Dive Brief:

• Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) is "concerned about the future" of three coal units at the Colstrip facility, and will launch a working group to consider alternative ownership of the power plant.
• Six companies own the Colstrip generating facility, and none of them are located in Montana. Last week Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) has signed legislation allowing Puget Sound Energy to begin setting aside funds to pay for the future decommissioning of two units at the plant.
• Bullock has reached out to leadership of the state's largest utility, Bob Rowe, CEO of NorthWestern Energy, to begin exploring the company's willingness to own the power plant. State ownership, the governor said, is off the table.

Dive Insight:

A week after Washington's governor signed legislation allowing utilities to begin preparing for Colstrip's closure, the governor of Montana has taken steps to ensure the plant – and the jobs it supports – continues to operate.

In a letter to NorthWestern CEO Rowe, Gov. Bullock references conversations the two had regarding the future of Colstrip, including possible upside to the utility buying the plant. "You also conveyed very real and understandable obstacles to any effort by NorthWestern to acquire those interests," he added in the letter.

Bullock went on to explain plans for a working group that would explore "alternative ownership," including whether the transfer of Colstrip Units 1, 2 and 3, is feasible. Both Talen and Puget Sound Energy, which own part of the plant, agreed to participate, Bullock said. Under the Clean Power Plan, Montana must cut 47% of its emissions, and shuttering Units 1 and 2, both mostly owned by PSE, would push them closer to that goal, the news outlet noted. 

But NorthWestern's Rowe is hesitent to getting involved under present conditions, according to the Billings Gazette, most notably that acquiring the plant would be "very inconsistent with the risk profile we have...there are lots of risks that would have to be addressed." Billings Gazette later reported that Rowe told the news outlet that the utility was not interested in buying Units 1 and 2. 

Inslee has signed SB 6248, but vetoed a section of the legislature that would allow Puget Sound to use the funds if the utility decommissioned two units before 2022.

Bullock later told the Billings Gazette that state ownership of the plant is not being considered. "There's nothing in my mind about the state owning any utility by any means or any plans," he told the paper. "This is really teed off of discussions I've had with Bob and teed off of what he said at an energy forum."

Other partners in the Colstrip coal plant include Avista Utilities, Portland General Electric and Pacific Power. Portland General Electric and Pacific Power are mandated under Oregon's new law to eliminate coal imports by 2035 while meeting 50% of consumer demand with renewable energy, which includes coal generation from Colstrip.