Montana Public Asked to Comment on Energy Efficiency, Conservation

The Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committee of the Montana Legislature is asking the public to weigh in on the last of nine energy issues it’s examining as part of a review of state energy policy.

The 2009 Legislature, with passage of Senate Bill 290, directed the committee to examine and possibly revise the current state energy policy. During the next several weeks, the committee is accepting public comment focused on three specific issues:

* increasing energy efficiency standards for new construction;

* promoting energy efficiency incentives; and

* promoting conservation.

Committee members want to hear about specific changes in state law that the public believes are needed in these areas, as well as any other recommendations regarding them.

Submit comments by Dec. 21 to [email protected] or Legislative Services Division, Attn. Sonja Nowakowski, P.O. Box 201704, Helena, MT 59620-1704. Please put "Energy Policy" in the subject line of e-mail submissions.

The committee will discuss submissions at a meeting Jan. 14 in Helena. It will use the comments it receives in the next month, along with previous public comments on six other energy issues, to decide whether to propose changes to state energy laws.

More information is available on the legislative Web site at http://www.leg.mt.gov/etic or by calling Sonja Nowakowski, committee research analyst, at 406-444-3078.

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State agency seeks comments on Montana air pollution

State officials are gauging public opinion on Montana’s air quality through an online pollution survey.

The Department of Environmental Quality plans to use the information as it develops an air quality monitoring plan next year.

The short, anonymous survey asks respondents where they live and what kind of kind of air pollutants are a concern. Potential answers range from automobile exhaust and oil field development to wildfire smoke and road dust.

It will be available through Jan. 8, 2010.

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is at http://www.deq.mt.gov

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_6de9a2ea-d6aa-11de-a4f1-001cc4c002e0.html