A protracted legal battle in Montana over the environmental effects of a controversial power plant just resulted in a notable ruling from the state's highest court.
As the Daily Montanan reports, the fight over the Laurel Generation Station and its greenhouse gas emissions has yielded a unanimous decision from the Montana Supreme Court finding that the state and the energy company owner of the facility skirted the law, but the outcome may do little to hinder operations going forward, disappointing activists on the left.
As KULR in Billings explains, the plaintiffs in the case at issue filed suit in 2021 against NorthWestern Energy and the state's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) after a permit was issued for the energy company to operate the Laurel Generating Station.
In their quest to halt operations of the plant, the plaintiffs claimed that it was releasing the equivalent of 167,000 cars per year in greenhouse gases and that the energy company and the DEQ did not comply with relevant regulations in the permitting process.
At the District Court level, it was determined that the defendants did conduct satisfactory reviews in relation to the plant's noise output but failed in the areas of lighting as well as greenhouse gas emissions, findings that resulted in the suspension of the permit.
The state Supreme Court, however, noted that the DEQ, at the time in question, was following applicable law, even if those statutes were later invalidated, and the panel also observed that the plaintiffs in the case had never actually requested suspension of the operational permit in the court below.
As such, the justices ruled, that the Laurel Generation Station will be permitted to continue operations under the existing permit, though the DEQ will be required to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the plant's pollution impacts and report on the effects that its greenhouse gas emission and use of industrial lighting will have on the surrounding area.
In the wake of the ruling, statements in reaction were issued by both sides of the dispute, with NorthWestern Energy declaring, “Today's Montana Supreme Court's decision reinstating the Yellowstone County Generating Station permit will help ensure reliable energy service and keep bills as low as possible for our customers.”
The company went on, “This is good news for Montanans already relying on the critical, cost-saving capacity of the 175-megawatt Yellowstone County Generating Station, including for power during this first winter storm of 2025.”
Pledging compliance with the full Supreme Court order, the company added, “NorthWestern Energy will work with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to provide any additional information necessary.”
The Sierra Club and the Montana Environmental Information Center, the groups that initially challenged the permit, also claimed a degree of victory in the wake of the ruling, saying that the justices rendered a strong reinforcement of the Montana Constitution's mandate for a “clean and healthful environment.”
“We are pleased that the Montana Supreme Court has ruled that Montanans deserve to know the full harm that the 770,000 tons of annual climate pollution NorthWestern Energy's power plant will impose on our farmers, ranchers, economy, and health, said the chair of Northern Plans Resource Council, a group that has stood in opposition to the plant, though he did note the organization's disappointment that the plant's continued operation was permitted by the high court.
Though the long-running nature of the disagreement in this case was noteworthy, what was not in dispute between the parties was the volume of pollutants emerging from the plant's operation, which includes 75 tons of Particulate Matter 10, 28 tons of Particulate Matter 2.5, 222 tons annually of nitrogen oxides, 246 tons of carbon monoxide, 14 tons of sulfur dioxide, and more.
Precisely what the now-mandated DEQ review will reveal -- or might suggest in terms of potential remediation -- remains unclear, but it seems certain that all eyes will indeed be on the outcome of that process.
