energy development in the state, as well as over the basic facts about that development.

For example, Schweitzer correctly noted that oil, coal, electricity and natural gas development have increased since he took office in 2005, including the opening of a major wind power project just north of Harlowton and other wind farms.

Brown countered that oil production in Montana has declined this year - which is true - and said most of the projects for which Schweitzer takes credit originated before he was governor and happened to come online in the past four years.

"You like to take credit for most of these things," Brown said, "but what we see in the future, that has been approved under your administration, it lacks a lot."

Brown also chastised Schweitzer for an alleged lack of progress on developing state-owned coal in the Otter Creek Valley near Ashland, suggesting that the administration wasn't pushing a public lease bid quickly enough.

Schweitzer said Otter Creek coal will be developed when there is a railroad to the site and private companies want to bid on the coal, and that the administration is preparing an appraisal of the coal before it can be put up for bid.

"You can't lease it if you don't have anyone to lease it to," the governor said, who added, "I'm not a socialist, I'm a capitalist" and that the coal will be leased and developed if private companies want to put up a good bid and invest in a project.

"We won't have a fair bid if we don't put (it) up for lease," Brown replied.

Schweitzer criticized Brown for a vote related to a lawsuit by Marathon Oil and other energy companies, which have sued Montana and challenged its regulation of water quality downstream from coalbed methane development in Wyoming.

He asked Brown why he had voted against funding Montana's defense of the lawsuit.

Brown said he didn't think the issue needed to go to court and that he questioned whether the water in Montana truly was being polluted by coalbed methane production.

"They sued us," Schweitzer replied. "We just wanted to get a lawyer to defend ourselves."

Regarding an expected state budget surplus next year, Schweitzer said voters can expect his administration to use the money as it has so far: Putting more funding into education and cutting some taxes.

Schweitzer noted that 43 other states have a budget deficit, including California.

Brown said he doesn't think Montana will have a budget surplus next year, because the economy is slowing, many more Montanans are out of work, and state investment funds have been losing money.

A new report on the state budget is due out this week and is expected to project a surplus into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The candidates also were asked their position on Initiative 155, the ballot measure that would expand the Children's Health Insurance Plan and Medicaid to provide health insurance to as many as 30,000 additional Montana kids in low- and middle-income families.

Schweitzer said he supports it and has set aside money in his budget to fund the expansion if voters approve it. He called it a good investment for children and for health care professionals in the state.

Brown said he supported the first CHIP program when it began in the late 1990s but not the I-155 expansion, because it would create an incentive for people to get rid of their private health insurance and move to the publicly funded program.