Building business opportunities in big sky country: an interview with Governor Steve Bullock.

• Author: Barkey, Patrick
• Position: Workforce Economy ENEGY Entrepreneurship - Interview

MBQ: Yesterday we were at your Main Street Montana event in Missoula, and it was very well attended. I know you've been to Billings already and will be visiting other towns. What is the idea behind the Main Street Montana project?

GOVERNOR: The objectives are numerous. Anybody who would start a business, or wanted to expand a business, or even recruit a business, would typically put together a business plan. They would say, "Here's what I'll need, and this is how I will get there." I don't think the state of Montana has put together any sort of business plan in a long time, if ever. This is the start of that, with a couple of objectives and thoughts in doing so. For one, the state of Montana is not going to create all of the jobs. What we want to do is work with the job creators in ways where we can actually get down to the local level and say, "What are the conditions? How can we improve? How can government serve to create job opportunities, not obstacles?" And also, recognizing that we are a state of 146,000 square miles, what's going to be essential for job creation opportunity in Libby is going to be different than in Miles City. The overall objective is asking business leaders to lead this and come up with our blueprint for where we can go in Montana with job creation and economic development.

ENERGY

MBQ: Energy development is booming in Montana. What types of opportunities and challenges does the state face moving forward?

GOVERNOR: I think there are great opportunities and some obstacles we certainly need to deal with. When we look at the oil and gas production piece of it, most of it is in North Dakota. At my first meeting of the National Governors Association, I met the governor of North Dakota and asked him for a boundary adjustment because we are dealing with some of the impacts but not necessarily all the revenues. The state collects about $200 million in oil and gas tax revenue--$100 million immediately goes out to the counties and the school districts, and the remaining $100 million the state keeps. Under the new legislation proposed, I guess for six years it would end up all going out (to counties) except for $4 million. We want to make sure that the oil and gas production will be something that is long-term in Montana and provides some great opportunities. We also have to look at it long term and recognize that the tax revenue that we bring in is relatively small compared to the overall $10 billion budget. So I think we do need to continue to address infrastructure needs, be it from law enforcement issues to roads, sewer, water, and things like that.

I should also say, and maybe we can get to that later, that the energy production is even bigger than the oil and gas. Wind development is growing rapidly, and there is great potential as long as we can figure out transmission issues and things like that.

MBQ: How does the Keystone XL Pipeline fit into the picture?

GOVERNOR: Shortly after I got elected, I wrote to the President and reiterated that support of the Secretary of State, saying that done right, this could be a tremendous opportunity for the state of Montana. With an on-ramp in Baker and a commitment of, I think, 100,000...