Governor: Montana Joins Regional Energy Education Effort
Press Release
Governor: Montana Joins Regional Energy Education Effort
Partnership will Train Montanans for Montana Energy Jobs
Governor Brian Schweitzer today announced that Montana State University- Billings will become a regional center for excellence for energy education by collaborating with Idaho State University's Energy Systems Technology & Education Center (ESTEC) to bring energy curriculum to Montana students.
ESTEC will have an instructional focus with three Associate of Applied Science degrees to integrate education and training requirements for graduates to maintain existing plants as well as to install and test components in new plants. These three areas of study will be available at MSU-B to help prepare Montana students for Montana energy jobs.
"Thousands more high-paying energy jobs are coming to Montana and we need to make sure Montanans are ready," said Governor Schweitzer. "We've got more biofuel plants, wind farms, manufacturing plants, and clean coal projects coming to the state that require a highly skilled workforce. By training Montanans we make our state even more attractive to existing and potential developers of energy projects."
The partnership will have an immediate benefit on one of Montana's most important new energy projects on the Crow Reservation.
Carl Venne, Chairman of the Crow Tribe of Indians, which recently inked a deal with Australian-American Energy Company to build the Many Stars coal-to-liquids plant on the reservation, praised the ESTEC program for helping train a Montana workforce for energy-related jobs. The project, when completed, will retain up to 900 high-paying permanent jobs. Venne said tribal leaders witnessed the success of the educational program in Idaho and are very supportive of efforts to replicate it in Montana.
"The Many Stars coal-to-liquids project is just one of many energy projects in Montana that will require highly trained, skilled workers," Venne said. "This program fills an educational need in Montana that will prepare Montanans for the high-paying energy jobs on our horizon."
Over the last three years Montana has markedly increased coal production, oil production, refinery capacity, biofuel production, and electrical generation creating thousands of energy related jobs.
"ESTEC embraces a model of collaboration between education, industry, and community outreach partners. Idaho State University, The Idaho National Laboratory, and Partners for Prosperity, the three operating partners of ESTEC, bring to the table a system for providing industry approved curriculum and a community wide STEM outreach component that has proven successful. We are excited to partner with Montana to share curriculum and minimize our individual efforts and expenditures to develop programs that will meet energy workforce needs. With the support of Opportunity Link to coordinate the conversations and meeting facilitation over the past seven months, this collaborative effort was made possible in Montana," said ESTEC Executive Director Scott Rasmussen.
Other partners of ESTEC include the Idaho National Laboratory and Partners for Prosperity.
The three ESTEC Associate of Applied Science degrees that will be available at MSU-B are:
Energy Systems Mechanical Engineering Technology
Energy Systems Electrical Engineering Technology
Energy Systems Instrumentation and Control Engineering Technology
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