The price of power: NorthWestern Energy’s missteps in climate change

The homeowner said the man with the chainsaw is a volunteer who just showed up to help after the windstorm in Missoula blew down trees and power lines. (Keila Szpaller/The Daily Montanan)

As Sarah Lundquist from Families for a Livable Climate remarked in her recent Op Ed , the late July storm that blasted through Missoula was a reminder that climate change can look different from polar bears adrift on shrinking icebergs thousands of miles away. In Montana, it can look like a freezer of spoiled food from storm-induced power outages, Flathead cherries wiped out by abnormal freezing events, and weeks of our summer hunkered indoors to avoid excessive smoke and heat.

Fortunately, climate change can also look like resilience – Missoulians came together to clean up downed trees, neighbors helped neighbors, and workers busted their butts to repair power lines and restore electricity. What a monumental community effort and a testament to what can be accomplished when we work together.

NorthWestern Energy’s President and CEO Brian Bird remarked upon the extremity of the July 24 storm, the devastation throughout Missoula, and the fantastic efforts of NorthWestern’s staff and hired crews. He couldn’t be more correct that providing reliable power is crucial. Unfortunately, while lineworkers and crews on the ground do the hard work of keeping the lights on, NorthWestern’s own C-suite leadership is consistently making decisions that cause the very climate warming pollution that will increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather events like we saw in July.

Just days after the storm, NorthWestern made headlines when the utility announced its intentions to acquire Puget Sound Energy’s shares of the Colstrip plant. At a time when our state would benefit immensely from investments in energy and grid efficiency and resilience, NorthWestern Energy is doubling down on making our energy system more unaffordable, unreliable and hazardous.

Unaffordable…  NorthWestern’s poor planning and failure to capitalize on Inflation Reduction Act opportunities to invest in efficiency upgrades and renewables combined with storage have left Montanans with the highest electricity costs in the region and the fourth highest energy costs in the country . And there are more rate hikes to come. NorthWestern just asked for a 26% electric rate hike, partially so their captive customers can pay for its $2 billion gas plant. That increase doesn’t even cover the estimated $2 billion in upgrades that the Colstrip plant needs to continue operation until “at least 2042.”

Unreliable… The 40-year-old Colstrip plant needs so many repairs and upgrades because it is aging like a fine jar of orange juice left on the side of the highway. In January, when Montana saw record lows, the Colstrip plant was down . And in July, when the state reached record highs, the Colstrip plant was, once again, offline . In fact, expert analysis shows that the plant is only up half the time when Montanans needs power most. It’s curious how NorthWestern Energy’s spokespeople raise the specter of power shortages when they insist upon investing in the very resource that is least reliable during periods of peak demand.

Hazardous… NorthWestern’s continued investments in climate-warming fossil fuels contribute to more extreme heat waves, storms, floods and smokey summers. The Colstrip plant is by far Montana’s biggest greenhouse gas emitting facility . And while other similar coal plants have installed technology to the reduce toxic air pollution (lead, arsenic, and more), the Colstrip plant is “ the nation’s only coal-fired power plant without a filtration baghouse or electrostatic precipitator ,” technologies needed to capture hazardous air pollutants known to cause cancer and other serious health problems. This is why the Colstrip plant has the highest toxic pollution emission rate in the nation.

We saw the immense talent and capacity of NorthWestern’s crews last month when they restored power to Missoulians. We know that, if NorthWestern Energy’s leadership provided good direction, we could also be building a more reliable, efficient, and affordable energy grid rather than tying ourselves to the sinking ship of fossil fuel dependence.

It’s time for more innovative solutions to our energy needs.