Officers of the U.S. Navy and USS Billings LCS-15 begin the change of command ceremony aboard the ship at Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Larry French)
by Michael J. Marino
The first combat ship of the United States Navy to ever be named after the Magic City, the USS Billings, held a change of command ceremony March 23, at the ship’s home base in Jacksonville, Florida.
A change of command occurs when one ship captain takes over for the previous skipper. This ceremony was unique as there were two outgoing captains but only one to relieve them. Previously, there were two crews, Blue and Gold, under Captains Brett Seeley and Jeffrey Gernig. Captain Seeley had been with the ship since it’s commissioning in 2015.
The two crews have now combined into the Silver Crew, who will be under the command of Curtis L. Thomas II.
“It’s bittersweet,” said Ron Spence, president of a nonprofit group called Friends of the USS Billings. “The families of the outgoing captains are happy because they get to have Dad home for a couple of years, but the captains are going to miss being at sea, so you know, it’s a bittersweet event.”
by Michael J. Marino
NorthWestern Energy (NWE) says they plan to appeal a recent court decision which vacates the company’s air quality permit for the Yellowstone County Generating Station, a gas-powered energy plant, which was under construction near Laurel prior to the ruling.
District Court Judge Michael Moses issued the ruling April 6, after Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC) and the Sierra Club filed suit against NWE and Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) in October 2021. The lawsuit challenges DEQ’s decision to give NWE an air quality permit for the proposed station, citing concerns from several neighbors who live and work near the site.
According to the initial complaint, the generation station “would contribute to regional air quality problems, risk water contamination… and cause significant greenhouse gas pollution that contributes to climate change.” The Court’s decision invalidates the permit and requires NorthWestern Energy to stop construction of the generating station along the Yellowstone River in Laurel.
The concerned neighbors formed a group called Thiel Road Coalition (TRC), named after the street most of the members live off of in Laurel, to formally take a stand against the utility building a methane gas plant in the area.
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