VICTORY: State Revokes Air Pollution Permit for Highwood Coal-Fired Power Plant

The Highwood Mountains, with the Missouri River in the foreground.  Photo © Edith Oberley of Bitterroot and Bergamot.

(August 2009)   Southern Montana Electric (SME) has finally abandoned its efforts to build a coal-fired power plant east of Great Falls—at least for now. 

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) originally issued a permit to SME in June 2007 to build the Highwood Generating Station, a 250-megawatt plant.  Despite many pending legal challenges, SME began construction on the plant in October 2008.  But the project ran into intense opposition, litigation, and financial troubles, and SME was forced to place it on hold. 

SME more recently submitted a modification to its air pollution permit that would allow it to build a natural gas plant at the same site. However, SME said it wanted to keep the permit for the coal plant, but just build the natural gas plant first.

On July 31st, SME finally “gave up the ghost” and asked the State to revoke the air pollution permit for the coal plant.  An air pollution permit is the primary permit needed to build a large industrial facility such as a coal plant.  Applying for a new air pollution permit for a coal plant will be expensive, time-consuming, and face the same intense opposition that the original permit faced—should SME ever decide to do it.

And despite the revocation he requested, SME’s general manager could not quite drop the idea of building a coal plant.  He was quoted in the Great Falls Tribune as saying “the request to have the permit revoked [was] a realignment of our order of build-out of generation, not necessarily the death of a coal-fired facility….”

There are many possible reasons why SME asked the State to revoke its air pollution permit for the coal plant.  SME may have wanted to avoid paying for a more thorough MEPA analysis.  It was known that SME’s member co-ops were tired of the escalating costs and debts associated with the project.  It was clear that the opposition to the plant was well-organized and tenacious.  Whatever the reasons, and whatever long-term “pipe dreams” SME might still cling to, for now a celebration is in order because one more coal plant will not be built. 

Stopping the Highwood Generating Station was no easy task.  Many people and organizations have helped throughout the years by attending public meetings, searching through local and state government files, writing letters, participating in strategy sessions, doing research, and providing litigation assistance.

The most pivotal help in the fight came from Citizens for Clean Energy, a well-organized and tenacious group of volunteers in Great Falls.  CCE is chaired by the never-sleeping Lt. Col. (and rancher) Rich Leibert.  It was originally chaired by Dr. Cheryl Reichert.  CCE members have spent thousands of hours working to stop the project, and the organization has participated in many of the lawsuits against the plant. 

Other CCE members who deserve mention for their incredible efforts over the years include Ron and Kathy Gessaman, Charles Bocock, Aart Dolman, Lisa Hardiman, Stuart and Hilary Lewin, Ron Mathsen, Jerry Taylor, Pam Morris, and many more.

One national organization has helped enormously — Earthjustice.  It has provided the best legal representation anyone could ask for.  The attorneys on the case, Abigail Dillen and Jenny Harbine, are fearless, professional, and unrelenting.  Most of the Highwood-related lawsuits could never have happened without their generous assistance.
Montana lawyers who have donated countless hours to stopping this coal plant include Beth Best of Great Falls, Roger Sullivan, and David Wilson.

National environmental and historic preservation groups also provided critical assistance, including the Sierra Club, Western Clean Energy Campaign, National Parks Conservation Association, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Montana Preservation Alliance, and too many other Montana-based organizations to mention.

And finally, MEIC members deserve an enormous amount of credit. MEIC could not have fought against this proposal without the generous financial support of its members. MEIC members from all corners of Montana have written letters, attended hearings, made telephone calls, and helped convince the cities of Missoula, Helena, and Bozeman that they should not purchase power from this plant.

This successful campaign has been a testament to the tireless efforts of many working toward a common goal.  It is important to take a minute and thank all those who made it possible and who will continue to make sure that no coal-fired plant is built at the site, and that DEQ and SME follow the requirements of the law in whatever they may do.