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CHS Refinery Depends on Colstrip For Electricity

Jackie Yamanaka

CHS Refinery Manager Pat Kimmet told U.S. Senator Steve Daines, R-MT,  the facility’s electricity bill is $18 million a year. He says to put it into perspective, the refinery spends $15 million a year in wages and benefits for its employees. He says the average salary is just over $120,000.

“So these are good, high paying jobs,” says Daines. “We want to keep these here in Montana and an affordable, reliable energy supply is part of that equation.” Daines kicked off his "Made in Montana Energy Tour" today at the CHS refinery.

Kimmet says currently about 60% or 40 megawatts of the refinery’s power comes from Colstrip. He says their expansion plans will increase that consumption up to 56 megawatts.

Kimmet says the refinery supports all sources of power generation, but he worries what will happen if another coal-fired power plant goes down with no other reliable power generation immediately available to take its place.

One source of electricity CHS had relied on is gone. PPL Montana recently de-commissioned its coal-fired Corette power plant in Billings, about 15 miles to the east of the refinery.

Kimmet says the end of that power plant has impacted CHS.

“We believe it did,” he says. “Our electrical experts tell me it has impacted some of our power problems that we’ve had recently.”

He says power blips have the potential to shut down the refinery, in particular the pollution control equipment. And he says if it happens in the winter, the potential of frozen pipes could bring his operations down for days.

Kimmet says if the federal Clean Power Plan is put into effect and leads to the closure of the Colstrip generating units it would force CHS to pay more for its electricity. He says those costs to produce gasoline and diesel would be passed on to consumers.

He adds CHS is planning on bringing in a third line to serve the refinery’s electrical demands because of its on-going capital investments.

Credit Jackie Yamanaka
CHS Environmental and Health Safety Manager Shane LaCasse (background) points out the various units and functions at the refinery to Daines from the top of the coker unit.

After touring the refinery’s coker unit Daines says this points out thee various aspects of Montana’s energy sector. He says there are consequences if Colstrip Units 1, 2, 3, and 4 are eventually shuttered.

I never thought I’d live to see the day here in MT where we’re having this discussion,” he says. “And i think it’s very very unfortunate as a threat here to our livelihood in Montana.”

Daines says “We got to fight back and make sure Montanans understand what this could mean for our future and our livelihoods in our state.

After his tour of CHS, Daines was headed for a community meeting in Colstrip. During his multi-day trip, the Republican is also scheduled to visit a wind farm near Baker and hear about education programs at both Miles and Dawson Community Colleges that cater to the energy sector.

The Republican is co-sponsoring an Energy Summit next week in Billings with the Montana Chamber of Commerce.