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Details murky on proposed plant's location By JAMES E.
LARCOMBE |
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While its backers are
calling it the "Salem site," details about where a proposed $470
million coal-fired power plant might be located are sketchy. Salem, once one of
many small communities perched along a now-abandoned rail line, is largely
grainfields and pastureland these days. The area is about eight or nine miles
east of Great Falls as the crow flies. The area was tabbed
for a 350-megawatt coal-fired power plant dubbed Resource 89 by the folks at
the Montana Power Co in 1981. Because of permit work
done by MPC, the general Salem area may give the new 250-megawatt plant
proposed by the Southern Montana Electric Generating and Transmission
Cooperative Inc. a head start, said Tim Gregori, the group's general manager.
"It's going to
take approximately 190 acres," said Gregori, adding that engineering
work will help determine the actual site. No property has been purchased, he
said. Gregori said air
quality studies may have been done for the area as part of the Resource 89
project. The availability of water, presumably from the Missouri River, and
relative proximity of a rail line also make the site appealing. "It seems to
present itself as a logical location," Gregori said of the Salem area.
If barriers arise, "we may look at other sites down the road." A rail line seven to
10 miles long may need to be constructed to link the plant site with existing
rail lines, Gregori said. Details about the rail line have not been firmed
up, he noted. Plans for the Resource
89 plant were announced in 1981 to a standing ovation and champagne at the
downtown Rainbow Hotel, which is now a retirement home. The plant would have
helped Montana Power meet future electricity needs, especially if the big industrial
users landed in the state, Montana Power officials said. The name reflected
the projected completion date, some eight years after the announcement. But the plant never
sprouted. Late in 1982, Montana Power officials said a dwindling demand for
electricity would delay construction until at least 1996. At the same time,
plans for an additional MPC dam on the Missouri River near Carter also slid
to a back burner. In 1988, MPC officials
said upgrading the capacity of the company's hydroelectric dams and using
power from the Colstrip 4 plant made more sense financially than pursuing the
Salem Project, a later name for the proposed plant. The Montana Power
project was to be built on land belonging to Stella Urquhart, who has since
died. "It was right on
my grandmother's place," said Scott Urquhart, who farms in the area with
other family members these days. "There was all sorts of property bought
and exchanged. It was supposedly all set up." Despite all the talk
about the project, not a shovelful of dirt was ever turned. Urquhart said he
hopes the newest proposal has a more solid future. "The last
go-round was kind of a joke," he said Friday afternoon. Larcombe can be
reached by e-mail at blarcomb@greatfal.gannett
.com, or by phone at (406) 791-1463 or (800) 438-6600. Originally
published Saturday, June 19, 2004 |
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