Article published May 12, 2007

Rural Utilities Service considering $13 billion in projects

Highwood Generating Station is one of $13 billion worth of in-house loan applications the federal Rural Utilities Service is considering for distribution, transmission and baseload power generation projects across the country.

Including Highwood, there are six or seven applicants for coal-fired power plants under review.

The RUS approved just one $450 million loan in 2006, but a new construction cycle is gearing up as demand for power increases across the country, RUS officials said. The last big construction cycle was in the 1970s and early 1980s.

"We've got substantial growth in the country and they're building to meet those needs," said Claiborne Crain, RUS spokesman.

But RUS officials said President George Bush's current budget proposal recommends no funding for new power plants, such as Highwood Generating Station.

It will be up to Congress to decide by Oct. 1 to provide the funding, he said.

"Until that issue is solved the plant will not be funded," said Jim Newby, RUS's assistant administrator of electric programs.

Tim Gregori, general manager of Southern Montana Electric Generation and Transmission, the developer of Highwood Generating Station, said the RUS has faced similar circumstances in previous budget years.

"We've seen this happen to the rural electric program many times in the past," he said. "But it's something you always must take seriously."