MISSOULA -- Missoula residents and University of Montana law students got to witness a rather unusual spectacle Tuesday afternoon during a debate on Gov. Brian Schweitzer's energy policy in the basement of the Law School.

It's not what the panelists said that was so extraordinary. It was the fact that they were in the same room when they said it.

The debate was on whether Schweitzer's energy policy should be viewed as a model for sustainable energy and economic development in the Rocky Mountain West. Three of the four panelists argued it was not a model plan.

"No one criticizes the governor," said Anne Hedges of the Montana Environmental Information Center.

Except, maybe, for Stephen Colbert, she said.

When Schweitzer appeared on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" a year ago, he outlined his energy proposal.

"And the best part is we still get to burn fossil fuels," Colbert said.

When presidential candidate John Edwards visited Missoula earlier this month, he told a rowdy crowd, including Schweitzer, in the University Center Ballroom that he opposed coal-fired power plants. Schweitzer supports developing Montana's coal.

As one of the biggest critics of the governor's energy policy, Hedges thinks Tuesday's debate may have been the first time she had ripped into Schweitzer's energy policy with his head energy-man sitting 5 feet away. It makes for a unique social and political setting, she said.

It was all part of the 31st annual Public Land Law Conference, hosted by UM's Public Land and Resources Law Review. The conference brings together a host of people from private industry, government, education and legal professions to discuss challenges facing the Rocky Mountain West. This year's focus is energy.

The audience included not only law students, but local politicians, lobbyists and energy buffs. Southern Montana Electric general manager Tim Gregori, who's company is trying to build the Highwood Generating Station outside of Great Falls, was in attendance. Missoula was one of several Montana cities to opt out of purchasing power from Great Falls, which is invested in the facility.

Ask Hedges, a longtime outspoken foe of Schweitzer's policy, what she thinks of it, and she'll likely say, "What energy policy?"

"He doesn't have an energy policy," she said. "He has a tax policy."

She's referring to his "clean and green" energy bill passed during the 2007 Legislature.

It encourages coal companies to retrofit their power plants to reduce carbon emissions through means of tax incentives, but doesn't slap them on the wrist or tax them, for example if they choose not to.

Instead of focusing on the supply side building up the energy industry in Montana Hedges recommends Schweitzer look at the demand side. In essence, teaching people how to conserve.

Public Service Commissioner Bob Raney agrees.

There are times in the day when electricity is less expensive, he said. Say, like, in the wee hours of the morning.

"Right now, you have no incentives to wash clothes at 3 a.m.," he said.

Changing the energy supply system would encourage people to consume electricity at different times of the day.

Raney also is concerned that building transmission lines is not the solution to the state's energy dilemma. Instead, he fears the opposite. If transmission lines holding Montana-made power run out of the state, what will be left for local residents? he asked.

Gail Small of Lame Deer is the executive director of Native Action, a nonprofit community-empowerment organization and a panelist Tuesday. She scolded Schweitzer for focusing his energy efforts in parts of the state that surround six of the seven American Indian reservations in Montana, but failed to include the tribes in these discussions.

"The only way we've had our voices heard is through litigation," Small said. "It's been a real David and Goliath fight. It's unfortunate it's still like that."

The long-term impacts of coal production and carbon sequestration will affect the reservations, she said. Tribes cannot take a stance on the governor's energy policy one way or another until they have been presented with all the facts.

Evan Barrett, the governor's chief business development officer, outlined the governor's policy. Schweitzer is an advocate of wind, bio-fuels and (the most contentious part) coal production but only if its done in a "clean and green" manner, Barrett said. This is how to depend less on foreign oil and beef up Montana's economy, he said.

If nothing else, Barrett used the opportunity to clear up some misconceptions.

Schweitzer does not support coal-fired power plants, just coal development. The difference is that with new technology that doesn't burn coal, less carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. That's the gas scientists say largely attributes to global warming. And Schweitzer is not all about coal development, it's just the topic that causes the biggest stir, Barrett said.

He also addressed concerns about the amount of water necessary to make the type of coal plant Schweitzer is encouraging plausible. In a worst-case scenario, it will require just seven barrels of water to produce one barrel of oil, Barrett said. On a large scale, that may cause people to pause, but Montana is not producing that level, he said.

"No one's talking about a billion barrels," he said. "We are talking small scale."

The fourth panelist, who did not take issue with the governor's energy policy, was Mark Lambrecht, manger of regulatory affairs for PPL Montana, a company that generates power for a large portion of the state.

What did concern Lambrecht were a number of the recommendations made by the governor's advisory group on climate change. Among the list of suggestions was one to require a larger percentage of renewable energy sources be included in energy portfolios and one to require instead of simply asking coal plants to capture or sequester carbon.

He applauded the governor's support of a tax reduction on equipment used to capture carbon dioxide, he said.

Although PPL Montana is looking at investing in renewable energy options and ways to capture carbon dioxide, he reminded people that it's expensive new technology and it's too early to begin weaning away from coal.

"Coal has to be a reliable energy source for this country," he said.

There was no time for questions from the audience once everyone had given their presentations, most of which also had to be condensed significantly.

And even though many of the panelists had differing perspectives to bring to the discussion, the group was, nonetheless, cordial and complimentary.

"I do believe the governor listens," Hedges said. "He is capable of change. When this gets back to him, he'll be angry. ... But I'll be surprised if that if in a year, that presentation isn't different."