Local energy companies hold promise

On May 26, a group of individuals and organizations calling itself "Re-Powering the Flathead for a New Energy Economy" (involving Stoltze Land & Lumber Co. and Flathead Electric Cooperative among others) sponsored a panel discussion at Flathead Valley Community College featuring three "green" energy companies at varying stages of start-up: Algae Aqua-Culture Technologies; Clearwater Biologicals Inc.; and Zinc Air, Inc.

Each of these new local businesses presented exciting and innovative new technologies which have considerable probability for growth and job creation, as well as for lowering the economic and environmental cost of energy by utilizing local resources, waste streams as fuel and energy storage. There was decent turnout, but it was not commensurate with what their success could mean to the future of our valley.

I've owned property in the Flathead Valley for nigh on to 20 of my 80 years, so I've witnessed boom-and-bust cycles first hand and heard stories about all the times before I arrived. Analysts from several of our state universities have spoken to the desirability of building a more diverse local economy with a stronger and clean manufacturing base. We now have the necessity as well as an opportunity to accomplish this thereby becoming less affected by the boom-and-bust cycles of industries like home construction and related cycles in the timber industry, while also keeping the dollars spent on energy circulating within our own community.

Growing our local economy and preserving our remarkable natural resources and a healthy environment in our valley is in everyone's best interest. We only need to look at the superfund clean-up sites in Libby, in Butte and, to a lesser degrees, in Somers and Whitefish to understand the huge and varied costs of the old approach.

If the local governmental, community leaders and industry executives in these towns had recognized the value of working together to ensure that these industrial processes were going to be good for the economy and the environment, we might not now be faced with having to pay for remediating these toxic sites with our tax dollars.

We complain about government spending but fail to prevent our dependence on it. Do we really want to continue on this costly and repetitive path? Isn't it time we let go of our differences and find win-win solutions that will benefit us all while preventing further costly compromises of our soil, air and water?

Preserving our remarkable natural resources and a healthy environment in our valley is not at odds with building meaningful and lasting employment opportunities. Supporting local businesses that do both is in everyone's best interest, so let's move beyond our differences and focus on collaborating to build a more stable and sustainable economy based on a variety non toxic technologies.

Each of the businesses featured at the forum at FVCC on May 26 is going through the typical start-up birth pangs without much attention or support from the surrounding community. Strengthening and augmenting the local resources that can support start-ups like these could assist in the expansion of our economic base.

Are we going to miss this opportunity to become the "Silicon Valley of the North" based on innovative, sustainable technologies like these for which Semitool has laid the foundation? Our opportunity now is to choose whether to hold on to the ways of the past or learn how to cooperate in building a new and better future for our valley.

One of the goals of the "Re-Powering the Flathead" project is to explore, understand and highlight opportunities to achieve economic, social and environmental benefits from local investments in various energy-efficient programs and projects. Its goal is to obtain the best thinking from all stakeholders about current local challenges and opportunities in energy and economic development to produce a resource guide that will be of assistance to decision makers and the general public when public policy choices need to be made.

If you would like to be involved in creating a new future for the Flathead, please contact the Re-Powering the Flathead project coordinator, Lauren Casey, at 756-8993 or at repower@flatheadcitizens.org.

Janet Morrow lives in Whitefish.