BUTTE, Mont., June 30 MT-NorthWestern-Corp
BUTTE, Mont., June 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NorthWestern Corporation
d/b/a NorthWestern Energy (NYSE: NWE) announced today that it has submitted
the Mountain States Transmission Intertie (MSTI) Major Facility Siting
Application (MFSA) with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
The Montana DEQ has 30-days to complete the review of the MFSA
application, and notify NorthWestern Energy of any additional information or
requirements. Once the MFSA process is completed, NorthWestern Energy will
proceed with an environmental review, including an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS), under the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) and
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and other various approvals and
permits. This process is expected to begin in late August with additional
public scoping meetings scheduled in September.
"The filing of this application takes us one step closer toward the
realization of the Mountain States Transmission Intertie project, which is
designed to facilitate generation development in Montana," said Dave Gates,
Vice President Wholesale Operations. "Not only does this project represent a
significant growth opportunity for NorthWestern, but it will provide new,
which are primarily renewable, generation projects in Montana with the
additional path they need to reach potential markets in the West."
According to Rick Walsh, NorthWestern Energy's Manager of Environmental
Siting and Permitting, said NorthWestern Energy is also working with the
Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service and other state and federal agencies
in Montana and Idaho to conduct the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for
this project. Additional public input is encouraged in the EIS project.
Construction will not begin until the environmental review process is
completed -- a process which is expected to take approximately two years.
NorthWestern Energy proposes to construct, operate and maintain the
approximately 400-mile 500 kilovolt (kV) transmission line to address the
requests for transmission service from customers and to relieve constraints on
the high-voltage transmission system in the region. The new transmission line
is planned to run from a new substation near Townsend, Montana to a substation
near Midpoint, Idaho. A map showing the preferred and alternative routes,
along with additional information about the project, is available on our
website at http://www.msti500kv.com.
About NorthWestern Energy
NorthWestern Energy is one of the largest providers of electricity and
natural gas in the Upper Midwest and Northwest, serving approximately 650,000
customers in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. For more information about
NorthWestern Energy, visit our Web site at http://www.northwesternenergy.com.
SOURCE NorthWestern Corporation
