Montana Coal Plant Operators Change Minds, Will Keep Running Facility

COLSTRIP, MT — The operator of Colstrip Generating Station — one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the Western U.S. — plans to keep running the plant, a spokesman said Wednesday, abruptly reversing its declaration last year that a new operator would be necessary by the middle of 2018.

The co-owners decided Talen Energy will keep running the Montana plant for the foreseeable future, said Talen spokesman Todd Martin. He did not say what prompted the reversal, which was first reported by the Billings Gazette based on interviews with representatives of other utilities involved in the plant.

The move comes as the coal industry received a political boost from the administration of President Donald Trump following a protracted decline. (For more information on this and other Across Montana stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Talen executives said last year the plant was no longer economically viable. A company lobbyist told lawmakers in March it was losing about $30 million a year on the plant, which is located near the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation and is surrounded by several mines and cattle ranches.

Montana lawmakers this year passed a measure allowing Talen to borrow up to $10 million a year to keep Colstrip fully operational until 2022. The unprecedented arrangement was intended to prop up the plant as coal-plant closures sweep through the utility industry.

But to date no such loan has been sought, said David Ewer with the Montana Board of Investments. Talen has made no contact with the agency since Gov. Steve Bullock signed the loan measure in May, he said.

Two of Colstrip's four power-generating units are scheduled to shut down in mid-2022, under a legal settlement with conservation groups aimed at resolving a lawsuit over decades of pollution from the plant.

Despite the political backing coal is getting from the Trump administration, experts say the industry's long-term decline likely will continue.

Concerns over climate change emissions, low natural gas prices and declining costs for renewable energy from wind and solar have spurred electric utilities nationwide to shift away from burning coal.

By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press

Photo credit: Matthew Brown/Associated Press