Tester talks jobs bill with leaders

Local leaders are hoping to see a lot of good from the jobs bill that was signed by President Obama earlier this week.

Sen. Jon Tester was in Kalispell Tuesday to have a roundtable discussion about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which funds a host of infrastructure projects, education needs, provides for green energy development, extends unemployment benefits, gives workers tax breaks and gives first-time home buyers an $8,000 tax credit.

All of this is designed to stem historic job losses.

Locally, unemployment has zoomed from a low of under 5 percent to nearly 9 percent in the past few months, as mills and other businesses have scaled back production and trimmed staff.

Tester cautioned that the bill was not a cure-all.

“Everything is not going to be well,” he said, but added that he thought the bill was getting things headed in the right direction.

“We need to stem this tide as quickly as possible,” he said.

In Montana, he claimed the bill would create about 11,000 jobs.

While most of the round-table participants were from Kalispell, a couple represented Columbia Falls.

Chuck Roady, general manager of F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber, said that some of the tax credit measures in the bill could help the mill build a co-generation facility. The co-gen plant, if it comes to fruition, would use waste wood to not just heat the mill’s boilers, but create electricity to run the mill and provide electricity for Flathead Electric Co-op.

Getting enough fiber into mills from National Forests was a concern, said Paul Rumelhart of Kootenai River Development in Libby. Tester agreed, and said one of his top priorities was to discuss the timber supply — or lack thereof — with the next Secretary of Agriculture.

The bill could also help FEC, said Mark Johnson. Johnson said the Co-op will embark on a “shovel ready” geothermal exploration project in Lake County. The benefit of that project, he noted, is that it would be close to BPA power lines.

Haley Beaudry of Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. thanked Tester for his efforts in keeping the plant going.

“It’s a lot easier to keep production than start up a cold plant,” Beaudry said.

Tester thanked Beaudry as well.

“(CFAC) has been a driver in the Flathead for decades and I appreciate your work,” he said.

The jobs bill also provides $750 million in funds for the National Park Service.

While aides to Tester weren’t sure exactly how that funding would be meted out on a per-park basis, it’s expected that some of the funding will go toward Glacier’s Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Glacier had requested about $21 million for continued work on the Sun Road. If the funding does come through, the Park could wrap up the alpine section rehabilitation in the next couple of years.

But the discussion at times also turned into outright lobbying for dollars. Kalispell Mayor Pam Kennedy was worried the bill might not contain funding for the Kalispell by-pass and made her pitch for the road and other services.

County Commissioner Joe Brenneman said that some of the funding could be used to take care of dusty roads in the county.

Overall, however, the mood in the room was one of cautious optimism. Local bankers noted that Montana banks are still in good shape — having avoided the entire subprime mortgage mess — and an FVCC representative said that enrollment at the college was up 20 percent.