Southern Montana G&T (MT) Litigation: Lawsuit resources for co-ops & cooperative members & lawyers

Southern Montana G&T (MT)

We have attempted to assemble information involving all types of litigation involving Southern Montana G&T of Billings, Montana.

As a Generation and Transmission Cooperative or "G&T", Southern Montana is not typical of the distribution cooperative normally covered by the Rural Coop Litigation News; however, since it is composed of or owned by its member cooperatives, it is of interest to those Rural Electric Cooperatives that are our primary readership.

We don't represent that this is all litigation involving these businesses nor do we claim that the assertions in any of the pleadings are all true and correct.

But we do believe this is useful to those interested in Southern Montana G&T and its member cooperatives and representative of what it is involved with in the courts.

Some of these links take you outside of the Coop Litigation News website so we aren't responsible for the content.

News

Montana Coal-Fired Power Plans Scrapped

Natural gas and wind power will replace coal plant

February 2, 2009

Bozeman, MT -- The backers of the proposed Highwood coal plant in Montana announced they are reversing course and will instead build natural gas and wind energy facilities. The announcement comes after a series of successful legal challenges to the plant mounted by Earthjustice attorneys going back to 2007 aimed at addressing the coal plant's harmful environmental effects, including approximately 2.1 million tons of CO2 the plant would emit each year. CO2 is a major global warming pollutant.

An official with the company seeking to build the coal plant told a Montana newspaper the decision to switch from coal to cleaner fuels was due in part to the successful legal challenges mounted by Earthjustice attorneys Abigail Dillen and Jenny Harbine. The official also cited an "aura of uncertainly," as well as a lack of ready-to-use technology to produce clean coal, and an absence of clarity on national coal policy, as other reasons for the about face.

Anne Hedges of the Montana Environmental Information Center said the decision was an enormous step forward noting, "We can no longer continue to ignore global warming.". . . .

Litigation

In the United States District Court for the District of Columbia

Montana Environmental Information Center, et al. v.
Mike Johanns, et al.

Case Number 1:07-cv-01311-JR

Brief Summary

     This Complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief in an attempt to stop construction of coal fired electric generating plants in a lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on July 7, 2007.

     While this lawsuit was never decided on the merits, it helped achieved the desired result when Southern Montana G&T dropped plans to construct the subject coal fired plant and so this litigation has been dismissed and no longer active.

   For a complete list of all the allegations see the Original Complaint.

Coop Website

Most Rural Electric Cooperatives maintain websites but they rarely provide material information about important aspects of their operations. In fact this failure by a Coop to be forthcoming about its policies involving patronage or capital credits is a red flag that its policies and practices are suspect.

This is Southern Montana's website:

This page was last modified on Friday, August 21, 2009

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