BILLINGS, Mont. (Legal Newsline) - The co-owners of two coal-fired steam electric generation units in Colstrip, Mont., were brought to federal court after failed arbitration attempts.
The complaint was filed on May 4 in the U.S. District Court for Montana by plaintiffs Portland General Electric Company, Avista Corporation, Pacificorp and Puget Sound Energy Inc.; defendants are Northwestern Corporation and Talen Montana LLC.
The parties co-own the coal electric generation units, which are governed by an ownership and operation agreement.
The defendants opened an arbitration negotiation earlier this year regarding the closing of the two units at Colstrip and believe that an unanimous vote is required from all parties to do so. The plaintiffs allege that obtaining a vote with at least 55% of the project shares in favor would be adequate.
An agreement was not met and arbitration demands were served.
The plaintiffs are concerned that the defendants will use a recent piece of Montana legislation to nullify the arbitration agreements under the ownership and operation agreement.
The plaintiffs are represented by Ugrin Alexander Zadick PC.