SME (Southern Montana Electric Generation and Transmission) puts coal on back burner, turns to gas

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20090202/NEWS01/90202010

SME puts coal on back burner, turns to gas

By KARL PUCKETT • Tribune Staff Writer • February 2, 2009

An uncertain regulatory climate has prompted a developer to scrap its plans for a $900 million coal-fired power plant east of Great Falls and turn instead to renewable energy to meet the needs of its 65,000 Montana customers.

Southern Montana Electric Generation and Transmission announced today that it will seek financing to construct a 120-megawatt combined cycle natural gas-fired facility, in addition to six megawatts of wind power.

For the past four years, SME has been working on the 250-megawatt coal-fired Highwood Generating Station, but it faced stiff opposition in the courts and a state environmental appeals board.

SME already was planning to build 6 megawatts of wind power at the coal-fired facility, but CEO Tim Gregori said additional wind megawatts could be added now depending on the outcome of financing.

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[phantom power]

1. Cul de sac.

Box canyon.

Oubliette.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Better natural gas than coal, and it shows they're feeling the pressure

The amount of wind power involved is just a token.

[phantom power]

3. I agree, but then again I also disagree.

CO2-wise, it's better than coal, but not really better enough. And if America suckers itself into a big NG build-out, we're going to wake up one morning in the same pickle that the EU just found itself in.

It sucks the life force out of me. Forget learning from the past. We can't even learn from the present.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. Yeah, I understand

"The times… they are a changin'…"

I just wish they were changin' with a bit more "deliberate haste." As the signs get easier for people to recognize, there will be a tendency to act with greater haste, but with more desperation and less deliberation.

Just the other day, one of the "conservatives" at work said to me (without preamble) "First 'normal Winter' we've had for some time. You know… I was saying just the other day to (another "conservative") 'I remember when I was a kid, we could dig tunnels through the snow banks left by the plows.' It's been years since we had that kind of snow…"