For immediate releaseOct. 13, 2008

EDITOR’S NOTE

: These stories are produced by University of Montana journalismstudents under the supervision of Professor Dennis Swibold. They may be used withoutcharge, provided editors retain the students’ bylines. Please contact Professor Swibold(dennis.swibold@umontana.edu

) with any questions. You can also find this story andothers on the upcoming election at www.montanaschoice2008.blogspot.com.

By MOLLY PRIDDYCommunity News ServiceUM School of Journalism

You might not guess it by their increasingly negative TV ads, but both major-partycandidates for governor foresee a brighter future for Montana. They just disagree on howto get there.Republican challenger Roy Brown, a state senator and small-business owner with a background in the oil business, wants deep property-tax cuts and greater incentives todevelop Montana’s oil and coal reserves.Democratic incumbent

Gov. Brian Schweitzer envisions a future built on greater investments in alternative and traditional energy, education and jobs.As Election Day nears

the incessant ads portraying Brown as a“slippery” stooge for Big Oil and Schweitzer as a “bully”threaten to overshadow the details of their backgrounds and stands on the issues.Brown, the 57-year-old Wyoming native with a petroleum engineering degree fromMontana Tech, looks to his birthplace as the example Montana should emulate as it buildsits future.According to Brown, Wyoming has a better education system and a bigger surplus because of the revenue generated by developing their coal and oil reserves.“We have all the same resources that Wyoming has and more,” Brown said. “Wehave the most reserves of any state in the country and we should be developing those coalreserves.”Despite the possibility of strip-mining to access some of Montana’s largest coaltracts, Brown insists he won’t sacrifice the environment to develop energy. Once again,he used Wyoming as the model.“When I look at Wyoming, I don’t see an environmental disaster going on in thatstate,” Brown said. “What I do see are very well-funded schools. What I do see is a goodhealth care system. What I do see is a great infrastructure system and a great universitysystem.”Brown credits Wyoming’s successes not only to greater coal development, but also

an attractive business atmosphere with a receptive permitting process.Montana’s system is too slow and uncooperative for many businesses, Brown said.He also said his appointees to the Board of Environmental Review would be “commonsense” people who could recognize a worthwhile project.The board, part of the Department of Environmental Quality, serves as thegatekeeper to any company wanting to build an energy facility or drill for reserves. The

Board must issue a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need before anysuch project can move forward.Some businesses have complained about the sluggish approval process and pulledtheir projects from the state or have filed suits to speed up decisions.“If it’s a sound project, if it makes sense, if it’s not going to harm the environment,let’s get them approved,” Brown said.As for alternative energy sources, Brown said he is interested in wind and solar power and looks to the state’s universities for technological help.Schweitzer, the gregarious 53-year-old former rancher and irrigation specialist, alsovows to develop the state’s natural resources, invest in education and build a future for Montana with more jobs, but he has different ideas on energy development.While he touts his record of increasing oil and coal output during his first term asgovernor, Schweitzer insists Montana is poised to greatly increase its wind energycapacity by building wind farms and planning interstate transmission lines.“We will continue to produce more energy than we need in Montana,” Schweitzer said. “When the wind blows in Montana, a plug-in hybrid someplace can be running onthe electricity that came from Montana.”Schweitzer concedes that further coal development involves an environmental trade-off.“There’s always a trade-off,” he said. “Unless we’re willing to walk away from allcarbon-based energy today, there will continue to be a trade-off.”But continued development of alternative energies would also create new jobs andhelp America become energy

independent and more secure, Schweitzer said.“The largest carbon footprint in the United States today is our military forces, and agreat deal are defending oil fields for a dictator someplace else

” he said.The state economy is another contentious issue in the campaign.Brown said he would lower Montanans’ property taxes, eliminate the business-equipment tax and reconsider every government-funded project.“The ones that are working and that are accountable and that are creating results, wewill increase the funding for those programs,” he said. “But the ones that are not creatingresults, that do not create a best bang for our buck … then we need to eliminate those programs.”Meanwhile, Schweitzer’s economic record boasts some of the lowest unemploymentrates in the state’s history. Under his administration, Montana also added 50,000 jobs.Funding for K-12 schools is another major issue facing the next governor. Manydistricts are strapped for cash as costs rise and enrollments dwindle.Although they received more money from the last Legislature, many districts havemaxed-out their mill levies, making it

difficult to deal with rising costs, much less hireand retain good teachers.Brown wants to recruit 500 new Montana teachers by offering them a $10,000signing bonus, paid over a three-year period. Revenue from new energy developmentwould foot the bill.“It’s only $5 million over that three years,” Brown said. “Now, if we can’t come upwith that much money then we’ve got a problem.”