The future of Montana's Colstrip power plant is very much in the news lately. The Clean Power Plan rules announced by the Obama administration in August called for Montana to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants more than any other state. And the utilities in West Coast states that own most of Colstrip face growing political pressure to stop buying coal-fired electricity from Montana. That makes for an uncertain future for the nearly 800 members of the Montana AFI-CIO unions who work in the Colstrip area.
Eric Whitney recently sat down with the executive secretary of the AFI-CIO, Al Ekblad. Ekblad is a member of the Clean Power Plan Advisory Council that Gov. Steve Bullock appointed Jan. 5.