Doug Howell, Senior Campaign Representative, (206) 450-6654
Caleb Heeringa, Senior Press Secretary, (425) 890-9744
David Merrill, Senior Organizing Representative - Montana, (406) 218-8175
Puget Sound Energy’s proposed sale of its ownership share of a Montana coal plant would likely increase climate pollution, raise monthly costs for PSE customers and handicap the utility’s ability to invest in clean energy in the coming years.
The Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission will take public comment on the proposed sale during an online public hearing tomorrow, Oct. 8. On Monday, UTC staff recommended that commissioners deny the sale, saying it would provide no benefit to customers compared to the status quo.
Though a majority of the owners of the Colstrip plant in Eastern Montana are moving towards closing the plant no later than 2025 due to escalating costs, PSE is proposing to sell its 25% ownership stake in Colstrip Unit 4 for $1 to Talen Energy and Montana-based NorthWestern Energy, which says it intends to run the plant until at least 2042. Unit 4 emits 5 million tons of climate pollution every year, the equivalent of 1 million cars on the road.
Washington state’s Clean Energy Transformation Act, passed in 2019, requires Washington state utilities to be coal-free by 2025. Legislators expected this CETA provision to lead to the retirement of Colstrip. The Washington Legislature also passed House bill 2311, establishing new climate reduction targets that call for utilities to avoid outsourcing their pollution to other states.
Under the terms of the proposed contract, PSE is obligated to buy back 90 megawatts of Unit 4 power from NorthWestern and Talen for five years, regardless of whether electricity from other sources is cheaper. NorthWestern has come under increasing scrutiny in Montana for the high costs it charges for power from the aging plant - nearly 3 times the price of electricity from nearby wind farms. PSE recently announced that it would retire Colstrip Units 1 and 2 two years earlier than expected because it was cheaper to buy cleaner electricity on the open market or build new wind, solar and battery storage, yet is proposing to commit its customers to 5 more years of coal power from Unit 4.
The deal also calls for PSE to sell transmission capacity associated with Colstrip to Northwestern and Talen, which is likely to make it harder to replace its coal capacity with wind power from Montana. Montana wind is most productive in the winter - exactly when PSE most needs clean energy. PSE’s last long-term planning process identified Montana wind as its most valuable potential resource, but this deal likely makes it more expensive and tilts the scales in favor of replacing its coal with new fracked gas plants, which could be a financial windfall for the Canadian pension funds that own the utility. PSE is currently collaborating with the Canadian tar sands industry to promote the increased use of gas to the public through Partnership For Energy Progress, a multimillion dollar public relations campaign.
The UTC is expected to make a decision on the sale in the coming months.
“This summer, Washington state lived with two weeks of toxic smoke and lost entire communities to climate-driven wildfires - a consequence of decades of coal burning,” said Doug Howell, Senior Campaign Representative for the Sierra Club. “Rather than working collaboratively to reduce pollution by guiding the Colstrip plant to an orderly retirement, Puget Sound Energy is handing the keys over to one of the country’s most fossil fuel-friendly utilities. That’s not what Washington voters were promised when we passed one of the nation’s strongest clean energy laws.”
“Montana has some of the best wind power potential in the country and we’re relying on clean energy development to replace some of the jobs and tax revenue that will be lost as coal plants close,” said David Merrill, Montana-based Organizer for the Sierra Club. “But clean energy won’t get built if utilities don’t commit to buying it. It’s concerning to see Puget Sound Energy cut and run from Montana by giving away their transmission capacity. A toxic coal plant and a poisoned groundwater from leaking coal ash ponds shouldn’t be the last investment that Washington state makes in Montana.”
A copy of Sierra Club expert testimony with more information on the issue is available HERE.
Information on tomorrow’s public hearing is available below:
The UTC will be holding two virtual public hearings on Thursday, Oct. 8 to take comments on the sale proposal, at 1:30 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Anyone wishing to speak at the comment hearing should contact the commission’s Consumer Protection Help Line at 888-333-WUTC (9882) or consumer@utc.wa.gov to sign up for the session you plan to attend.
Members of the public can join the session of their choice by phone or via the Microsoft Teams application.
Session one: 1:30 p.m.
• To participate in session one by phone, please call 253-372-2181 and enter Conference ID 387 414 077#.
• To participate via the Microsoft Teams application, join Microsoft Teams meeting.
Session two: 6 p.m.
• To participate in session two by phone, please call 253-372-2181 and enter Conference ID 508 314 784#.
• To participate via the Microsoft Teams application, join Microsoft Teams meeting.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.