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Draft Bills Would Raise Taxes, Fees To Bolster Colstrip

Montana Capitol, Helena, MT.
William Marcus
/
Montana Public Radio
Montana Capitol, Helena, MT.

Six draft bills aimed at securing a positive future for the community of Colstrip were made public today, and are now open for public comment.

A recently-announced legal settlement between some of the plant’s owners and environmental advocacy groups requires two of the plant’s four boilers to be shut down by 2022.

Two bills, linked to here andhere, propose charging energy companies millions of dollars in fees for decommissioning coal-fired power plants.

Another would take $50 million from the state coal severance tax trust fund to help local communities rebuild their economies when coal-related businesses close shop.

There’s also a draft proposal to increase a tax on electrical energy providers, and a bill tocreate a tax force to look out for the interests of coal industry workers affected when the companies they work for shut down.

Public comment on those bills is open until August 25th.

The Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committee will meet the first week of September to review the comments, and decide what to propose to during the 2017 session.

 

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