Family Man
Born and raised on his parents’ cattle ranch on the Great Plains of Eastern Montana, and the grandson of German and Irish immigrants who homesteaded in Montana, Brian and his wife Nancy have three children and a now-famous border collie, Jag.
Scientist that actually gives a damn about our economy
Governor Schweitzer brings a unique global perspective to his job as Governor. He has a Master of Science degree in Soil Science from Montana State University, worked overseas to bring American agricultural methods to the developing world. In Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, and Saudi Arabia, he oversaw large-scale irrigation projects and the construction of several of the world’s largest dairies.
The Governor is interested in bio-fuel and wind energy production. He is a leader on national energy issues especially domestic production of clean energy and fuels to replace foreign oil.
Governor Schweitzer and his wife Nancy, who is a botanist, share an interest in science. Together, they launched the Governor and First Lady’s Math and Science Initiative. Brian is looking forward to challenging students in high school and encouraging them to prepare for a career in math, science and technology.
Here is his Biogrophy from the Montana Government Website:
Governor Brian Schweitzer is a farmer and rancher who held no elected office prior to being elected as the first Democratic Governor to serve Montana in 20 years.
The grandson of Montana homesteaders, he grew up on his folks’ cattle ranch in the Judith Basin. Governor Schweitzer went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in international agronomy from Colorado State University, and later earned a Master of Science degree in soil science from Montana State University.
He worked overseas on agricultural projects and has visited 37 countries across the world. Governor Schweitzer oversaw the building of major irrigation projects and the construction of the world’s largest dairy farm in Saudi Arabia.
With his unique global perspective, Governor Schweitzer is a leading national voice to end our addiction to foreign oil by developing clean and green American energy with Montana leading the way.
Under Governor Schweitzer, Montana is on the move:
• Created more jobs at higher wages than anytime in history.
• Cut more taxes for more Montanans than any other time in the state’s history, including a $400 rebate to Montana homeowners.
• Increased Montana’s electrical generation capacity more during his administration than the previous 16 years combined where the state is one of only two states in the country to have increased oil production; in fact it’s up by 50%.
• Invested more in both K-12 and higher education than any previous administration – while also capping tuition at our state’s colleges and universities, the first such effort in a generation.
• Increased the number of children on the Children’s Health Insurance Program by more than 3,000 now providing quality healthcare to more than 16,000 kids and giving the future a healthy start in life.
• Montana’s bond rating has been upgraded for the first time in 26 years with Moody’s, Fitch and Standard and Poor’s Investment Services – a sign of sound fiscal management in state government.
Here's some gems from an interview with Glenn Beck:
Governor Schweitzer: Well, we’re not going to lose our gun rights in Montana. You can bet on that, but I can assure you of this: Montana will continue to take the lead to make America energy independent. We’re not going to allow dictators to push us around anymore. We have an infinite supply of energy in this country. We just have a finite supply of resolve to get it right … (on Cap and Trade) We’re already giving $2 a gallon to dictators who are trying to destroy our way of life. Look, I support the concerns that people world have with carbon dioxide but we have the technology right now to produce all of our energy domestically, to drive all of your cars, run of all trains and plains, light all of your light bulbs without importing oil from them and we can sequester our CO2 … (on domestic drilling and Congress) Here’s what I’d say to you. We don’t ask much from Congress and they don’t deliver much. Most of us as governors are building our own energy proposals. We’re putting together our own energy independence because God help us if Congress was the only ones responsible to save this country. Here’s a couple of things that we would need from Congress. There are some certain things that have to be passed at a Federal level. Otherwise, you create problems with competition between states in a bad way. In other words, people will just run over the border to do something because you can’t do it in another state.
Some Of Gov. Schweitzer’s ideas: No. 1, Congress passes two pieces of legislation. The first one would be a 15 percent tax credit for any consumer that buys a plug in hybrid car SUV or pickup that gets a minimum of 40 miles on a charge and runs on electricity for the first 40 miles. Let me tell you what that would do. Pacific Northwest Labs, a primary contractor of the Department of Energy, has already studied this. They found that we could decrease the consumption of oil in all of our transportation fleet by 83 percent if we had plug-in hybrids the first 40 miles. 93 percent of all the cars in America drive less than 40 miles a day. That means we could run the whole fleet on electricity 93 percent of the time.Second, every utility in America, they must buy electricity from anybody on the system that they sell electricity to, so that when you drive home from work, you plug your car in, you walk in, you turn on your light and the electricity comes from the charge power in your car. You make your meal with your battery in your car and in the middle of the night when we have excess electricity three times as much electricity grid capacity as we actually need because we build this grid for today, your car recharges. The next day, if you don’t need a full 40 miles, you start selling electricity right back into the grid for three or four times what you paid for it. We make every consumer a better consumer, a bar capitalist. We couldn’t have to put up one copper wire. Northwest, this same lab, they found that we have the grid capacity to level the electrons and then, with coal gasification, places like Montana, with wind power, solar power, we can tell the dictators to boil in their own oil.
I don’t agree with cap and trade. I have a better idea, one that’s better for this country, better for the world, and it’s simply this: I wouldn’t give another nickel to the Federal government because they’ll find some play to pee it away. What I would do is I would say instead of a cap and trade system, folks, I want you to understand what cap and trade means. If you’re a big utility that’s been using coal over the last 100 years, Congress is going to franchise you to produce that quantity of CO2. You could turn around and sell out of the business and put a trillion dollars in your pocket. What we’re doing is we’re shifting wealth from the population as a whole to a few utilities and it’s not going to do a dang thing about developing new technology. Here’s what I would do: Those of us who produce carbon dioxide, I would put a technology fee of $12.50 per ton. I would use 100 percent of that money as a technology fee. I wouldn’t give it to the Federal government. We would create a quasi-private corporation that would do all the research and development. Those of us who pay in will own the intellectual property and we’ll be able to sell this technology all over the world in China, in India, and other places that are producing great quantities of CO2 and the consumer, the consumer will not see their energy prices go up because that $12.50 a ton, we can start decreasing the carbon dioxide emissions by at least 5 percent per year. It won’t increase the cost of your energy, and we’ll develop the technologies that the be giving the greatest boom to America’s industry since the industrial revolution. What’s wrong with that?
Exactly! What is wrong with that?
All this and Constitutional Defender...jeez we need this guy bad.
I wanna move to Montana...
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