Missoula Moves to Buy Public Power, Controversy Builds Over Highwood Plant

By Greg Lemon, 8-18-07

Missoula mayor John Engen has signed a letter of intent to purchase the city’s power from Electric City Power, Inc., which is the City of Great Falls’ non-profit energy corporation.

Contracting power from ECP could save Missoula about $70,000 a year, Engen said.

However, a key component for ECP’s future energy portfolio is the Highwood Generating Station, a coal fired power plant set to come on line in central Montana in 2011.

The coal aspect of ECP’s portfolio has created controversy over the decision to sign the letter of intent. However, the letter in no way binds the city to do business with ECP, Engen said.

Engen and his staff are working on a contract to purchase electricity from ECP and will present it to the city council for approval. Without a signed contract, the city is not bound to ECP.

The public will have ample opportunity to comment on the contract and whether or not the city should move forward with ECP, he said.

The plans for the Highwood plant call for it to be developed with current emission control technology, reducing harmful greenhouse gasses, but not eliminating them. When carbon sequestration technology becomes available, the plant will incorporate that into their facility, according to documents submitted to the city council.

However, no matter how well it is constructed and planned, the Highwood plant will still contribute to greenhouse gasses, said Bruce Farling, executive director of Montana Trout Unlimited. Farling is against the idea of buying power from a new coal plant.

“We’re one of the cities that has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

It is inconsistent for the city to agree to that kind of pledge and then support a new coal plant, Farling said.

“The bottom line is: that coal plant is a loser,” he said. “They haven’t figured out how they’re going to do it with a zero emission type of approach.”

Electric City Power provides much of Great Falls electricity needs and also boasts a wide variety of other customers including MeadowGold Dairy, General Mills, and Great Falls International Airport.

Currently, Missoula gets its electricity from Northwestern Energy. If the city decides to change providers it must do it by Oct. 1, according to a House Bill 25, passed in the 2007 legislature. The bill was designed to help re-regulate power in Montana. If the city doesn’t drop Northwestern as their energy provider by Oct. 1 then they’ll be unable to make the change. However, if they switch to ECP before the deadline, they can return to Northwestern in the future.

In Helena, city officials are set to oppose the same offer from ECP, citing environmental and financial concerns.

On Aug. 1, the Administration and Finance committee heard a presentation from ECP and Great Falls city manager, John Lawton. The committee voted to support the letter of intent. The issue was passed forward to the city council on Aug. 6. The council voted in favor of the letter of intent as well.

Northwestern Energy also has coal-fired power plants as part of their portfolio, Engen said. But it’s old coal technology. By contracting with ECP, Missoula will have a role in the future of clean energy production.

“I’ve been pretty engaged in trying to work on some climate change solution and believe they happen at the local level,” he said. “If we’re going to use coal it ought to be clean or at least as clean as it can be.”

Engen sees ECP as part of the future of public controlled power. They have members and customers who are both public and private entities. Engen has been supportive of public-controlled electricity.

“The notion of public power and the ability to control our energy future is pretty appealing and Electric City is a piece of that puzzle,” he said. “I don’t discount the concerns, but I’d like us to at least talk about those concerns.”

Missoula could make their contract with ECP contingent on the Highwood plant upgrading to carbon sequestration technology, Engen said. They would never have that kind of voice with Northwestern Energy.

“We’re in a position to negotiate some performance standards and if those aren’t met we don’t need to take part in the supply into perpetuity,” he said.

With the deadline looming for cities to change providers or remain with Northwestern, Electric City is obviously going to be trying to recruit as many customers as they can, Farling said.

“I don’t think our councils have heard enough about this,” he said. “I just think they need to take a second look.”

Right now coal plants are polluting the environment and creating more coal power plants isn’t going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Farling said.

“What the city is doing is helping firm up the economic viability of a new source (of carbon emissions),” he said.

Engen expects to have a contract to the Administration and Finance committee within the next two weeks. He has also encouraged the council to hold a public hearing to discuss citizen’s concerns.