The first snippets of news began to leak out about the proposed sale of eleven dams / hydroelectric units (for a tidy sum of $900 million) earlier this past week; it’s been no secret PPL wanted out of Montana, at least out of the hydroelectric business. PPL squeaked out an underwhelming press release on Thursday the 26th.
Local and regional media presented more detail about the story Friday and yesterday; probably the best local writeup has been in the Missoulian here, written by Mike Dennison. He presented a fairly succinct recount of the history of Montana’s (now with the clarity of 20/20 hindsight) damned clumsy dalliance with energy deregulation which has ended up costing the citizenry dearly when it comes to energy prices since 1997.
Of particular interest to fly fishers will be the management of four dams in the package – the beleaguered and yet still not fully-repaired Hebgen Dam on the Upper Madison, Hauser and Holter Dams on the Missouri (controlling the fate of the most fished miles of the mighty Missouri) and Thompson Falls Dam on the Clarks Fork.
There’s a nice interactive graphic on the Missoulian to view the dams in place; click the Missoulian link above and look for the map graphic.
For those who hear the news and immediately conjure expectations of improved management of flows on the Madison and Missouri in particular; it ain’t going to happen right off the bat. For the Madison in particular the FERC needs to be changed and that will take some time, effort and a more cooperative dam owner – operator.
Our money is on NorthWestern Energy to be a better partner in the process. Time will tell.
Fire Girl Jess dug deeper into the Madison story that evolved this past year related to flow management issues that inspired the spirited discussion about the issue that we participated in along with Mike Lum in Ennis and Joe Moore in West Yellowstone. That story unfortunately went to print in the upcoming issue of Fly Fisherman just a few short days before this news broke.
Changes will be slow in coming if and when the sale is approved, though there’s new hope for improved management on some of Montana’s most storied waters. Northwestern Energy is based out of South Dakota by the way, though they have a very strong service presence in Montana.
