Wind developers are federally subsidized with tax credits and they are asking the BPA to pay for those credits temporarily lost during curtailment. This would amount to customers of public utilities paying private investors to stop producing electricity when it isn’t needed. BPA already gives these producers free hydropower to compensate for power deliveries they give up when production is curbed.

Montana Oregon Washington

Wind developers in Montana are counting on the trans-border transmission line to build their projects, which would connect the electricity grids of the two countries at Great Falls and Lethbridge. The line's construction has been slowed by disputes with landowners and construction contractors.

Transmission Canada Montana

The information, which includes price and cost of the project, wind data, financial models, legal analyses and costs of capital, will be submitted to the PSC to help it determine whether NorthWestern chose the best project for consumers and the public interest.

General Montana

Hertha Lund, a Bozeman attorney, said she thinks the question of the law's constitutionality and how it affects condemnation of the property should both be decided by Judge McKinnon. "The fact that the Supreme Court remanded (the case) back to the District Court is a victory for Salois and the other landowners."

Transmission Montana

The divisive issue of "eminent domain" stormed back to prominence at the Legislature Tuesday, as the state Senate revived and then endorsed a once-dead bill that gives a Canadian company the power to condemn property along its route for a power line in north-central Montana.

Energy Policy Montana

"Such a delegation (of power) must be express or necessarily implied - not cobbled together," she wrote. "Here, where MATL is unable to find an express delegation of power ... the court must conclude that this extraordinary power has not been delegated.

General Montana

Supporters of the bill are doubtful that there are enough votes in the 50-member Senate to blast the bill onto the floor, meaning the bill is probably dead unless supporters are able to muster enough votes to force a floor debate.

Transmission Montana

A Senate panel this morning killed a high-profile bill designed to override a court decision on land condemnation that has stalled construction of a major power line for wind energy in northern Montana. ...The panel then voted to table the measure, likely killing it for the session.

Transmission Montana

Senate Republicans are floating a new proposal to break the legislative logjam over landowner rights vs. property condemnation powers of transmission line developers - but so far they're not finding any takers.

General Montana

"In the end, the governor will decide if he wants this bill or not. ... It's not going to be a bargaining chip. This bill is going to live or die on its own."

Transmission Montana

Commissioners called a meeting to discuss what other counties charge developers to cover impacts of the projects. One such impact that could occur is wear and tear on roads during construction. "Has anybody ever addressed the aesthetic impacts?" commission Chairman Bill Salina asked.

General Montana

"This is just a sweetheart deal for a Canadian company, and allows them to condemn Montana farmland for their own use - and that's just absolutely wrong," said Larry Martin, a farmer from Conrad who owns land in path of MATL.

Transmission Montana

Vincent questions whether the California decision will leave investors and developers reluctant to invest in new transmission. "That puts a big question mark over whether it's worthy of the investment," he said. "Every article that I've read about it has essentially said in one way or the other that this is bad news for Washington, Oregon and Montana wind. It has got to almost change the paradigm."

Transmission California Montana

Officials pushing the bills say that energy prices soar and consumers suffer when utilities are required to allocate a certain percentage of electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar. Clean energy groups counter that lowering the bar on state renewable energy policies would stifle new investment and kill jobs.

Energy Policy Colorado Minnesota Missouri Montana

The state House on Monday overwhelmingly approved a proposed two-year extension of the state's moratorium on wind developers' eminent domain powers. House members also passed on second reading House Bill 191, which would revamp the state's wind tax and distribution method.

General Montana

The bill is opposed by landowners in the path of the Montana Alberta Tie Line who argue that a private company from another country shouldn't have the authority to condemn land here. The bill states that public utilities and companies that receive permits under the Major Facility Siting Act, such as MATL, can take private land for public use.

Transmission Montana

Farmers, ranchers and other rural property owners packed a hearing room Wednesday at the Capitol to oppose a bill that would grant eminent domain power to private transmission line developers.

Transmission Montana

Salois had asked Montana Alberta Tie Ltd. to move its line to avoid damaging historical Native American tepee rings on his mother's private property. MATL refused and chose condemnation. Having lost, MATL now expects the Legislature to bail it out. MATL claims it has a deal with Montana's legislators and the governor. As reported in the Lethbridge Herald, that deal will be done by March.

Transmission Montana

Members of the Cascade County Zoning Board of Adjustment voted 4-0 Friday to grant a special-use permit to Chicago-based developer Invenergy to build a 16-turbine wind farm near Belt, which could grow to 10 times that size in future phases.

General Montana

Officials are confident work will proceed on the Montana Alberta Tie Ltd. electricity transmission line - both north and south of the border - despite a Montana court decision limiting right of entry to private lands.

Transmission Montana