Montana Incorporates Forestry, Agricultural and School-Related Initiatives in Climate Plan
15 initiatives are incorporated in the Montana Climate Pollution Reduction Priorities the DEQ submitted to federal regulators.
by Amanda Eggert for Montana Free Press
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has generated a list of 15 initiatives to reduce greenhouse gasses in the state that it views as strong candidates for federal funding.
The DEQ submitted the Montana Climate Pollution Reduction Priorities to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on March 1 to comply with a $3 million planning grant DEQ received in August to identify “shovel-ready” projects with the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Measures incorporated in the document DEQ submitted to the U.S. EPA on March 1 include proposals with forestry, agricultural and energy efficiency components as well as initiatives that seek to reduce emissions from the transportation, power and waste management sectors.
DEQ said the list the agency landed on was informed by the 300-plus proposals it fielded and includes initiatives that are “intentionally broad” to ensure that any entity in Montana that is eligible to receive funding — a government agency such as a state agency, county or municipality, or a commercial or nonprofit entity that partners with one — can pitch the EPA on that project. Grant applications are due April 1, and the EPA will in the fall begin dispersing money from a $4.6 billion funding pot authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act.
DEQ described Montana’s participation in the grant program as an opportunity for Montana businesses and communities to access funding for “Montana-made” projects and “tackle real needs that limited state resources may not fully address.”
Measures oriented toward reducing emissions associated with natural processes (i.e., wildfire) are incorporated alongside innovations and upgrades that aim to reduce emissions in the public and private sectors. The full list includes:
Expand forest management and wildfire mitigation
Expand healthy urban and community forests
Mitigate and extinguish coal seam fires
Incentivize school energy and performance measures
Fertilizer use innovation for improved soil health
Ranchland stewardship program
Incentivize innovation in the cattle and beef industry
Reduce nonpoint source nutrient pollution
Strategic conversion of fleet vehicles to cleaner alternatives
Investment and improvement in electric grid technology
Incentivize industrial process efficiencies
Improve efficiency of government, nonprofit and commercial buildings and operations
Low-emission home heating incentives
Residential energy performance incentives
Develop or expand local recycling and composting capacity
An estimate of the amount of cumulative greenhouse gas reduction each initiative could achieve is incorporated in the document. Per DEQ’s calculations, mitigating and extinguishing coal seam fires, investing in and improving electric grid technology, and developing a ranchland stewardship program will achieve the greatest greenhouse gas reductions by 2050.
According to DEQ data from 2021, the agricultural sector was responsible for the largest share of Montana’s greenhouse gas emissions, followed by electric power generation and transportation.
The grant priorities identified by DEQ emphasize a “non-regulatory, innovative, voluntary” approach that is generally consistent with Governor Greg Gianforte’s approach to climate action. In 2021, Gianforte told Montana Free Press that he favors a market-based response to climate change that’s oriented around American ingenuity and removing “friction” from the regulatory process so innovators and entrepreneurs can pursue solutions.
The plan’s emphasis on forestry-related measures is also consistent with Gianforte’s interest in “active forest management,” a foundational piece of Gianforte’s natural resource policy. During his tenure at the helm of Montana’s executive branch, the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation has expanded the scope of state-owned forests that have been logged, thinned or treated with prescribed fire to reduce the amount of vegetation available to burn.
DEQ spokesperson Moira Davin wrote in an email to MTFP that the $3 million planning grant the state received in 2023 also includes a requirement that Montana develop a climate action plan by mid-2025. In 2027, the state will be asked to provide the EPA with a status report on the plan’s implementation.
“The CCPA requires the state to build on the recently submitted priority plan to further identify all significant greenhouse gas sources, establish reduction and mitigation goals, and provide strategies and measures to achieve these goals,” Davin wrote, adding that the public will have an opportunity to weigh in on the plan.