One of the biggest public works projects Montana has seen in years is the rehabilitation of the St. Mary's canal. The canal takes water from high in the mountains of the Blackfeet Reservation to the Milk River drainage to the east. This project is vital to the economic health and well being of communities across the Hi-Line. Most people think about St. Mary's canal as a water project for irrigators and municipalities. There are other potential benefits in the project as well.

The St. Mary's project could expand wind-power production and help control rates in Montana. We ought to make sure we take advantage of that opportunity. Let me explain.

Wind is a great source of power. It is clean and plentiful. But, it is hard to rely on as a major power source unless you figure out where to get power when the wind isn't blowing. In the power industry this is called "firming." Northwestern Energy "firms" the power from the Judith Gap Wind Farm by purchasing contracts from other power companies. The problem is the contracts are not long term and the prices are not stable.

On the other hand, wind blows when we don't really need the power. When a storm comes through at three in the morning, the wind farm produces power nobody needs. So we have two related problems. Wind farms sometimes don't produce power when you need it and sometimes wind farms produce power when you don't need it.

Of course one solution would be a big battery. You could charge it when the wind is blowing and use it when the wind isn't blowing. We don't have that technology yet. That's where the St. Mary's project provides a major opportunity.

We can solve much of the wind problem with a simple technology called "pumped hydro storage." Build two reservoirs connected by big pipe and put power generating turbines in the pipe. When the wind is blowing and you don't need the power, use it to pump water from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir. When the wind isn't blowing and you need power, release the water from the upper reservoir and let it flow through power generating turbines into the lower reservoir.

This is not a new or untested technology. Pumped hydro storage is currently used all over the world. The Bath County Pumped Storage Station in Virginia can generate over 2,000 megawatts. That is almost twice the average demand of all Northwestern Energy customers combined. It has been operating since 1985.

That brings us back to St. Mary's. Pumped hydro should be part of the project. Consider the following points.

1. The Blackfeet Tribe has a long-standing interest in wind power and is critical to approving the St. Mary's project. Their involvement in a pumped hydro system would bring numerous economic benefits to the area and assure that the Tribe sees concrete benefits from the use of waters originating on the reservation.

2. The completion of the Montana-Alberta power line, which is already heavily supported by wind developers, could provide transmission for firmed wind power coming from the area.

3. Wind developers could get better prices for their power by having access to firming power from a pumped hydro system.

4. Use of the water in such a system provides additional revenue without consuming large volumes of water. Once the reservoirs are filled, the only net loss of water is evaporation.

5. Incorporating real clean and green energy as a part of the project will open additional sources of funding.

Montana's utility system is aging. Almost everyone agrees that we will have to add significant new sources of power over the next 20 years. We can choose the old path, large fossil fuel burning plants, or we can choose a new path, building smaller, more varied sources of power and requiring that they have minimal environmental impacts. This project represents the new path. We ought to pursue it.

Ken Toole serves on the Public Service Commission.