Continental Energy office shuts down in Butte – Company says it remains committed to generation facility

Continental Energy Services Inc., the backer of the proposed 500-megawatt gas-fired Silver Bow generation project, will close its
Butte office to consolidate operations in Portland, Ore.

By Leslie McCartney of The Montana Standard

The Portland office is near a fully permitted site in Longview, Wash., which was previously owned by Enron. Continental bought
that site last year.

The company said it will continue its work on the Silver Bow site from Oregon, but had originally planned to keep its office and
staff of six in Butte.
However, that has changed, the company said Friday, noting that the consolidation is strategically advantageous. The
consolidation is to be final by September, although no firm date for the Butte office closure has been set.

“Some of our Butte-based employees will be relocating to Portland, affording a consolidation of our Butte and Portland offices
there, where we are more strategically located relative to our market,” said Dick Cromer, president of Continental.

In gaining the Longview site, Continental also acquired a development team of six to seven people. Four from the Butte office have
been offered a position in Portland.

The Silver Bow project is to be sited west of Butte. However, it has had a long
road to its permit, including a court battle with the Helena-based environmental group, the Montana Environmental Information
Center. That group sued over the granting of a permit to Silver Bow, contending that the $350 million project would harm the
environment.

Labor, city and economic development officials rallied around Continental and in March the MEIC decided not to appeal the
dismissal of a lawsuit and the Department of Environmental Quality. That opened the door for Continental to build the plant;
however, before that can proceed, Continental has to find financing and customers.
In dropping its appeal, MEIC still objected to the project, but reasoned that the plant wouldn’t ever be built because no market
exists for the power the facility would produce, according to Jim Jensen, director of the MEIC.

The project has been on the drawing board for three years. It was originally proposed by Montana Power’s independent power
subsidiary. The leader of that subsidiary, Jim Williams, is now a principal involved in the Basin Creek Project to be built south of
town, near the MSE complex. Basin Creek is a 48-megawatt gas-fired generation power plant.

At one time, Continental estimated that nearly 900 people would be needed to build the Silver Bow project, which would employ 25
people permanently.
Continental’s office is located at 101 N. Main St., in the old Norwest bank building.

Reporter Leslie McCartney may be reached via e-mail at [email protected].

http://www.mtstandard.com/newslocal/lnews1.html