Two more PPL Montana plants receive federal safety recognition

Madison and Holter hydroelectric plants recognized in OSHA program;
Corette power plant recertified

PPL Montana’s Madison and Holter hydroelectric plants are now on the list of industrial sites recognized as among the safest in the country.

The addition of Madison, which includes the Hebgen reservoir, and Holter brings to five the number of PPL Montana power plants that have earned Star worksite status in the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Voluntary Protection Program. There are only seven VPP Star sites in Montana.

“Meeting OSHA’s highest standards under VPP is a credit to the dedication and values of PPL Montana employees who keep our environmentally friendly hydro plants, some of them on historic registries, running smoothly and in step with 21st century safety standards,” said Brad Spencer, PPL Montana’s vice president and chief operating officer.

The program recognizes companies that go beyond compliance to protect worker health and safety. The VPP Star certification is the highest safety recognition given within the program.

Gregory J. Baxter, regional administrator for OSHA Region VIII in Denver, said the Madison/Hebgen and Holter employees “represent the true spirit of the state of Montana with their dedication to hard work and quality craftsmanship.”

“Their commitment to workplace safety and health excellence is demonstrated through their comprehensive employee involvement and incentive systems, arc flash prevention and protection programs, clearance programs, and pre-task planning,” he said. An arc flash is a burst of electricity between two points, which can cause a fire or injury.

At the Corette coal-fired plant in Billings, employees recently earned their recertification in the VPP program. Once a plant earns VPP Star status, the employees must show continuous improvement over the next three years and submit to an VPP audit at that time to maintain Star status.

When Corette received its VPP Star in 2005, PPL Montana became the first private company in the state in the program, which recognizes companies that go beyond compliance to protect employee health and safety. Kerr Dam near Polson received its VPP Star certification in 2006, and the Colstrip power plant followed last fall.

Madison Dam is a four-unit plant on the Madison River at the head of Bear Trap Canyon near Ennis. It’s one of PPL Montana’s most historic hydroelectric plants, beginning operations Aug. 1, 1906. Led by Roscoe Kronfuss, supervisor, its crew is composed of Steve Covas, foreman, and Dan Collier, John Dale and James Johnson.

South of Madison Dam, just north of the Idaho border near Yellowstone National Park, is PPL Montana’s Hebgen Lake. Hebgen Lake is used to store water from a 905-square-mile drainage area at the headwaters of the Madison-Missouri river system, home to eight PPL Montana hydroelectric plants — Black Eagle, Cochrane, Hauser, Holter, Madison, Morony, Rainbow and Ryan. Hebgen is used to regulate the flow of water into the Madison-Missouri system.

Holter Dam is a four-unit hydroelectric plant on the Missouri River, about 43 miles northeast of Helena. Its crew, also led by Kronfuss, is composed of Scott Doherty, Tim Rusek and Mike Taylor.

PPL Montana’s Thompson Falls dam, whose crew is led by Bill Beckman, foreman, and Rich Bonnes, supervisor, is planning to apply in the near future for VPP Star status.

PPL Montana provides safe, reliable energy from coal-fired power plants at Colstrip and Billings, as well as 11 hydroelectric plants along West Rosebud Creek and the Missouri, Madison, Clark Fork and Flathead rivers. It has a combined generating capacity of more than 1,200 megawatts and has offices in Billings, Butte and Helena. PPL Montana and its 500 employees are dedicated to Montana and its communities, supporting educational, environmental and economic development programs across the state. PPL EnergyPlus operates a trading floor in Butte that markets and sells power for PPL Montana in wholesale and retail energy markets throughout the western United States. PPL Montana and PPL EnergyPlus are subsidiaries of PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL).