“No matter what happens we need to start planning for our energy transition now so that we don’t leave some communities without assistance if they are going to see their opportunities decline, but also so that we capture new opportunities across the state for communities that have those options,” Haggerty said. “Our job is to generate ideas and nurture them for the time when the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable.”

Shelby Mayor Larry Bonderud said his community aggressively sought wind energy development and the effort has paid major dividends. After four to five years of construction the utilities now employ dozens of permanent employees while spending millions of dollars in Toole County. Many people, especially youths, have trained to work at the sites and are now able to stay in their community, he said.

“This can occur in rural Montana and it’s a way to diversify the economy in rural Montana,” Bonderud said.

Diana Maneta, executive director of the Montana Renewable Energy Association, noted that nationwide there are more jobs in solar energy than in oil and gas extraction. The cost of solar panels has dropped and Montana has seen an uptick in community solar projects, and the first utility-sized installations are slated for the next year.