Jim Hicks summed up the sentiment of everyone in a crowd of nearly 200 people who packed a meeting Thursday evening in Butte to hear about a proposed power line that might come close to their homes. "It would basically make half of my ranch worthless," Hicks said, with his comments drawing loud applause. "What benefits would this provide to southwestern Montana?"

NorthWestern Energy may have the juice, but the people have the power. That was the overwhelming message Wednesday evening when area residents packed council chambers to tell commissioners they oppose the utility company's plans for a major transmission line through southwestern Montana. The crowd spilled into the hallway where another roughly 30 people stood and listened as residents voiced their concerns about the 500-kilovolt power line ruining the visual aesthetics of their rural property.

Developer Tonbridge Power Inc. announced Tuesday that it has successfully negotiated settlements with four Montana landowners who had objected to its Montana Alberta Tie Line transmission project. "What it means is there are no further holdups for construction of this line in the state of Montana," said Richard Opper, director of the state Department of Environmental Quality. The settlement clears up opposition in Montana, but a group of Alberta landowners continues to fight plans for the $140 million transmission line.

Construction of a $140 million transmission line between Great Falls and Lethbridge, Alberta, has been delayed at least five months because of appeals in the United States and Canada ...The anticipated start of construction, which was slated for March, is now sometime this fall.

A new study by a leading conservation organization warns that construction of wind farms could pose a high risk to wildlife habitat on 8 million acres of land in Montana. "Wind farms have pretty big footprints, and we want to encourage wind developers to put those wind farms in places with the least amount of impact," said Brian Martin, director of science for the Montana Nature Conservancy, the report's author. "Ecological Risk Assessment of Wind Energy Development in Montana" is the first analysis of where the best winds and wildlife intersect in Big Sky Country.

What may be the most significant environmental-policy/energy bills of the session face a crucial vote today in the Montana House - a vote that could go a long way toward getting the bills through the Legislature. The bills sponsored by Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, would restrict how citizens and citizen groups can appeal permits for energy projects such as power plants and transmission lines.

A bevy of bills aimed at limiting appeals and litigation of environmental permits for major energy projects are making headway in the Legislature. Those bills have some environmentalists concerned that the 2009 session could end up being one of the worst in recent memory for environmental protection. On Saturday, four bills that would revamp environmental permitting laws advanced in the House and Senate. ...Supporters of energy production say the public's ability to file "endless appeals" kills projects, stymies economic growth and prevents the creation of well-paying jobs in Montana.

Montana's Department of Natural Resources and Conservation recommends wind turbines be allowed on state land as part of what would be the state's largest privately owned wind farm. The Martinsdale Wind Farm is proposed by Houston-based Horizon Wind Energy. It would be built on 18,000 acres of private and state land in Wheatland and Meagher counties, five miles northeast of Martinsdale. The DNRC has released a draft environmental impact statement on the project for public comment, which will be accepted until March 13.

The recession may have taken the wind out of the sails of some wind energy projects around the nation, but that's not the case in Wyoming and Montana. Officials in both states say they have not heard of any wind projects being delayed. If there are projects being delayed, they say there are plenty of others still going forward. "The developers are all still exercising their best efforts to move their projects forward," Steve Ellenbecker, energy adviser to Gov. Dave Freudenthal, said.

In the minds of the public, Montana is awash in wind power projects - but a group of small power producers say it's not so and are pushing legislation they say will help make perception become reality. ...The utility, however, is opposing the measure, saying power from the small projects is too costly. "What they're trying to do is tilt the balance, so we have to take more of (their) power, which is ultimately harmful to consumers," said John Fitzpatrick, NorthWestern's executive director of government affairs in Helena.

Thanks largely to the booming energy industry, Montana drivers - particularly those who frequent two-lane highways - have been encountering more and more supersize truck traffic. ...John Hanson, co-owner of Whitewood Transportation in Billings, said the superloads are "kind of becoming an industry standard." Especially when shipping industrial components to places like Canada, where wages are high and conditions harsh, it makes economic sense to assemble ever-larger pieces in foreign factories and put them together on site.

Electricity distributor NorthWestern Energy is seeking approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to conduct "open-season" bidding from developers to gain access to two proposed electric transmission lines costing at least $1 billion. The power lines, if approved, could kick start wind farm development in Montana and deliver the renewable electricity produced by wind farms to markets across the West, according to NorthWestern officials. "We want to be the highway," NorthWestern spokeswoman Claudia Rapkoch said.

Wind-powered electricity has great potential in Montana, but its future is clouded by an outdated transmission system that makes it tough to get the power to market. That was a key message experts delivered Friday at Carroll College during a conference on the state's energy future. Some in attendance urged lawmakers not to forget about the state's coal resources - or to get too excited about creating an energy economy.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer envisions a day when New Yorkers will be driving cars powered by the wind that howls across the Montana prairie. The Democrat recently called on the federal government to spend $15 billion to build a next-generation transmission grid to link such far-flung regions. ...But it's not going to be just wind and sun on those wires. "[S]ome proponents of expanding coal-fired electricity production are using windfarms as a rationalization for greatly expanding transmission lines through the region. They talk a lot about wind power, but their real interest is vastly expanded use of coal in generating electricity."

Four Dutton-area residents are appealing the current 130-mile path through four Montana counties to the state Board of Environmental Review. Several landowners also are challenging the route through Alberta before the Alberta Court of Appeal. That case is scheduled to be heard in January.

Jerry McRae didn't mince words when talking about a high-voltage transmission line that will cross his land near here. "You're going to have a hell of a time building a power line in this community," McRae said. ...Construction on the line is scheduled to begin in March. "It can't be built without eminent domain in this community right now," McRae warned right off the bat.

The U.S. Department of Energy has approved a $180 million high-voltage electrical line that's expected to spur more wind farm development between Great Falls and Lethbridge, Alberta. The decision to issue a presidential permit for the project is published today in the Federal Register, said Tony Como, the DOE's director of permitting and siting. ...Montana's transmission capacity is about all used up and three wind farm developers that have purchased the primary capacity on the line have snatched up all of the available space on the MATL line.

An Irish wind power company with offices in Great Falls has outlined a new technology that could make wind energy more marketable: "compressed air" power plants. Keith McGrane, head of offshore energy and electricity storage for Gaelectric, said the compressed-air plant offers a way to use cheap wind power at night and then reproduce additional power in the day, to fill in the inevitable gaps when the wind isn't blowing.

Potential wind-farm development was the overriding reason why the state Department of Environmental Quality approved the proposed high-voltage power line that would tread its way across eastern Teton County between Great Falls and Lethbridge, Alta. Montana Alberta Tie Ltd., or MATL, with offices in Calgary, Alta., submitted an application under DEQ's Major Facility Siting Act program on Dec. 1, 2005, providing a variety of reasons why its proposed privately-owned, 230-kilovolt transmission line would benefit the region. ... Aggrieved parties who believe they are adversely affected by DEQ's decision have 30 days to appeal.

The state of Montana has given the green light to a high-voltage transmission line that could trigger millions in green energy production in northcentral Montana. The 600 megawatts of north-south capacity on the Montana Alberta Tie Line has been sold to NaturEner, Invenergy and Wind Hunter. ...Construction won't begin for six months because it will take that long to manufacture the steel poles, which are 90 feet tall and 3 feet in diameter, van't Hof said. Part of the line will also have wooden H-frame poles.