The Great Falls Tribune is running a story today called, “Senators say base might get fuel plant.” They are talking about a Coal to Liquid (CTL) fuels plant for Malmstrom AFB.

Being an interested party in what goes on at Malmstrom and the military in Montana, I read this article closely. The one part that stood out is they will probably tear up the runway at Malmstrom permanently to build it. Ouch.

My first thought after reading the story was: Is this the best the Air Force and Montana’s three member congressional delegation can do? It seemed Senators Max Baucus, Jon Tester, and Representative Denny Rehberg were overly excited about the idea.

I would have to say that Malmstrom’s future does not look too bright.

The delegation has been told a fairy tail by the Air Force. The Air Force probably believes this idea will shut them up for a few years – probably not just a few because it would take more than a few years for this plant to be built, if ever. Maybe the Air Force plans on slowly taking all the missiles away and closing the base except to produce energy?

With all the anger toward the Highwood Generating Station in Great Falls, I don’t think a CTL plant would be welcome, either.

I’m not an expert on energy issues, but I have read some articles about the Coal to Liquid (CTL) idea. CTL is not new, but it comes with some serious problems that need to be worked out. We have plenty of coal with some estimates saying the United States has a 450 year supply. If the Highwood Generating Station and the CTL plant at Malmstrom were both built, would this harm the environment in and around Great Falls? Would we have to drain the Missouri river to run the plants?

Some experts say the emissions from vehicles using this fuel are not any better.

There’s also talk about capturing and storing the carbon dioxide from CTL plants underground, but that’s not very well tested yet and who knows if it will even stay underground. I do believe CTL may be a viable answer to our energy woes down the road – way down the road after they find a way to sequester the emissions from the process.

In regards to the runway at Malmstrom AFB, many folks may remember, Sen. Max Baucus almost opened the runway at Malmstrom a few years ago when he secretly inserted language in the highway bill to open it. But, as someone said at that time, Max fumbled the ball going into the end zone when he announced it was a “done deal” before the bill had been voted on. It was stopped in the House of Representatives and Max had to remove the language for the highway bill to pass. This placed Malmstrom’s runway on the radar of almost every senator and representative across the country, as well as the Department of Defense, and it may never open because of Max’s error.

There are tons of ideas on the use of the Malmstrom’s runway, like moving the Guard’s flying unit there, using it for Homeland Security flying missions, contracting its use for civilian defense contractors, etc. One thing for sure, if they dig it up for a CTL plant, you’ll never see a plane on Malmstrom again, although we may see some dark clouds east of Great Falls.

So, I say “Thanks, But No Thanks” to the Air Force. Give Malmstrom a flying mission from the military or let another federal agency or defense contractor use it.