With the help of PPL Montana, students at Colstrip High School will gather water quality data, conduct a study of the biological impacts of a coal-bed methane production along the Tongue River and share their information with federal and state environmental agencies.

Colstrip High School in Colstrip will receive a $1,500 Project Earth Environmental Education Grant to support this program, which will provide baseline data to the scientific community. The school is one of nine grant winners this year receiving a total of more than $12,000 to support earth science programs.

All the data gathered by the students will be available to state agencies and organizations through the school's Web site. In addition, the students will present their project findings at the Montana Environmental Education Association meeting.

"There are few things more important to our future than the environment and education," said Lisa Perry, PPL Montana's manager of Community Affairs. "That's why we are so pleased to award competitive grants to teachers who create projects that provide a significant learning experience about the environment."

This is the first year that PPL Montana has offered the Project Earth Environmental Education Grants program. Teachers can receive grants for school projects that focus on issues such as watersheds and wetlands, air quality, renewable resources, energy conservation and the greening of schools.

The projects are designed to enhance established classroom curricula and academic standards, or support extracurricular activities of school organizations and clubs. PPL Montana employees chose this year's winning projects.

"We salute the students and teachers of Colstrip High School who are doing their part to promote a healthy environment in Montana for generations to come," Perry said.

PPL Montana sponsors the Environmental Education Grant program as part of PPL Project Earth, an initiative to educate the public about energy resources and the environment. For more information, visit the Environment section of the PPL Montana Web site.