Article published Nov 20, 2007

Heated talk for, against power plant at meeting held in Chouteau County

By KARL PUCKETT

Tribune Staff Writer

The proposed coal-fired Highwood Generating Station, planned for east of Great Falls, continues to be a burning issue for residents who live miles downstream in Fort Benton.

A meeting on the power plant Monday at the Chouteau County Courthouse drew about 40 people, according to estimates from several who attended.

"We're going to try to stall them off as long as we can," said 85-year-old Ken Morrow.

Morrow, a member of Citizens for Clean Energy and a retired Fort Benton-area farmer, arranged the meeting to bring together people who share concerns about the impacts the $720 million facility will have on the environment, water supplies and surrounding farmland.

The meeting comes two weeks before a meeting of the Cascade County Planning Board and it's no accident, said Richard Liebert, chairman of Citizens for Clean Energy.

Planning Board members will conduct a public hearing on a request by the Urquhart family to rezone farmland to heavy industrial, where Southern Montana Electric Generation and Transmission hopes to construct the 250-megawatt power plant.

Chouteau County commissioners attended Monday's meeting.

"We were asking them to express their concern to the Cascade County Planning Board," Liebert said.

Brian Clifton, planning director for Cascade County, said the Planning Board meeting has been moved to the Paddock Club at Montana ExpoPark to accommodate what's expected to be a large crowd. The Planning Board will vote to recommend denying or approving the rezoning.

Cascade County commissioners, who will make the final decision, are expected to conduct a public hearing on the rezoning request in January.

SME officials showed up to explain their side. Members of Citizens for Clean Energy also attended, as did residents of Fort Benton, Big Sandy and Highwood and elsewhere.

"I was overwhelmed by the turnout," Morrow said.

Harvey W. Worrall, chairman of the Choteau County Commission, said arguments on both sides were forceful at times.

"It's getting to be a hot issue in this part of the country," he said.

Chouteau County Commissioners already have gone on record as opposing the power plant. Worrall said the commission probably will reaffirm that decision by resolution.

The environmental review of Highwood by state and federal regulators concluded its emissions would be well below the air quality standards required by law to protect the public's health.

But opponents in Fort Benton say they remain concerned about "fallout" as well as the amount of water Highwood would use from the Missouri River. The town gets its water from the river and irrigators also rely on it.

Chouteau County Commission Jim O'Hara said Chouteau County representatives would be attending the Cascade County Planning Board meeting.