NorthWestern Energy recently announced its purchase of the majority share of Colstrip Units 3 and 4 for the price of $0.00.
Why would two energy companies, Avista and Puget Sound Energy (PSE), give away significant shares of this power plant for free? Sounds like NorthWestern Energy made a pretty sly deal for its customers… right?
Or perhaps Avista and PSE were only too happy to unload this aging power plant, especially since their energy systems are leaving coal behind. Colstrip Units 3 and 4 began operating in 1984 – 40 years ago.
Back in the 1970s, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Units 3 and 4 spelled out the plans for these plants. The DEIS said, “…the life of the plants is expected to be 37 years.”
Units 3 and 4 passed their life expectancy in 2021. Now they are running on borrowed time.
This would go far in explaining the willingness of Avista and PSE to give their ownership away. Over-the-hill coal-fired plants like Colstrip 3 and 4 need increasing maintenance and repairs to keep running. They need even more money to comply with pollution standards. And, eventually, the plant will have to close, and the costs for proper cleanup will be expensive.
Avista and PSE are still on the hook for their share of closure costs, but they have unloaded all those short-term maintenance and repair bills onto NorthWestern Energy (or – more accurately – onto NorthWestern’s ratepayers). Instead of working to help the Colstrip community transition to a diversified future, Montana leaders continue to grease the skids for an increasingly expensive energy future for our state.
More than any other investor-owned utility that we know of, NorthWestern Energy is committing its customers to a future tied to coal and other fossil fuels. And that future won’t be cheap.
To learn more about the Northern Plains History Project, click here.
