Energy

As the Montana House held its first hearing on a bill that could allow NorthWestern Energy to pass costs on to its customers for the utility’s coal-fired power investments, opponents of the idea held protests in multiple cities.

The Biden Administration continues its review of the federal oil and gas lease program during a freeze on new lease sales that recently drew protest from Montana political leadership.

Montana and Wyoming are each taking the Biden Administration to court over its decision to pause new federal oil and gas lease sales. The two separate lawsuits have similar goals.

Montana’s attorney general is joining 20 other state attorneys general in suing to reverse Pres. Joe Biden’s decision to cancel a permit vital to building the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline.

Montana lawmakers are considering changes to what qualifies as renewable energy and to what extent the state or local governments can require energy users to limit their carbon footprint.

Montana lawmakers are proposing to transform the state’s renewable energy law either by extending what kind of resource qualifies as renewable or by eliminating the law entirely.

Montana energy regulators Tuesday set contract terms for what NorthWestern Energy pays small generation facilities, like wind and solar, for the energy they produce.

Business owners and community members in northeastern Montana say they were looking forward to the added tax dollars and customer base the Keystone XL pipeline would have brought into the area before President Joe Biden cancelled a vital permit for the development.

Federal officials are postponing Montana’s March oil and gas lease sale, a few weeks after the Biden Administration pushed pause on new leasing to review current policy.

Several electric cooperatives in Eastern Montana have been instructed to urge customers to conserve electricity as persistent frigid weather in the midsection of the United States threatens a system-wide outage.