PPL, DNRC officials differ over dam rent before legislative council

By Mike Dennison
Missoulian

HELENA – A spokesman for power-generator PPL Montana said Thursday it’s time for the state to admit defeat in its lengthy effort to collect rent from PPL for its hydropower dams and put an end to the eight-year-old legal case.

“It is inconceivable to me that anyone could declare a victory for the state,” David Hoffman said of the Feb. 22 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case. “I submit that it’s time to stop throwing good money after bad, and it’s time to put a stop to this nonsense.”

Yet a top state official told the Environmental Quality Council that the case is not over, and the state will be back to court to determine whether PPL owes rent on sections of riverbeds that are deemed navigable, and therefore owned by the state.

“The issue of paying rent or not paying rent is still alive and well,” said Mary Sexton, director of the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. “The question is how much of the river … will PPL be paying rent for.” Read more