Panel: Faster, coordinated transmission planning needed in Montana; tribal engagement, workforce and coal-community impacts must be addressed

Speakers at a coalition transmission panel said Montana needs new transmission capacity and faster, more coordinated planning to avoid the 15‑to‑20‑year timelines that often delay projects, and that early tribal and community engagement, workforce training and attention to coal‑community impacts are essential.

The issue matters because Montana has large wind and solar resources that could serve regional demand if transmission is expanded, panelists said. Brent Johnson, senior vice president for development at Grid United, described the Northern Plains Connector as a 3,000‑megawatt high‑voltage direct‑current project that would “connect the two grids” and allow bidirectional transfers that can reduce losses and better match diverse weather‑driven generation across regions.

Panelists focused first on planning and permitting. Miranda Compton, founder and president of LEPWAY, said the timeline problem is mostly procedural: “It is not we cannot snap our fingers and make transmission appear,” and stressed that cutting years from a project’s schedule requires “appropriate planning” and sustained engagement so that issues do not “mushroom and balloon out at the 5, 10, or 15 year mark.” Compton urged treating tribal nations “as governments, not just cultural artifacts,” and recommended early, sustained consultation to surface concerns before routes are finalized.

Brent…