Governor Bullock fights back against attacks on renewable energy

This week, Governor Bullock vetoed SB 154, a bill that would have eliminated critical tax incentives for renewable energy projects. This bill was one of many pieces of anti-solar legislation to pass in the Montana state house year. Thank you for standing up for solar, Governor Bullock!

Skye Borden

MTE - thank you solar

This week, Governor Bullock vetoed SB 154, a bill that would have eliminated critical tax incentives for renewable energy projects. This bill was one of many pieces of anti-solar legislation to pass in the Montana state house year.

Thank you for standing up for solar, Governor Bullock!

We collected a bunch of signatures asking for Bullock’s veto, and he responded to us with this statement:

Thank you for contacting me with your concerns for Senate Bill 154 (SB 154), an act to revise net metering incentives. I vetoed this legislation on May 4, 2017. 

SB 154 makes net metered systems ineligible for tax credits and incentives which are designed to encourage the use of alternative energy sources. Removing the tax credit for residential net metering systems would increase the out-of-pocket costs of net metering systems, and may decrease Montanans’ interest in investing in net metering renewable energy systems going forward. 

SB 154 also prevents the State Building Energy Conservation Program from using net metering, making it difficult for the state to install cost-effective alternative energy on state facilities—projects that save taxpayer dollars.

Through my Energy Blueprint, I am opposed to any efforts that weaken our current net metering statutes. At this point I believe the distributed generation business sector would be negatively impacted by this bill. The number of new net metered systems being developed would be reduced as customers are forced to weigh the risks of potential investments. 

Additionally, limiting the options available to state facilities to save money prevents us from reducing costs and making a more effective government for all Montana taxpayers. For these reasons, I veto SB 154.
Thanks again for contacting me and feel free to reach out again with any future questions or comments.

Sincerely,
STEVE BULLOCK
Governor

Thank you for standing up for solar, Governor Bullock! 

Authors

Skye Borden