Proposed Montana PSC legislation would repeal much of failed deregulation

Staff with the Public Service Commission unveiled draft legislation Tuesday that would repeal most of the state’s 9-year-old deregulation law, although commissioners did not officially endorse the measure and stressed it was a work in progress.

The 22-page draft calls for repealing 16 sections of the controversial law, passed in 1997, but also rewrites several others and keeps some sections intact.

It’s meant as an alternative to efforts by a legislative interim committee to resuscitate a bill from the 2005 Legislature that would allow NorthWestern Energy to get into the power generation business.

The PSC opposed that bill because it wasn’t written correctly, and recently ordered its staff to consult with NorthWestern and the Montana Consumer Counsel to look at scrapping most of the deregulation law altogether under a broader approach.

By SARAH COOKE – Associated Press Writer

Full Story: http://helenair.com/articles/2006/04/19/montana_top/a01041906_03.txt

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PSC draft bad for coal plant says Great Falls City Manager John Lawton

By GWEN FLORIO
Tribune Capitol Reporter

A plan to bring utility regulation back to Montana could hurt Great Falls’ attempt to build a power plant, City Manager John Lawton told the Public Service Commission Tuesday.

Both the commission and an interim legislative committee are working on bills that would allow NorthWestern Energy to build or buy power plants.

The 22-page draft calls for repealing 16 sections of the controversial deregulation law, passed in 1997, but also rewrites several others and keeps some sections intact.

Full Story: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060419/NEWS01/604190304/1002