Owners of Montana coal plant beg U.S. Supreme Court to halt Biden pollution rules

For now, one man — United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts — may hold the fate of the Colstrip coal-fired power plant in his hands.

Lawyers for Talen Montana and NorthWestern Energy, the owners of the aging power plant, the largest coal-fired plant west of the Mississippi River, have asked the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court for temporary stay of two rules that owners of the plant say leave them with two terrible choices: Either invest $350 million in immediate upgrades to the pollution controls, or shutter the plant, leaving power customers in Montana facing high energy rates or unreliable power.

In their 38-page emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys for Colstrip’s owners say the Biden-era pollution rules unfairly target the Colstrip plant, which has routinely been targeted as one of the dirtiest power generation stations still in operation in America.

Moreover, they contend that the United States Environmental Protection Agency has adopted stricter pollution rules without proper justification, making the new rules that govern particulate matter toxins released by burning coal as well as a rule that governs greenhouse gas emissions arbitrary.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/08/27/colstrip-owners-beg-u-s-supreme-court-to-halt-biden-pollution-rules/

And today's SCrOTUS might oblige them.