The 2009 Montana Legislature may be a dead end when it comes to crafting new policy on the big issues, yet that won't stop lawmakers from trying on one of the biggest: energy.

For Democrats in the closely divided Legislature, the push on energy policy will be from the consumer end, looking for ways to help homeowners and small businesses conserve consumption or maybe generate their own power.

"Instead of trying to get big energy development going, I'm focusing on how do we help citizens play defense and keep their money, instead of sending it to power companies," says Rep. Brady Wiseman, D-Bozeman.

On the Republican side, look for bills aiming to make it easier to build projects that can fuel an energy-production boom in the state.

Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, says he'd like to find a way to prevent seemingly endless appeals of projects that already have obtained a permit to build, from wind farms to coal-fired power plants to electricity transmission lines.

"If you receive a permit, I would like it to be that 'Yes' means 'Yes,' " he says. "Don't just stack these appeals up so you drive things out by killing their investors. You have to find a way to (condense the appeals) or we're never going to build anything."

But can anything substantial on energy policy gain approval from the 2009 Legislature, particularly the House, which is divided 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans?

Observers on both sides say it won't be easy -- although they're trying to stay optimistic for now.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, also isn't proposing any big initiatives on energy policy, saying the state laid the groundwork during his first term. It's now up to private investors and the market to do their work, he says.

"I think we've laid the bread crumbs for folks all over the world to find Montana and to invest in Montana energy," he says. "If there's some good ideas in the Legislature, we'll look at them, but for right now, I think we're in pretty good stead."

Still, scores of energy-related proposals have been requested by lawmakers for the 2009 session, and the state's largest utility, NorthWestern Energy, will have proposals of its own.

Wiseman and fellow Democrats from Bozeman and Missoula are working on several measures to promote energy conservation and small power production.

One idea is to allow creation of "energy improvement districts," where a city or county could issue bonds to finance loans to homeowners or other property owners for energy projects.

For example, homeowners could use the loans to install solar panels and net-metering, thus enabling them to generate their own energy, buy less power, and even sell some back to the utility, Wiseman says.

Democrats also are preparing bills to make it easier for small wind-power projects to sell to utilities; to encourage "smart metering," which would allow consumers to know when they can use energy at less expensive times; and to create stronger energy-efficient building codes.

Rep. Mike Phillips, another Bozeman Democrat, says he hopes Republicans and conservatives will support measures that conserve energy and help consumers be better-informed about energy.

"How in the world can anyone argue that the future should not include more-informed consumers?" he asks. "Who can argue with that? If you believe in personal responsibility and freedom?"

NorthWestern Energy, the state's largest electric utility, is not a fan of small power projects, and will be lobbying to allow larger renewable-power projects to qualify for some special local-government financing.

"Small is not beautiful; it's expensive," says John Fitzpatrick, NorthWestern's executive director of government affairs in Helena.

Fitzpatrick says the company also is supporting a bill that would undo a portion of utility deregulation on natural gas, allowing the electric-and-gas utility to get back into the natural gas production business.

The company sold its Montana and Canadian gas wells in the late 1990s in the wake of a 1997 deregulation bill, and is now buying all of its gas for Montana customers on the open market.

While Democrats are looking at energy-conservation angles, Republicans in the Legislature are more prone to focus on energy production and supply.

Rep. Jones says it's fine to talk about building a new generation of alternative power projects, such as wind and solar, but without a better transmission system to move the power to customers, big-time construction isn't going to occur.

"It's like talking about building a water pump without a hose," he says.

The same principle should apply to more traditional energy projects, Jones adds, such as coal-fired power plants and oil pipelines.

Toward that end, Jones says he's working on bills that would somehow narrow the opportunity to challenge projects once they obtain the necessary permits.

"There are folks out there gaming the appeals process and the litigation process because they know the building (of these projects) requires an investment of money," he says. "Investors need an expectation of time."

Jones acknowledges that his proposals might face opposition from most Democrats, but says he's hoping to find some who are willing to judge the proposal on its merits, rather than party politics.

He says those plans suffered a blow with the unexpected Dec. 7 death of Rep. George Groesbeck, a Butte Democrat who was to chair the House Federal Relations, Energy and Telecommunications Committee in 2009. Groesbeck died from a blood clot a week after he was injured in a car accident.

"George and I had kind of agreed that we would work on it together, and that would get (the bill) out of the House," Jones says. "Now I'm going to have to search for someone of George's nature, who is capable of standing up and saying, 'This is the right thing to do.' "

Like Democrats pushing conservation and other consumer-oriented ideas, Jones believes his approach should be able to attract people outside the party to push it through the closely split Legislature -- which may be a thin hope this session.

"I'd love to see in the next four years, some of this (energy) stuff get built, and Montana be a better place and the nation a better place because of it," he says.

Reporter Mike Dennison: 447-4068 or mike.dennison@lee.net