Billion-dollar boon: Montana Alberta Tie would open door to flood of wind projects

The open country north of Great Falls stretching to the Canadian border — long known for its wheat — may be about to see an explosion of a new crop.

Harvested from towers twice as tall as the old Milwaukee Depot, with blades that reach nearly 400 feet into the sky, that crop is wind.

The growth hinges on regulatory approval and construction of the Montana Alberta Tie, a 203-mile-long transmission line that would tie into the U.S. power grid at Great Falls and the Canadian grid in Lethbridge, Alberta.

By KARL PUCKETT
Tribune Staff Writer

Full Story: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070422/NEWS01/704220302