Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality will move forward with a court-ordered environmental review of the controversial gas-fired power plant in Laurel, now that a new state law banning regulation of carbon dioxide is on the books.
A state permitting agency, DEQ, announced Thursday that it had limited its environmental review of the Laurel gas plant to light pollution and is now taking public comment.
Less than two months ago, DEQ was court ordered to study the environmental impacts of the power plant’s carbon dioxide emissions, as well as light pollution, two things state District Judge Michael Moses said the agency “failed to take a hard look” when permitting the power plant.
NorthWestern Energy is building the 175-megawatt power plant. In April, Moses ordered construction stopped until DEQ did the court-ordered analysis.
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