Montana
Daines, Gianforte tour Montana coal mine, criticize federal policies
COLSTRIP — Sen. Steve Daines and Gov. Greg Gianforte traveled to Colstrip Tuesday, where they toured a coal mine and heard from workers and administrators concerned about Biden administration policies.
“This Colstrip operation is keeping the lights on in Montana, and, in fact, the whole Northwest,” Gianforte said. “We need reliable power to power our economy, and there just really isn’t an alternative.”
The two leaders took a tour of the Rosebud Mine, a 25,000-acre site that produced almost 7 million tons of coal in 2022. They visited a coal deposit, got a look at the multimillion-pound dragline excavators used in mining and saw areas that operator Westmoreland Mining has restored after extracting coal.
Jonathon Ambarian
Company leaders said the Rosebud Mine is ideal because of the quality of the coal seam and its accessibility.
“It’s just right,” said Westmoreland CEO Martin Purvis. “This is the Goldilocks of coal mines.”
When the coal is processed, it’s carried on a four-mile conveyor belt directly to the Colstrip power plant’s Units 3 and 4.
Jonathon Ambarian
After their tour of the mine, Daines and Gianforte held a roundtable discussion with mine and utility administrators and community leaders. Their focus was on what they describe as a series of federal policies that threaten Colstrip’s viability.
“EPA’s new rules are a one-two punch combination that’s really just intended to knock Colstrip out permanently and force the plant to prematurely retire,” said Dale Lebsack, chief fossil officer for Talen Energy, which operates the Colstrip power plant.
The most recent policies they’re concerned about include the EPA’s proposed Mercury and Air Toxic Standards, or MATS, regulations, as well as a proposal to end to new coal leases on public lands in southeastern Montana and Wyoming.
Leaders said the MATS changes would require the Colstrip plant, specifically, to make extensive investments to comply with tighter emission standards.
“You always have cycles in pricing in energy – you have ups and downs, whether you’re oil, natural gas or coal,” said Daines. “The problem we have is that the Biden administration is trying to kill this industry, to end it permanently.”
Purvis argued there hasn’t been a solid plan from the federal government for replacing the baseload energy that comes from fuels like coal. He compared Colstrip to military equipment that remains in use while the transition to newer systems is going on.
“You don’t want gaps in national security – and I’ll tell you what, you don’t want gaps in national energy for sure, as well,” he said.
NorthWestern Energy president and CEO Brian Bird said his company is counting on the reliability of power from sources like Colstrip. The utility announced last year that it was expanding its ownership interest in the Colstrip plant, starting in January 2026.
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at July 8, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from July 8 drawing
12-29-37-43-55, Powerball: 18, Power Play: 4
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from July 8 drawing
17-26-31-32-37, Star Ball: 01, ASB: 02
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from July 8 drawing
03-13-16-17, Bonus: 10
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from July 8 drawing
06-27-33-44-69, Powerball: 23
Check Powerball Double Play payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Montana Cash numbers from July 8 drawing
08-16-17-22-27
Check Montana Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 8 drawing
16-18-43-48-50, Bonus: 01
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
- Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.
HELENA, Mont — Gov. Greg Gianforte is backing a new effort to keep data centers from driving up Montanans’ power bills.
This week, Gianforte announced Montana is signing on to the Ratepayer Protection Pledge — an initiative endorsed by President Trump.
Several major technology companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and XAI first signed the pledge back in March.
The pledge comes as data center development continues to grow — raising questions about how much new energy will be needed and who will pay for it.
NBC Montana spoke with Julia Haggerty, professor of geography and department head of earth sciences at Montana State University, about whether Montana’s power grid is ready for that growth.
“Not without resolution of significant transmission bottlenecks and massive amounts of new generation. So, while our grid is adequately, relatively adequately equipped to serve the needs of our current load base, it’s definitely not equipped to accommodate the new demands without a lot of expansion,” she said.
According to the pledge, data center developers will pay for new power generation, and infrastructure needed to support their operations.
“It does align with ongoing regulatory efforts to ensure that the cost of new generation associated with data centers is borne by the developers of those data centers and not customers,” Haggerty said.
The governor’s office says Gianforte’s support of the pledge is designed to encourage responsible data center investments while protecting Montana ratepayers from long-term costs.
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