Stop the Price Hikes With Clean Energy, Urge Local Climate Advocates Traveling to Washington, D.C.

Citizens' Climate Lobby volunteers lobby Congress each year and in their districts during the year. Photo credit Citizens' Climate Lobby With unprecedented record-breaking heat waves hitting earlier and earlier for Montana residents, many folks have debilitating heat, wildfires, drought, and soaring energy costs on their minds. For Kalispell residents Jaden Woeppel and Mady Rigg (Miss Montana USA 2023) there’s an obvious solution—Montana’s Congressional delegation must push for more efficient, renewable energy, proven to lower energy costs. In July, they will travel to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to meet with the offices of Senators Sheehy and Daines and Representatives Zinke and Downing to urge them to support the energy solutions their constituents want. They will join hundreds of Citizens’ Climate Lobby volunteers from Montana and other states asking Congress to support clean energy. Sixty-three percent of Americans polled in December 2024 by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication stated that developing clean energy sources should be a high or very high priority for the President and Congress. Fifty-four percent of Montanans agree. Yet, in recent weeks, Senators Sheehy and Daines and Representatives Zinke and Downing voted to pass legislation that hinders clean energy and in turn raises the household energy costs their constituents in Montana will pay. On July 3, House Republicans took the final vote to pass the budget reconciliation bill and send it to the President’s desk. Unfortunately, provisions in the bill phase out popular clean energy tax credits that have worked well for Montana. Clean energy projects, from Cascade to Custer County, have an estimated investment of $2,359,272,776. Concerningly, around $15.5 billion in new factories and electricity projects had already been canceled nationwide since January due to the uncertain state of federal policy. Now, Energy Innovation Policy & Technology predicts Montana is on course for significant economic damage with the loss of the credits, including lost jobs, lost GDP, and higher consumer costs. The repeal of federal funding and tax credits reduces Montana’s GDP by $3.3 billion in 2030 and $1.46 billion in 2035, compared to maintaining current policies. Lower investment and higher energy bills due to repealing these federal programs and tax incentives will cost nearly 12,800 Montana jobs in 2030 and more than 6,800 jobs in 2035, compared to current policies. “Unfortunately, the One Big Beautiful Bill, signed into law on July 4, 2025, is not favorable to clean energy, with preferences instead for the polluting technologies of the past,” said Mady. “Not only does this sabotage our cheapest, cleanest energy sources, it doubles down on fossil-fuel-exacerbated carbon pollution which traps heat in the atmosphere and guarantees more severe heat in the future. Jaden added, “This is bad news for everyday folks in Montana who will see clean energy job opportunities dwindle and energy bills increase by nearly $80 per year in 2030 and nearly $150 per year in 2035. Moving forward, we are urging our members of Congress to find consensus across the aisle for bipartisan policy that ensures Montanans and all Americans have abundant, affordable clean energy.” County commissioners and mayors wrote letters of support addressed to our Montana delegation asking them to protect the clean-energy tax credits. Montana CCL volunteers delivered them to our members of Congress and will hand-deliver written copies in their upcoming lobby meetings. Mady also said, “I'm not someone who leaves the Flathead Valley in the summer, especially not the second half of July, where I aim to spend as much time as possible enjoying the cool, clean waters of Flathead Lake. But I'm headed to D.C. to face extreme heat and humidity with CCL for the second year because I witnessed firsthand how rewarding building a real and impactful relationship with our members of Congress can be. In a time where making any kind of progress is difficult and the world feels doom and gloom, it is truly a hugely meaningful experience to be with people who are grounded, level-headed, and deeply passionate—both about climate change and about respect. “CCL introduced me to a whole new, more effective way of creating meaningful and lasting change, something I find to be vital to the effort of protecting people and our planet from climate change, and in advocating for other meaningful causes in my life. It's given me the skills and confidence to put my beliefs into action and I cannot wait to join the thousands of other CCL volunteers to make a big difference,” said Mady. Before their lobby meetings, Mady and Jaden will join with other CCL volunteers—hailing from Flathead to Carter Counties—to attend CCL’s 2025 Summer Conference, where they will hear from inspiring speakers, learn effective advocacy skills, and share their climate concerns with other citizens from across the USA. Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a nonpartisan, nonprofit grassroots organization that brings together volunteers from across the political spectrum to advocate for legislation to help solve climate change. Volunteers meet regularly with their members of Congress to ask them to support federal policy to lower the heat-trapping emissions altering and polluting our climate.