Talen Energy to pay $450k to settle air quality violations

Talen Energy has agreed to pay at least $450,000 to settle air quality violations at the coal-fired Colstrip Power Plant during the summer of 2018.

The Department of Environmental Quality said the settlement reached Monday calls for the Pennsylvania-based company to pay a $112,500 penalty to the state of Montana.

The Billings Gazette reports the Northern Cheyenne Tribe will receive up to $270,000 for a street sweeper and the city of Colstrip will receive up to $103,000 for a building to store road de-icer.

The violation of the federal air pollution standards shut down Colstrip Units 3 and 4 at the end of June 2018 while Units 1 and 2 were already offline for maintenance.