A Helena District Court affirmed this week that the Public Service Commission ruled correctly when it authorized Bull Mountain Sanitation to operate a garbage-hauling business in Musselshell County.

A Montana district court in Billings today upheld a Public Service Commission ruling that Northwestern Energy cannot charge consumers $8.2 million for the cost of replacement power the utility bought when one of the generating units at Colstrip had an unplanned outage. 

In response to a study showing that the premature closure of Colstrip Electric Generating Units 3 & 4 would cost the state of Montana thousands of jobs, the Public Service Commission released a statement on the importance of Colstrip to the Montana economy.

The Montana Public Service Commission approved Hydro One’s acquisition of Avista Corp., part owner of Colstrip units 3 & 4, by a vote of 4-1. The commission added several conditions to the approval designed to protect the public interest of Montanans and the continued operation of Colstrip generating facility units 3 & 4.