Article published Mar 12, 2008

Commission OKS zoning change for proposed site

By RICHARD ECKE

Tribune Staff Writer

Cascade County commissioners stuck to their guns Tuesday, voting 2-1 to approve industrial zoning for property where the proposed coal-fired Highwood Generating Station would be built.

The vote was anticlimactic, since commissioners had voted exactly the same way a month earlier.

It was unclear later Tuesday whether opponents of the $720 million plant will challenge the county's decision in state district court.

At the meeting, commissioners offered brief explanations of their votes. Republican Commissioners Joe Briggs and Lance Olson favored the change from A-2 agricultural zoning to heavy industrial zoning. Democratic Commissioner Peggy Beltrone voted no.

Briggs said he remained convinced the zone change was justified, though he said there were some aspects of the project that bothered him. He argued those issues were beyond the scope of the commission's power in making zone-change decisions.

Beltrone remained opposed.

"I think it is the definition of spot zoning," Beltrone said. The Montana Supreme Court in 2006 defined spot zoning as a zone change in which the land area is small; the land use differs significantly from prevailing land use in the area, and the change would benefit only a few landowners at the expense of neighbors or the public.

Earlier, county planners said they did not think spot zoning applied, in part because the proposed site covers a large 668 acres.

The pivotal voter, Olson, said, "This is a very difficult decision for me."

But Olson said he believed the site location, property owned by the Urquhart family about eight miles east of Great Falls along Salem Road, was "the best place in Cascade County for this type of project."

Neighbors have complained that Southern Montana Electric Generation & Transmission Cooperative, the plant's developer, would have the right to use an eminent domain process to force neighbors to sell property for a railroad spur and utility lines to the site.

"I have really struggled with the property rights," Olson said. He said if the project is built, he hopes concerns of neighbors would be taken into account.

"This is the final action by this board," County Planning Director Brian Clifton said. An earlier move by the commission to rezone the property in late 2006 was derailed by a lawsuit by plant opponents, prompting the county to revise its zoning regulations.

This second county move to rezone the property also might be challenged in court.

"We're considering our options," said Kathleen Gessaman, a member of Citizens for Clean Energy, a group that opposes the coal plant. Richard Liebert, the group's president, said CCE would defer to neighboring property owners, who would be directly affected by the coal plant, on whether a lawsuit will be filed.

Property owner Daryl Lassila said neighbors were hoping commissioners would acknowledge public opinion and deny the zone change. The county received 951 letters of protest, but officials said the only valid protest would have to come from the Urquharts, who are sole owners of the plant site.

"I really don't know that we have any plans at all right now," Lassila said.

But another landowner, Jaybe Floyd, said she believed "it's not over."

"As landowners, we're reviewing our options," Floyd said.

Tim Gregori, general manager of SME, said he is pleased with the county's decision.

"We still have a lot to accomplish," Gregori said, including trying to find private financing for the plant. "We think we've made some good strides in that direction." He said plant officials plan to "keep all our options open." In a major development, the federal Rural Utilities Service last month told SME the federal government would not provide a low-interest loan for the project.

Gregori said SME officials are "very excited" about chances for the plant to become a pilot project for the U.S. Department of Energy for capturing and storing the carbon dioxide the plant would give off.

"It's a full application process," Gregori said. Carbon dioxide is considered a greenhouse gas that might contribute to global warming.

Liebert said he doubted the Department of Energy would act soon enough to help the Highwood project. Liebert said it might make more sense to study carbon sequestration by retrofitting existing plants.

Liebert also criticized the commission's decision as "an unjust and flawed decision by two commissioners." He said officials have not answered who would be responsible for cleaning up the plant property after the facility is mothballed decades later.