PPL Montana’s Colstrip power plant and the city of Colstrip joined forces today to honor Earth Day and Arbor Day with a poster contest, tree seedling giveaway, community cleanup and a ceremony honoring the city as a “Tree City USA.”
At the afternoon ceremony at Pine Butte Elementary School, Mary Sexton, director of the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, presented Colstrip Mayor John Williams with the Tree City USA designation.
The Tree City USA® program, sponsored by the National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters, recognizes community forestry programs. This is the third year that Colstrip has earned the honor.
“PPL Montana is proud to assist the city of Colstrip with the Earth Day/Arbor Day activities,” said William L. Neumiller, senior environmental engineer for the company, who helps to coordinate the event. “It’s an opportunity to help the community improve the environment and give people a chance to learn more about nature.”
The Colstrip event is the official Montana state Arbor Day celebration for 2007. It is being held in Colstrip this year to recognize the city’s dedication and commitment to improve the condition of forests and landscapes within the community.
In addition to Sexton, Williams and Neumiller, speakers at the ceremony included Bob Harrington, administrator of the DNRC’s Forestry Division, and Richard Spang of Western Energy.
After the ceremony, students received tree seedlings to plant and then joined the Colstrip Senior Citizens in a cleanup of trash and debris throughout the city.
PPL Montana provided 1,100 blue spruce, ponderosa pine and Scotch pine seedlings for schools, the city and Colstrip plant employees. In addition, the company donated Austrian pine trees to be planted at the city’s Ponderosa Butte Golf Course.
“At PPL Montana, we take seriously our responsibility to provide reliable power, minimize the environmental impact of our generating facilities and support the local community,” said Lisa Perry, Community Affairs manager for the company. “These programs in Colstrip and others across the state that PPL Montana is sponsoring help us extend our respect for Montana’s environmental resources beyond how we operate our facilities.”
In addition to the Earth Day/Arbor Day celebration in Colstrip, through its Project Earth environmental education grants program PPL Montana provided $1,500 grants to seven Montana schools this spring. School projects that focus on environmental issues such as watersheds and wetlands, air quality, renewable energy resources, energy conservation and the greening of schools were eligible to receive the grants.
PPL has 500 employees in Montana who generate and sell electricity. PPL Montana operates 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 EnergyPlus operates a trading floor in Butte that markets and sells power in the wholesale and retail energy market. PPL Montana and PPL EnergyPlus are subsidiaries of PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL).