HELENA, Mont. – The struggle is ramping up over the Colstrip coal-fired power plant and Montana's energy future.

A headline-grabbing measure in the Legislature, nicknamed the Save Colstrip bill, would have allowed the utility NorthWestern Energy to buy a unit of the coal plant without regulatory oversight and pass the costs on to customers.

That bill failed, but House Bill 467 passed. It allows interest rates of 2% to 3% to pay off Colstrip after the plant stops producing energy.

Customers are currently paying more than 8% interest as they pay down the $407 million plant until 2042.

Anne Hedges, deputy director of the Montana Environmental Information Center, says HB 467 could save Montanans $100 million.

"Do customers get stuck with a bill that they shouldn't, or do customers have some type of relief?” she raises. “And this bill is all about providing customers with relief."

Hedges says the lowered interest rate is comparable to refinancing a house and will save money when the plant is no longer operational – likely more than a decade before it is fully paid off.

Gov. Steve Bullock signed HB 467 last week.

NorthWestern Energy CEO Bob Rowe says Colstrip has been a year-round, reliable source of energy. He maintains the Save Colstrip bill was needed to provide financial certainty for the plant.

The Montana Environmental Information Center and Sierra Club counter there could be a faster way to bring down energy costs. They and other groups questioned NorthWestern's $400 million investment in Colstrip a decade ago, since the utility bought that stake for roughly $190 million.

Now, NorthWestern is in the middle of a rate case.

Mike Scott, a senior representative with Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign in Montana, says the regulatory commission overseeing the process should consider Colstrip's current value.

"We think it's appropriate that if they want to use this model of how to establish rates that they should take a look at what the value of the plant is now, not what it was 10 years ago,” he states. “And we think that's going to be a dramatic difference, and probably a good cost-savings for Montana ratepayers."

Hedges adds while NorthWestern is passing on costs for an unsustainable coal plant, it also is trying to hike rates for rooftop solar.

With renewables surpassing coal for energy production in the U.S. for the first time in April, Hedges describes Montana as in a struggle for its energy future.

"It is very much about the future of our energy system, because if NorthWestern gets overcompensated for coal and manages to functionally eliminate net-metering, you know where the state's going,” she stresses. “It's going in the opposite direction of every other utility and state in this nation."

Groups concerned about pollution and climate change are asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a trio of bills dubbed the "make polluters pay" package.

Assembly Bill 1866 would increase fees on 40,000 idle oil wells and accelerate cleanup.

Nayamin Martinez, executive director of the Central California Environmental Justice Network, said right now, companies often pay fees without actually cleaning up "orphan wells."

"The authorities are not proactively going and inspecting these sites," Martinez pointed out. "We have a program that goes to do inspections on active and abandoned uncapped wells, and we have found that many of them are leaking."

The Western States Petroleum Association argued current regulations are sufficient and companies are making progress plugging their idle wells.

A second measure, Assembly Bill 3233, would protect local communities' rights to limit oil drilling. It comes in response to a lawsuit from Chevron, eliminating a part of 'Measure Z' in Monterey County, which would have required companies to phase out oil drilling in that area.

Raquel Mason, senior legislative manager for the California Environmental Justice Alliance, said oil wells leak methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and release other toxic substances into the air and water.

"Those pollutants that are coming off these wells can have different health-harming impacts like respiratory issues, different types of cancer, headaches, nosebleeds," Mason outlined. "We hear about too often from community members who are living near these types of facilities."

A third bill would fine oil companies in the Inglewood Oil Field in Los Angeles $10,000 a month for operating low-producing wells near local neighborhoods.

Colorado's second-largest electricity provider, the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, projects new federal clean energy funding will lower costs to Tri-State ratepayers by $420 million over the next 20 years.

Jeremy Fisher, principal adviser for climate and energy at the Sierra Club, said many urban customers are already benefiting from less costly wind and solar power, largely generated in wide-open, rural spaces.

"While that can be great for jobs and has been fantastic economic development opportunities, a lot of rural customers haven't actually seen those direct benefits accrue to their bills," Fisher pointed out.

Tri-State is one of 16 rural electric cooperatives selected to get a chunk of more than $7 billion allocated through the Biden administration's Empowering Rural America Program, the largest investment in rural electrification since the Great Depression.

The cooperative plans to replace 1,100 megawatts of coal-fired electricity with wind, solar and battery storage. The plan would also cut nearly six tons of climate pollution, the equivalent of tailpipe pollution from 1.4 million gas-powered cars, each year.

Tri-State is set to receive up to $679 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-directed program. Fisher noted the utility has committed up to $70 million to support Moffat County communities, including the town of Craig, where Unit Three of Tri-State's coal plant will close by 2028.

"I think Tri-State has been a leading entity in really pursuing ways of engaging with the communities that are impacted by those closures," Fisher acknowledged. "To ensure that there's employment benefit and financial benefit flowing to those communities."

Fisher believes the program will ensure electric co-ops like Tri-State can remain competitive and resilient, and keep good-paying clean energy jobs in rural communities.

"Leading utilities are stepping up to the plate and have put forward ambitious plans that will be transformational to those communities, and transformational to these energy systems," Fisher concluded.

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation has been awarded a grant to cut climate pollution.

It is part of the Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Pollution Reductions grant program. The funding will be spent on installing electric vehicle charging stations at government buildings around the reservation.

Raheim Eleazer, environmental liaison for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, hopes to install at least a dozen charging stations. He said the funding will help reduce emissions in other ways.

"We're also hoping to electrify some of the governmental fleet vehicles," Eleazer explained. "We're hoping to do 13 of those whether it's hybrid or fully electric vehicles."

Another project for the grant funding involves helping 34 people living on the reservation convert or support their gas-powered cars through a rebate program. He pointed out reducing pollution from transportation has substantial health benefits. Connecticut's worsening air quality has increased asthma rates for Mashantucket Pequot Tribe members. While the grant runs for five years, each project has its own timeline.

Feedback to the grant has been resoundingly positive. Eleazer pointed out electric-vehicle charging stations are a big focus for the community. He thinks the new charging stations will encourage people to buy electric vehicles and added it is only the start, since the comprehensive climate action plan outlines plans for other renewable energy projects.

"The possibility or the interest of producing or generating energy from renewable resources such as solar," Eleazer suggested. "I know I have personally been looking into potentially thermal networking for the reservation."

He emphasized creating a microgrid is also an option with interest being shown by the community in diversifying energy generation, because he argued using one renewable energy source is not sustainable in New England.


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