Gianforte Responds to Interior Secretary Ignoring Colstrip, Tribal Nations that Rely on Coal for Jobs & Revenue

Last week, Bozeman businessman and tech entrepreneur Greg Gianforte called on the Governor of Montana to demand a public meeting with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell when she visits Big Sky Country. Gianforte responded to Jewell's visit Tuesday, and called out the Interior Secretary for ignoring Colstrip, and the tribal nations that rely on coal jobs and revenue. He also called out the Interior Secretary for holding coal-related hearings in places like Seattle, while ignoring coal country states like Montana.

GIANFORTE: "It's unfortunate that the Governor couldn't convince Secretary Jewell to hold a public meeting here in Montana. She needs to hear from the Colstrip families whose livelihoods are threatened. She also needs to hear from our tribal communities that rely on coal jobs and revenue. The State of Montana alone takes in $50 million just from federal royalties alone, which are now threatened due to Jewell's actions."

Gianforte held a town hall meeting in Colstrip last November. If he were governor, Gianforte says he would've pressed the Secretary to call off plans to increase royalty tax rates on federal coal leases and to impose a moratorium on new federal coal leases. The state of Montana receives half of the royalty revenue generated by coal production on federal land in our state, amounting to approximately $50 million per biennium. Gianforte also released a list of questions he feels Secretary Jewell needs to answer (included below).

Jewell's visit was intended to promote the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). Gianforte is an avid outdoorsman and life member of the NRA. Last week, he applauded the strong bi-partisan support for the LWCF.

GIANFORTE: "We cherish and enjoy our public lands here in Montana. But working Montana men and women won't be able to enjoy our outdoors if they're put out of work or forced to leave the state for job opportunities."

Gianforte is the founder of RightNow Technologies. He started the company out of his house in Bozeman, and created over 500 jobs in Montana. The average Montana salary at RightNow was nearly $90,000 a year. Oracle purchased RightNow in 2012, and continues to expand the company's footprint in Montana.

Questions that should have been asked of Secretary Jewell during her trip to Montana:

Gianforte says the governor needs to discuss several important issues with Secretary Jewell; including, royalty hikes on Montana producers, the coal leasing moratorium, and the Clean Power Plan which threatens 7,100 Montana jobs.

The EIS process for the last several leasing applications in the Powder River Basins took about 5 years each. The leasing moratorium has been justified as being a temporary measure in order for DOI to complete a programmatic EIS, and you've slated 3 years to complete that PEIS. Is 3 years really a realistic timeline for a PEIS? Couldn't this PEIS get drug out for years on end?

Half of the federal coal royalties are returned to Montana for our general fund. If the intent of the DOI leasing moratorium is to stop coal production on federal land for an extended time, or even permanently, how do you propose that Montana backfill the revenue we'd be losing?

What is the objective of increasing the federal coal royalty rate? It plainly appears the objective is to reduce the amount of federal coal mined in Montana.

Hiking the royalty rate on federal coal will mean that we have less federal coal mined in Montana. Montanans own half a share of that federal coal, so DOI would effectively be stopping Montanans from mining the coal that they own. That has real impacts on our state budget, not to mention jobs. How can you justify stopping mining federal coal when it would have such negative impacts on Montana?

Will you hold a public meeting in Montana on the federal coal moratorium and lease valuations? You're holding a public meeting in Seattle, and to my knowledge the state of Washington has no federal coal reserves. Montana has the largest holdings of federal coal in the nation. Why should Seattleites get to weigh in on this topic and not Montanans?

Coal company bankruptcies have been all over the news. It's no secret that this is a down period for the industry. Why pick now to raise royalty tax rates on those companies? Shouldn't we be looking for ways to help industries when they hit down times? Shouldn't we be trying to save those jobs?
The biggest issue in Montana today is the War on Coal. Why are you taking a tourist junket when families in Colstrip (including dozens of employees who are members of the Northern Cheyenne) and on the Crow Reservation are hurting?

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