TOM LUTEY
Montanaâs Attorney General has been roped into a Colstrip Power Plant lawsuit for his new role as maintenance enforcer under laws created by the Montana Legislature.
The Legislatureâs Republican majority empowered AG Austin Knudsen to dictate maintenance at Colstrip and to issue fines of $100,000 a day to power plant owners who didnât comply.
Knudsen, who made it clear to The Billings Gazette during the legislative session that he played no supporting role in the lawmakersâ work, did not respond to calls both on Thursday and Friday for comment about the lawsuit.
Colstripâs majority owners â Avista Corp. and Puget Sound Energy of Washington and PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric â are asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, Billings Division for an injunction stopping Knudsen from enforcing the new Montana law, which they argue violates business contract rights protected in the U.S. Constitution and
Colstrip coal fired power plant in October 2020.
The first application period for $10 million in transition funds is now open for workers and communities affected by last year’s closures at two of the Colstrip power plant’s four units.
Colstrip residents and volunteers behind the Colstrip Impacts Foundation began accepting applications Monday for the distribution of funds from power plant part-owner Puget Sound Energy of Washington State.
The pool of money is the result of a 2017 rate case settlement between Puget and the State of Montana and will go to affected individuals and organizations, with the bulk of the funds flagged for economic development in the community at large.