Going back in time with baseload

“Where are we going this time? Is this the 50s? Or 1999?” Remember Back to the Future? This song pops in my head when I hear the word “baseload.”

Reliable and cost-effective, carbon-free energy paired with storage can be our future. We don’t need the air polluting, soil poisoning, health-harming energy of the 1950s.

Flathead Electric raised our prices at peak hours. Energy storage would level peaks in seconds. Did you know an energy storage company in the Flathead had to go to China to get utility customers? Electric cars can even out demand and reduce energy prices — it’s free energy storage for utilities.

Which technologies? Let markets decide instead of government. The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, https://energyinnovationact.org/, does this. A rising fee on carbon is returned to households. A monthly check is fair to middle and lower classes. Companies can stay competitive with less carbon use. The Border Adjustment protects U.S. manufacturers. Best of all, transitioning away from carbon cares for our planet.

Preserve Montana for our children. Help our Public Service Commission have the political will to approve healthier, reliable, resilient and cheaper energy. Tell our congressmen, Gianforte, Tester and Daines, we have their backs when they support fair transition to a carbon-free energy future.

“Gotta get back in time...” Is that song stuck in your head too?

Robin Paone, Whitefish