Political headwinds turn against wind farms in southeast Montana

Montana’s congressional delegation leaned into reviving the state’s coal economy, which had been in decline through mine bankruptcies and power plant closures since 2016. It was all hands on deck for coal. Trump declared an energy emergency to rush federal coal permitting for Montana’s Bull Mountain Mine, which exports coal to Japan and South Korea. The EPA exempted the Colstrip power plant from Biden-era emissions standards. In July, Congress cut by half the royalties owed to federal and state governments for coal mined on federal land and ended production tax credits for wind and solar projects. Trump followed up by instructing the U.S. Treasury to strictly limit qualifications for the tax credit in its final months.

The Glendive Wind leaseholders were being left in the lurch.