By Tom Lutey, Billings Gazette
A Supreme Court decision limiting EPA powers to steer energy companies away from coal-fired power plants is unlikely to change the trajectory of Montana energy.
The Court’s conservative majority Thursday rejected the EPA’s dormant policy of using carbon emission caps to steer energy companies into cleaner generation, meaning either natural-gas burning power plants or renewable energy. The policy was part of former President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which proposed state-level carbon emissions reductions, which in Montana were nearly impossible to meet without at least reducing power from coal-fired power plants, namely Colstrip.
