Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/tag/talen-energy/)
More than 45,000 students in 25 states and Puerto Rico are members of the Business Professionals of America this year. Just eight of those students were from Colstrip High School, and one of them, 18-year-old Bailey Quin Menahan, recently won the organization’s first ever Secondary Student of the Year Award. (more…) Continue Reading →
When Montana’s 2017 Legislature adjourned on April 28, Sen. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip, found himself in much the same position as when the session began. At the session’s beginning, he helped draw up several bills that would help his community, which is facing the impending closure of two out of four units at its massive coal-fired electrical plant. By the time lawmakers left the Capitol, many of the bills—aimed at easing impacts on jobs, tax revenues and real estate—were dead. (more…) Continue Reading →
Colstrip’s old coal-fired power units are losing money and that means their days are numbered. Units 1 and 2 are closing by 2022 at the latest and maybe sooner. We need to make sure Colstrip’s operators fulfill their responsibilities in helping the state deal with the economic loss to workers, the community and the environment. But, we have another problem. Legislation has been proposed that doesn’t just hold Colstrip’s operators accountable—it punishes them. And, as good as retribution may feel, the problem is that it will also scare away developers and companies whose investments we want and need. (more…) Continue Reading →
A recent spate of political ads on TV show the Montana Republican party blaming potential job losses at Colstrip and a downturn in coal production in Montana on Gov. Steve Bullock and the Democratic Party in general. Since we have spent an inordinate amount of time looking at coal issues over the past decade and more, we feel some responsibility to try to respond to this issue so that others will not be misled by blatant coal industry propaganda. (more…) Continue Reading →
At a meeting called to envision future use of a 74-acre riverfront site that until recently held a coal-fired power plant, participants were encouraged to use their imaginations. That they did, coming up with activities and attractions for the old J.E. Corette plant site that included sport fields, an amphitheater, disc golf, picnic areas, a museum, restaurants, a brewery, high-density housing and a zip line to the site from the towering Sacrifice Cliffs across the Yellowstone River. (more…) Continue Reading →
A rare opportunity exists to enhance the attractiveness of Billings. The former Corette power plant has been torn down, and the land on which it stood is bounded on the north by the interstate highway, and adjoins the Yellowstone River across from Sacrifice Cliff. How wonderful it would be if this land, or at least a significant portion of it, were available for public use? (more…) Continue Reading →
The 350-foot smokestack on the old J.E. Corette coal-fired power plant in Billings came down Friday morning. As part of the demolition of the plant, which PPL Montana closed last spring because it could not meet new mercury pollution standards, the smokestack was brought down by explosives about 8 a.m. (more…) Continue Reading →
