Jon Tester for U.S. Senate

A Lewis and Clark County biomass project is making headway in obtaining federal funding.

This year’s Energy and Water Appropriations Act passed the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday. The legislation would provide $800,000 for the Tri-County Biomass Pilot Project, which would use woody biomass produced in Lewis and Clark, Jefferson and Broadwater counties to create renewable energy for the city of Helena. The three counties yield about 350,000 tons of biomass a year, from sources like dead trees.

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SHEPHERD — Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., says he’ll do what he can to help a Montana company that is vying to play a role in cleaning up the oil released after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Tester met Friday with Bruce Kania, chief executive of Floating Islands International. The 11-year-old company has developed patented floating islands that purify polluted water by mimicking the properties of natural wetlands. A 250,000-square-foot floating island, Kania told Tester, could be harnessed to treat up to 1 million gallons of oil-fouled water per minute. Now that the flow from the Deepwater Horizon oil well has been contained and the gusher may soon be permanently plugged, public attention is turning to cleanup efforts throughout the Gulf of Mexico.

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SHEPHERD – Senator Jon Tester is pushing to get Montana technology working to clean up oil in the Gulf.

Floating Island International is a Montana based company that makes habitats to purify water. The floating islands made of recycled materials house microbes that eat impurities right out of the water.

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Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., took a swipe Friday at two of the alternatives that Yellowstone National Park officials are considering as part of their winter-use planning.

“Two of these proposals aren’t going to fly in my book because, like most Montanans, I believe snowmobiles and snowcoaches have an important place in Yellowstone,” Tester said in a statement.

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In light of Heights traffic snarls stemming from the Father’s Day tornado, the U.S. Senate is considering $1million in road improvements to Bench Boulevard.

Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $1 million for turning Bench Boulevard into an emergency traffic route out of the Heights. The committee also set aside $500,000 to improve the outdated emergency radio system used by Billings and Yellowstone County police and firefighters.

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