Letter to GF Commissioners
25/08/06/11:53
We members of Citizens for Clean Energy strongly object to some of the reported statements made by Lawton and Balzarini, which are consistent with what they've said in the past. Clearly, if the SME Co-op is "backing the bonds" as the story claims, then the City of Great Falls, as a partner with SME, is also responsible for their share of the bonds -- presently $125 million, but expected to rise by at least 50% over original cost projections. The difference is that SME can borrow from a federal agency, the Rural Development Administration of the Department of Agriculture, at low interest rates and guarantees against default, while the City of Great Falls will have to enter the commercial bond market and service its debt at higher interest rates and greater risk to the City and the taxpayers. If the city doesn't guarantee the bonds, they can't be sold. And even if they can, they will have "junk bond" status, with much greater risk and higher interest rates.
Our best fiscal and economic analysis shows that this plant cannot be profitable, and in fact will probably have to be shut down or rebuilt with CO2-sequestering IGCC technology before it ever generates any electricity at all. And in that case, it would have been much cheaper to build it at the mine-head and near the customers in SE Montana. Great Falls doesn't need this electricity, and under existing and forthcoming regulations, the City cannot sell it to local commercial residential and commercial customers. They are not "the default provider" -- Northwestern Energy is, and they aren't planning any more coal-fired generation, either.
The fiscal and economic arguments against the Highwood Station are far more compelling - at least in the short-run - than the environmental and health care risks and costs, and each is more than decisive by itself. The city is wasting our time and money by pursuing this boondoggle. It is time for them to call a halt to it, before they embarrass themselves and destroy our local economy and quality of life any further.
Our best fiscal and economic analysis shows that this plant cannot be profitable, and in fact will probably have to be shut down or rebuilt with CO2-sequestering IGCC technology before it ever generates any electricity at all. And in that case, it would have been much cheaper to build it at the mine-head and near the customers in SE Montana. Great Falls doesn't need this electricity, and under existing and forthcoming regulations, the City cannot sell it to local commercial residential and commercial customers. They are not "the default provider" -- Northwestern Energy is, and they aren't planning any more coal-fired generation, either.
The fiscal and economic arguments against the Highwood Station are far more compelling - at least in the short-run - than the environmental and health care risks and costs, and each is more than decisive by itself. The city is wasting our time and money by pursuing this boondoggle. It is time for them to call a halt to it, before they embarrass themselves and destroy our local economy and quality of life any further.
