Montana lawmakers craft measures to deal with plant closure

HELENA – If some Montana lawmakers have their way, shutting down two of the Colstrip power plant’s four coal-fired units won’t be cheap for the plant’s owners.

The Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committee has drafted seven bills that would impose millions of dollars in fees on Colstrip’s owners for 10 years following the units’ closure.

The proposed legislation also would raise taxes on all electricity producers in Montana to pay for grants to communities that lose natural resource jobs. The bill package also requires the state Department of Environmental Quality’s approval of any decommissioning and remediation plans for coal-fired plants.

The two older Colstrip units’ closure by 2022 is required in a legal settlement filed last month.

The committee will decide next month whether to file the bills for the 2017 legislative session.