With friends like NorthWestern Energy who needs enemies?

Recall that in 2009 Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based NorthWestern Energy was responsible for a gas explosion in Bozeman, Montana that destroyed several businesses and killed one person. 

Last year the company's devastating decrease in the Madison River flow killed native trout because of its negligence at the Hebgen Dam then one of its power lines caused a wildfire that destroyed most of Denton, Montana. 

Also in 2021 NWE withdrew its application at Montana’s Public Service Commission so without any regulatory approval it began construction of a generating station in Laurel. The company spends millions of dollars every year greasing Republican politicians and poisoning waterways including in Montana where the PRC is comprised of Earth haters.

In the face of NorthWestern’s failures, it’s up to everyday Montanans and our community officials to take on this challenge. Here’s the problem: NorthWestern continually refuses to adopt more modern, affordable and efficient energy sources. Instead, the company wants to double down on expensive methane gas despite the soaring costs and risky market volatility. Why? In part, it’s because Montana law has a disturbing policy allowing this investor-owned corporation to receive guaranteed profits for its operating expenses. In NorthWestern’s bizarre world, more upkeep, more maintenance, and more repairs mean more profit. And that profit comes directly from the rapidly growing energy bills we pay each month. Immediately next to the iconic Yellowstone River, NorthWestern is barreling forward with a methane-fired power plant that will require eighteen smokestacks – seven stories tall each – towering over an area traditionally used for agriculture and outdoor recreation. Instead of waiting respectfully for clarification from the court regarding jurisdiction, NorthWestern just plows ahead with construction. [Montanans deserve better than NorthWestern Energy’s failed leadership]

Utilities are not your friends so on behalf of Northern Plains Resource Council, the Thiel Road Coalition and the Montana Environmental Information Center, Earthjustice has filed suit over zoning jurisdiction of the parcel where the plant is being built. The Northern Plains Resource Council and this interested party follow each other on twitter. 

In 2015 the US Department of Transportation swatted ExxonMobil with a million dollar penalty after the Environmental Protection Agency released an overview of cleanup efforts in the aftermath of the 2011 breach of the Silvertip pipeline that spilled 63,000 gallons of crude oil into the Yellowstone River upstream of Billings near Laurel.

NorthWestern Energy owns 23.4% of the Big Stone Power Plant in northeastern South Dakota — a monster that consumes 3,500 tons of filthy sub-bituminous coal every hour then spews heavy metal oxides over Minnesota.