Settlement Reached in Colstrip Environmental Litigation, Pending Court Approval
- Parties agree to retire Units 1 and 2 no later than July 2022
- Proposed settlement dismisses all claims against Units 3 and 4

BILLINGS, Mont., July 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Talen Montana, LLC and the five other owners of the Colstrip Steam Electric Station (Puget Sound Energy, Avista Corporation, Portland General Electric Company, NorthWestern Corporation and PacifiCorp) have reached a proposed settlement in a lawsuit filed in 2013 by Sierra Club and the Montana Environmental Information Center under the Clean Air Act.

"The proposed consent decree, if approved by the United States District Court for the District of Montana, would resolve the litigation against all four Colstrip units and provide liability releases to the owners of all four units," said Charles Baker, general manager, Talen Montana. 

The core elements of the proposed settlement include a commitment to cease operations of Units 1 and 2 on or before July 1, 2022, and liability releases for the owners of all four units, without requiring monetary payments to the plaintiffs. Apart from outright dismissal of all claims against Units 3 and 4, those units are not affected by the proposed settlement.

Aside from the July 1, 2022 deadline in the proposed settlement, there is no formal plan or timeline currently in place for retiring Units 1 and 2.

Talen Montana is an affiliate of Talen Energy (NYSE: TLN). Talen Montana is one of six owners of the 2,094-megawatt Colstrip plant, and operates the plant on behalf of the owners' group. Talen Energy is one of the largest competitive energy and power generation companies in North America. Our diverse generating fleet operates in well-developed, structured wholesale power markets. To learn more about us, visit www.talenenergy.com.

Colstrip Steam Electric Station:

  • Units 1 and 2:  307 megawatts (net) each, online in 1975 and 1976, respectively
    • Ownership: 50% each by Puget Sound Energy and Talen Montana
  • Units 3 and 4:  740 megawatts (net) each, online in 1984 and 1986, respectively
    • Ownership: Puget Sound Energy, 25% each; Portland General Electric, 20% each; Avista, NorthWestern and Talen Montana, 15% each (Talen Montana and NorthWestern share 30% in Units 3 and 4 respectively under a reciprocal sharing agreement); PacifiCorp, 10% each.

 

Media contact:

Todd L. Martin
 

(570) 542-2881
 

todd.martin@talenenergy.com

                        

SOURCE Talen Montana, LLC