Rep. Steve Daines of Montana
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to spend a day in Sidney, Montana. From standing near the base of a recently constructed oil rig to having candid conversations with local business owners who have seen their operations grow and change substantially to meet the demands of the oil field, it’s clear that recent growth in Bakken energy production has had a tremendous impact on our eastern Montana communities.
Production in the Bakken has accounted for thousands of new jobs and injected millions of dollars into eastern Montana and western North Dakota. Recent reports show that Bakken oil production currently accounts for 11 percent of total U.S. oil production and represents 40 percent of increased oil production nationwide.
I quickly realized that business and community leaders were searching for a level of regulatory certainty that will allow them to make the kind of long term investments necessary to foster sustainable economic growth. The almost whimsical nature of regulatory order and enforcement from Washington may look good to bureaucrats 2,000 miles away but fundamentally imperils the kind of economic opportunity that has finally arrived in my home state. As a small businessman I helped grow a Montana company from 100 employees to over 1000. It was later acquired by Oracle for 1.5 billion. I understand the need for regulatory certainty and I want businesses to have the same avenues that lead to success.
Some of the major barriers facing our state are environmental laws, like the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This law was intended to foster the kind of well-balanced development we care about in Montana—responsible resource exploration and extraction, coupled with conservation of our environment. We must ensure our laws work with us to achieve this end, to strengthen our nation, and not inhibit economic growth.
The ESA’s fundamental purpose is to preserve, protect, and recover valuable species in our country. However, too many operators in the oilfield and other job creators are constantly battling threats of legal suits. All the while, the ESA is not accomplishing its goal—only 28 species have been recovered out of well over 1,000 that have been listed in our country. That is a recovery rate that is unacceptable to any logical businessman.
Currently, there is a culture of “sue & settle” instead of effective species recovery. This stops business development and fuels fringe environmentalists’ agendas. In Montana alone, at least 29 ESA cases were open between 2009 and 2011. There are more than a dozen cases against the Forest Service in Montana; and there are new cases filed each month. In March, The Friends of the Wild Swan, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, and others halted a much-need timber sale, the Colt Summit project near Seeley Lake in Montana, due to a minor technical error by the Forest Service involving the impact on the habitat of a listed species, the Canadian Lynx.
Finally, resources spent litigating in the courtroom means less time spent on developing our natural resources while the American taxpayer fits the bill for the legal costs. Taxpayers have paid more than $1.2 million in attorney fees for just 12 of 29 Montana cases. Communities may never achieve the growth like Sidney, Montana if valuable resources remain undeveloped due to excessive litigation.
As a member of the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Energy Action Team, I am committed to working toward common sense solutions that help alleviate these roadblocks. Resource development and effective protection and recovery of our rare species must coexist. In Montana, we know that the responsible development of our resources, while also protecting the lands and wildlife we value, isn’t only possible—it’s the best solution. I’ll work to bring these Montana principles to Congress.
Congressman Steve Daines is an American politician and businessman and the United States Representative for Montana’s At-large congressional district.
