RECENTLY IN THE NEWS

• Judge was right to open city's draft documents (Great Falls Tribune editorial, July 20, 2008).  Read the court decision (766 KB pdf).  Watch the video of KFBB's news report, "Citizens want Highwood Documents from Great Falls"
  
• State asked to make rule for fine emissions (July 16, 2008)
  
• Highwood plant foes slap DEQ with lawsuit (July 1, 2008)
  
• Board sets high bar for particulate emissions for Highwood Station (May 31, 2008)
• Great Falls to re-evaluate power plant (May 18, 2008)
  
• Highwood plant group pushes out Billings co-op (April 29, 2008)
• Listen to Montana Public Radio story in which MEIC's Anne Hedges is interviewed.
  
• Major player says it's pulling out of Highwood Generating Station project (April 28, 2008)
  
• Lawsuit asks judge to toss zoning (April 12, 2008)
  

Highwood-area organic farmer Daryl Lassila, who's business would be seriously threatened by the Highwood plant.  Photo by Rion Sanders.

The Highwood Generating Station is a 250 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant to be located about ten miles east of the city of Great Falls. The project is being proposed by the Southern Montana Electric Generation & Transmission Cooperative (SME), a recently-formed entity that includes five rural electric co-ops and the City of Great Falls.

For the last several years MEIC has steadfastly opposed the development of new coal-fired power plants in Montana because of their enormous contribution to global warming. SME’s Highwood Generating Station is of particular concern. The electricity is not needed. The technology is outdated. It will be located on some of the most productive farmland in Montana and will ruin a National Historic Landmark. Stopping this plant requires action at the local, state, and federal levels.

MEIC—with the help of local farmers and ranchers, a local citizens group (the Great Falls-based Citizens for Clean Energy), attorneys around the state, and historic preservation advocates—is engaged on every front to give the public and decision makers a full understanding of the plant’s economic and environmental impacts.

SEE MAP OF LOCAL LANDOWNER OPPOSITION TO THE HIGHWOOD GENERATING STATION (750 K pdf)

2008 HIGHWOOD DEVELOPMENTS:

• Yellowstone Valley Electric Co-op Kicked Out of Highwood Project

• MEIC Wins Landmark Air Pollution Victory against Highwood
• MEIC and Farmers Sue Cascade County for Illegal Spot Zoning—Again
  
• Montana Coal-Power Project Dealt Blow by State Regulators — Developer must "go back to the drawing board" for part of its air permit (Energy Prospects West, April 29, 2008)
  
• MAJOR SETBACK FOR HIGHWOOD PLANT:  Electric co-op won't get USDA funds for proposed power plant (Feb 28, 2008) GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service has told an electric cooperative that the federal department can't help finance a proposed $720 million coal-fired power plant east of the city. . . .
  
• Montana Board of Environmental Review Rejects CO2 Controls, Delays Decision on Particulates, for Highwood Plant
  

2007 Developments

• MEIC and Other Groups Challenge Federal Subsidies For Dirty New Coal Plants
  

• MEIC Appeals Highwood Air Pollution Permit

• Opposition to Locating Highwood within National Historic Landmark
  
• MEIC Sues Great Falls over Public Records on Highwood
• Highwood and Deregulation (HB 25)
• Highwood Environmental Impact Statement
  

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

• Letter to DEQ from MEIC, EarthJustice, and CCE calling for mercury analysis of Highwood plant in light of recent State of NJ vs U.S. EPA ruling (Feb. 27, 2008)
  
• Great Falls Tribune SPECIAL SECTION on the proposed Highwood Generating Station
  

• A Coal-Fired Future for the Electric City? FACTS and background information on the proposed plant.

• Highwood Air Pollution Permit

IN THE NEWS:

• U.S. House looks at rural utility loan policies by KARL PUCKETT (Great Falls Tribune, 2/15/08)
  
• Hassles Abound for Montana Coal-Power Project, by Penelope Kern, Energy Prospects West (January 22, 2008)
  
• Interactive Slide Show: "An Unwelcome Neighbor in the West" (New York Times)
  
• The Energy Challenge:  Fight Against Coal Plants Draws Diverse Partners (by Susan Moran, The New York Times, October 20, 2007).  ...“You’re seeing a convergence of people who previously never worked together or even talked to each other,” said Anne Hedges, program director of the Montana Environmental Information Center, which is spearheading three lawsuits aimed at blocking construction of the power plant near Great Falls....
• and the NY Times editorial that followed: Montana and Kansas Take on Big Coal (October 23, 2007)