MCV: ‘Montanans of all stripes stunned by latest dirty move by NorthWestern Energy’

(BILLINGS, Mont.) – Executive Director of Montana Conservation Voters Aaron Murphy today released the following statement after NorthWestern Energy announced its intent to buy Puget Sound Energy’s shares in the Colstrip Power Plant for only $1, ignoring consumer demand for more renewable energy and threatening to pass expensive costs on to ratepayers:

“Montanans of all stripes are stunned by this latest move by NorthWestern Energy to stick ratepayers with higher bills while turning its back on its commitment to cleaner energy. The Public Service Commission should remember the people of Montana already rejected this unpopular proposal during the 2019 legislative session and are relying on them as elected leaders to represent Montanans.”

During the 2019 session of the Montana Legislature, Senator Tom Richmond (R-Billings) led a similar, unpopular effort to allow NorthWestern Energy to bypass the oversight of the Montana Public Service Commission in its potential purchase of Colstrip, which would have passed the enormous cost of remediation and decommissioning of the Colstrip plant to NorthWestern’s ratepayers. The bill failed due to bipartisan opposition.

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Montana Conservation Voters is a statewide non-partisan membership organization that is dedicated to fighting for Montana’s air, water, open spaces, wildlife and public health. MCV provides voter participation services to over 72,000 Montanans. Visit mtvoters.org for more details.