If elected, what would your energy priorities be for your term as U.S. senator?
Kurt Alme
We need to make life more affordable. That’s what I hear from Montanans all across the state, and that’s why making life more affordable and lowering energy costs will be among my highest priorities as Montana’s next U.S. senator.
The best way to reduce energy costs is to increase supply by unleashing all forms of American energy. Producing more energy not only reduces gas and utility bills for families and businesses, but also reduces the cost of goods on our shelves for all Montanans.
The previous administration’s war on energy canceled responsible projects, imposed burdensome regulations, increased the cost of energy and all goods, killed Montana jobs, hurt rural Montana communities and made us more dependent on foreign countries.
We must take an all-of-the-above approach to responsibly develop energy and ensure Montana is a national energy leader. When I was in high school in Miles City, I saw firsthand the positive impact energy development brought to neighboring communities like Baker and Colstrip. Pro-energy policies help make life more affordable, create good-paying jobs, generate critical tax revenue for Montana’s rural communities and schools, and make America more secure.
Energy security is national security. We should produce more of the energy we need here at home for affordable, reliable power. With advancing technology, we can increase production while protecting our environment.
As your senator, I will fight to unleash energy production right here in Montana, remove burdensome red tape tying up needed, responsible energy development, make America energy dominant, and support those who power our state and fuel our economy.
Alani Bankhead
Montana’s electric cooperatives were built on a simple idea: neighbors banding together to power the places big utilities wouldn’t. That same spirit should guide our energy future.
My first priority is keeping power affordable and reliable. Rural families and farmers already stretch every dollar, and no energy plan is worth much if it raises your bill or leaves you in the dark.
I’m a strong believer in alternative energy — done the Montana way. Out here, where the grid is thin and the distances are long, on-site solar, battery storage and charging can be a real lifeline for a ranch or a remote home. My job is to make it easier — through tax credits and low-cost financing for folks who choose to set it up — never by mandating it from Washington or blowing a hole in the budget.
Choice is the whole point. If you want to add solar, we should help you do it — and if diesel and gas are what keep your operation running, no one in Washington should be forcing you off them.
Here’s the good news: Montanans are already leading. Flathead Electric now pairs its community solar with battery storage, Ravalli Electric just won a federal grant for a big battery, and Yellowstone Valley’s community solar sold out every panel — because members want it. When a co-op can generate and store its own power for less than it pays to buy off the grid, that helps hold rates steady; and a homeowner who adds their own panels simply buys less. That’s lower costs, not higher, and I’ll help more Montanans do it. And I’ll keep big power users like data centers from driving up costs or straining the grid Montanans depend on.
Affordable, reliable, Montana-made energy — with real choices for the families and farmers who live here. That’s what I’ll bring to the Senate.
Seth Bodnar
Unfortunately, we’ve let ideology creep too far into this conversation, and Montanans are the ones paying higher costs because of it. Utility bills are through the roof. Some believe we can simply turn off our reliance on fossil fuels. That’s not realistic. Others believe we must halt development of renewables because it’s become a convenient culture-war target. That’s not serious, either.
Meanwhile, we’re falling behind competitors like China, which now draws a substantial share of its electricity from renewables and is less exposed to energy shocks like the ones we’ve seen from Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. At the same time, many of our allies have capitalized on emerging technologies to significantly lower costs for ratepayers. In Australia, for example, citizens enjoy free electricity during certain parts of the day. We cannot continue to let the rest of the world pass us by when it comes to energy development.
As Montana’s U.S. Senator, I’ll fight to:
- Invest in additional power generation and electricity transmission infrastructure.
- Enact a true “all-of-the-above” energy strategy.
- Ensure full transparency and community involvement on data center development and construction, ensuring Montanans don’t pay more.
- Require energy companies, fossil fuel or alternative, to pay royalties for energy produced on public lands.
- Require private industry, not taxpayers, to clean up environmental sites.