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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:right;background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%" align="right"><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">For
Release <b>Wednesday, September 28 2016</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:right;background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%" align="right"><b><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Contact: </span></b><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Ari LeVaux (406)
546-5242<span> </span></span><a href="mailto:lavo@montana.com"><span style="font-family:arial">lavo@montana.com</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)"></span></p><br><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:right;background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%" align="right"><b><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%" align="center"><b><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">350 Montana Announces a rally in Butte:</span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%" align="center"><b><i><span style="font-size:16pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Renewables Now:</span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%" align="center"><b><span style="font-size:16pt;font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">A message to
NorthWestern Energy</span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><b><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Butte, Montana</span></b><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">. The climate activist
group 350 Montana announces a festive rally on October 10 in Butte. The goal is
to pressure NorthWestern Energy to pivot immediately toward renewable energy
sources, and to embrace solar, wind, and other forms of renewable energy. </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><i><span style="font-family:helvetica">We see the results
of doing nothing about climate change for the last 25 years in our dying
rivers, extreme forest fire seasons, and advancing threats to our two largest
industries, agriculture and tourism. Montanans just can’t afford NorthWestern
Energy’s business-as-usual for the next 25 years. — Jeff Smith, 350 Montana</span></i><i><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)"></span></i></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><b><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Background</span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">The writing is on the
wall for coal, thanks to a combination of public sentiment, political pressure
and market forces. Two of the Colstrip power generators are currently scheduled
for decommissioning, and NorthWestern Energy is already making plans for how it
will replace the electricity Colstrip supplies. </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">The company has recently
proposed spending $1.3 billion on 13 new natural gas generators. Once built,
the Montana Public Service Commission will let the company run its generators
until the initial investment plus a “reasonable” profit is recovered. But this
profit comes at an unreasonable expense to the citizens of Montana. </span><span style="font-family:arial">Our top industries, not to
mention our way of life, need cold water and deep snowpacks, both of which are
rapidly disappearing. </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">NorthWestern Energy seems
OK with letting Montanans bear these costs, while its shareholders reap the
short-term profits. Meanwhile, the company has made it increasingly difficult
for small scale solar and wind projects to be economically viable, including
its current attempts to cut in half the rate it pays for residential solar that
is sold back to the grid. </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">At the same time, a
recent poll taken by the Montana Voters Conservation Fund has found that 74
percent of Montanans favor replacing the coal generators with renewable energy.
(<a href="http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/environment/conservation-group-s-poll-says-people-support-renewables-oppose-smith/article_c417b6d1-674f-5db1-ba54-d6141a47e57c.html">http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/environment/conservation-group-s-poll-says-people-support-renewables-oppose-smith/article_c417b6d1-674f-5db1-ba54-d6141a47e57c.html</a>)</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">We don’t have time to
waste on natural gas, despite it being touted as a “bridge fuel” between coal
and clean energy. While natural gas burns more cleanly than coal, the amount of
methane released during natural gas mining (aka fracking) makes it just as bad
or worse for the climate than coal. Meanwhile, the cost of clean energy sources
like wind and solar have come down so much that they are cost-competitive with
fossil fuels, all while emitting zero greenhouse gasses. Montana has both solar
and wind in abundance, but Montana’s power company is actively blocking public
and private attempts to take advantage of it. A company lobbyist once referred
to solar energy as a “cancer.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">NorthWestern Energy has
been great to its shareholders, returning 300 percent—as much as Google and
Amazon—over the last seven years. Now it’s time for NorthWestern Energy to do
right by its customers, the citizens of Montana. Stop wasting our money on
polluting generators. Pivot toward renewables, and give private citizens and
cooperatives a feasible path to setting up their own solar ca<a name="_GoBack"></a>pacity.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">The rally will begin at
11 AM on October 10 in Butte’s Emma Park, at South Dakota and </span><span style="font-family:arial;color:black">West Porphyry</span><span style="font-family:arial;color:black"> streets,
</span><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">with music by Jack Gladstone and Andrea Harsell. The rally will
move to the corner of W Park and Main streets, in front of NorthWestern Energy
year-old corporate headquarters. <span> </span>Battery-powered
speakers will be set up on each of the four corners, broadcasting the words of several
experts speaking on topics like the real impact of natural gas on climate, and
what a post fossil fuel energy economy could do for Montana. </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%" align="center"><b><u><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Speakers include</span></u></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><b><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Dan Brandborg, </span></b><span style="font-family:helvetica">general manager of SBS Solar, a Hamilton, MT
based solar energy company</span><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">. </span><span style="font-family:helvetica">Dan will talk about the overt and hidden
constraints on residential solar and its potential should we lift these
constraints.</span><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><b><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Brian Fadie of the Montana Environmental Information Center</span></b><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">
</span><span style="font-family:helvetica">Brian
will highlight new Montana polling numbers showing overwhelming support in the
state for increasing use of wind, solar, and energy efficiency.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><b><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">David Merrill of the Sierra Club</span></b><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">
</span><span style="font-family:arial;color:black">David will highlight the long history of inaction in addressing
the climate threat and the rapidly intensifying crisis that is the fruit of
that recklessness, in Montana and around the globe.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><b><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Music provided</span></b><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)"> by Jack Gladstone, aka “Montana’s
Troubador,” and Peace, Love & Andrea Harsell.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><b><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">Transportation assistance will be available, including busses and
vans from Missoula, Bozeman and Billings. Transportation grants are also
available. </span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">For more info: </span><a href="http://www.350montana.org/event/northwestern-energy-rally/">www.350montana.org/event/northwestern-energy-rally/</a><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)"></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><b><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">100-word Calendar Blurb</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">The climate activist
group 350 Montana announces a festive rally on October 10 in Butte’s Emma Park,
from 11 am -1 pm The goal is to send a message to NorthWestern Energy that it
must pivot immediately toward renewable energy sources, and embrace solar,
wind, and other forms of fossil fuel-free energy. Music provided by Jack
Gladstone, “Montana’s Troubador,” and Peace, Love & Andrea Harsell.
Speakers will address the need for clean fuels, and what they will do for
Montana.<span> </span>Free transportation
provided from Missoula and Bozeman; transport grants available. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white none repeat scroll 0% 0%"><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">For more info: </span><a href="http://www.350montana.org/event/northwestern-energy-rally/">www.350montana.org/event/northwestern-energy-rally/</a><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)"></span></p>
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