Vampire wires will refit Montana’s coal collar and ensure our future as an energy colony

By: George Ochenski

Outlets: Daily Montanan

Published: February 13, 2026

Words: 667

Last Updated: 2 weeks, 6 days ago

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More than 50 years ago Montanans rebelled against turning our state into “the boiler room for the nation” by the now-defunct Montana Power Company’s coal-fired Colstrip generating plants.

We were warned that “vampire wires” – the massive transmission lines constructed across Montana’s landscape — would suck out Montana’s resources mercilessly to produce export power, not for Montanans, but to fuel the profits for energy corporations. This is all well known to Montanans, who found …

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