Montana utility regulators asked to address climate risks - Billings Gazette

Montana utility regulators asked to address climate risks

Montana’s Public Service Commission is being asked to draw up rules for evaluating climate change risks created by utilities they regulate.
Puget Sound Energy became the second co-owner of the Colstrip Power plant from the Pacific Northwest to invest in Montana wind energy on Wednesday. Pryor Mountain Wind facility near Warren, seen here recently, was developed by PacifCorp., also a co-owner of Colstrip.

In a Wednesday filing, authored by several conservation groups and businesses, commissioners were asked to bring their rules into compliance with Montanan’s constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment. The petition for rulemaking on evaluating climate risks comes seven months after a state District Court ruled that Montana’s government should be evaluating climate risks as part its environmental review before issuing permits.

The petitioners included the Montana Environmental Information Center, Bridger Bowl, Families for a Livable Climate, and the Montana Chapter of American Pediatrics.
The Rosebud Power Plant north of Colstrip is seen on Nov. 14, 2023.

If the commission opts not to create rules for evaluating climate risks, then the issue would advance to court, said attorney Jenny Harbine of EarthJustice, though she expects its probable the commission will act.

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“We’re really optimistic that the Commission will, will implement its constitutional obligations to maintain and improve the clean and healthful environment, including unhealthy climates for Montanans,” Harbine said. “And so, we're hoping we don't have to cross that bridge. If the commission decides not to abide by those constitutional obligations, it certainly subjects itself to legal arguments that it acted unlawfully.”

Climate change has been a part of utility matters before the PSC for several years, as intervening parties argued that utility investments in fossil fuel-burning power plants created economic and environmental risks for customers.
The expected closure of Colstrip's coal-fired power plants will result in negative impacts on the community and coal-fired boilers could be replaced by an SMR that would provide clean energy and good-paying jobs, according to a Senate Joint Resolution.

But those concerns have mostly been dismissed. In April NorthWestern Energy’s vice president of supply and Montana government affairs, John Hines, testified before the PSC that NorthWestern’s carbon emissions were inconsequential to climate change.

There has been interest among commissioners to take up permitting authority for power plants. Specifically, Commissioner Randy Pinocci suggested that the PSC, not the Department of Environmental Quality, should be permitting power plants.

However, Pinocci’s interest was more in getting power plants permitted, not assessing climate risks. The commissioner from Sun River had suggested on more than one occasion that carbon emissions weren’t concerning, at one point likening the risk presented by power plant emissions to bubbles in carbonated drinks.