Press Release

For Immediate Release: July 10, 2002
For more information: Don Judge, 442-2968 or 459-1708

Buy Back the Dams Initiative Qualifies for the November Election Ballot

Helena -- "Obviously we're elated," said Don Judge, campaign coordinator for Initiative 145, the ballot proposal to authorize the state of Montana to buy electric generation dams located on Montana's rivers, "but we're not surprised." "Literally dozens of volunteers gathered signatures from Wibaux to Troy to qualify this initiative," said Judge, "and Montanans angry about deregulation and escalating energy prices were eager to sign up."

Judge praised the work of MontPIRG in providing overall supervision of the effort and commended the volunteer network doing the ground work. "When Montanans from all walks of life believe in something, they get the job done," Judge continued, "and their feelings about this issue run deep."

"Montanans were betrayed by our politicians," said Bob Nichol, coordinator for the Gallatin County signature gathering effort. "The deal cut between the 2002 legislative majority and the utility industry has left consumers at the mercy of power brokers like North Western Energy. It's become clear that the Enron-like tactics of PP&L makes buying back the dams even more important to our state." Nichol credited much of the signature gathering success to Montana's Green Party which also helped qualify IR-117 for the November ballot. "These guys understand the bottom line, pocket book issue of power prices," he concluded, "and they went to work."

"The initiative has qualified and the first battle won," Judge said, "now the war between the Goliath utility industries and the energy consuming David's is fully engaged. We expect the big guys to spend millions to defend their hundreds of millions in profits picked from the pockets of Montanans," Judge continued. "But this battle will be won at the kitchen tables of our state, not on the airwaves or in the east coast board rooms of PP&L or the west coast board rooms of AVISTA. When Montanans learn that the resources of our state are being siphoned off to profit the powerful while our state budget is in crisis and our citizens are hurting, they'll choose buying back our dams over slick slogans designed to promote big energy's 'business as usual' solution."

Although the final tally on Initiative 145 won't be in until after July 19th, the deadline for county clerks and recorders to submit the petitions to the Secretary of State's office, the early returns verified that 39 house districts had qualified and 21,031 valid signatures had been submitted. "These early returns are very encouraging," said Judge. "Our own tracking indicates that there are thousands more signatures yet to be submitted and that shows strong grass roots support for the initiative. Our job will be to translate that early support into a groundswell that sweeps across our state," he concluded.

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