Legislative panel backs $900M dam sale
The Associated Press | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 11 years AGO
GREAT FALLS (AP) — A legislative panel that has jurisdiction over the regulators considering a NorthWestern Energy plan to buy 11 hydroelectric dams from PPL Montana has unanimously endorsed the $900 million deal.
The Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committee voted Friday during a meeting in Great Falls to send a letter to the Public Service Commission endorsing NorthWestern’s application.
“This is a very large scale, almost monumental subject, and to have a unanimous vote is somewhat unusual,” said Sen. Cliff Larsen, D-Missoula, chairman of the committee.
The committee has jurisdiction over the PSC, the regulatory body that will decide whether the purchase goes forward. The committee’s opinion will carry weight with the commission, along with public testimony and evidence under already under review, PSC Chairman Bill Gallagher said.
The PSC has set aside two weeks beginning July 8 for a hearing on the sale in Helena, Gallagher said. A final decision is due in September.
The dams are on the Missouri, Madison, Flathead and Clark Fork rivers and West Rosebud Creek. They were owned by the Montana Power Co. until PPL bought them during deregulation in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
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