Montana split over candidates' energy plans

GREAT FALLS, Mont. -- Wind farm development has many Montanans turning green. Now the question is how many of them will turn blue when they vote for president Tuesday.

Since 2006, 178 giant turbines have sprouted in farm fields at four commercial facilities churning out a combined 270 megawatts of electricity, with even more projects in the planting stages, according to the state Department of Commerce.

Energy policy is front and center for presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, and Montana, where wind and coal are equally abundant, is paying close attention.

"They are all promising alternative energy," says Peter Wipf, who says he tends to vote Republican but remains undecided.

Wipf lives at the Martinsdale Hutterite Colony, which is 130 miles south of here in the heart of rural Montana. The colony, communally owned, has leased farmland to Texas-based Horizon Wind Energy, Wipf says.

The 60-megawatt first phase calls for erecting 27 to 33 turbines on colony and adjacent state land; there will be a possible later expansion to 200 megawatts, according to Joy Potter, a project manager for Horizon Wind Energy.

Obama's policies supporting renewable energy are striking a chord with many Montanans who are boosting energy produced from wind, solar and biofuels, says Theresa Keaveny, executive director of Montana Conservation Voters in Billings. McCain, she adds, has consistently opposed alternative energy and supports more oil drilling, "which Montanans don't want."

Montana has 120 billion tons of coal reserves, the most in the nation, and each year 41 million tons is shipped by train to coal-fired generating plants around the country, according to the Montana Coal Council. McCain's "all of the above" approach, which includes using coal, oil, nuclear and alternative energy, appeals more to Montanans, says Erik Iverson, the chairman of the Montana Republican Party.

"The bottom line is, who are you going to trust to get that coal out of the ground and create jobs?" Iverson says.