Work to repair the damaged intake structure at PPL Montana’s Hebgen Dam has been suspended temporarily for the coldest time of the year. Additional work will continue in early 2010, weather permitting, with the goal of completing a cofferdam and the reconstruction of the intake structure.

The site will be opened this winter for ice fishing access as soon as the ice is thick enough.

“We’re pleased with the progress that has been made this year and look forward to spring when we can finish the cofferdam, which is about 95 percent complete,” said David Hoffman, director of External Affairs for PPL Montana. “The work has been done safely and is in keeping with PPL Montana’s goal to protect fisheries and public recreation, which are critical to the summer tourism season in the Madison Valley.”

The cofferdam will create a watertight seal that will give workers access to normally submerged areas of the intake structure, allowing them to make permanent repairs.

The intake structure will be rebuilt with hydraulically controlled gates. Damage to the intake structure was caused by the failure of stoplogs in one of the intake bays in August 2008. Stoplogs, timbers similar to railroad ties, had been used to regulate water flow from the intake structure.

Some of the other design features of the new intake structure will include a secondary emergency shutoff gate; a large gate at the bottom for emergency flow needs; and a single bay replacing the current four bays. The structure itself will be anchored to the rock face behind it.

The work at Hebgen Dam has had no effect on lake levels or river flows, but for safety reasons the area around the dam has been closed to the public. The dam has consistently remained safe and stable, according to engineering inspection results and on-site monitoring equipment, Hoffman said.

“We’re targeting fall 2011 for completion of the project, with removal of the cofferdam in 2012,” Hoffman said.

PPL Montana operates the Hebgen Dam to regulate the flow of water into the Madison-Missouri system, balance the needs of recreational users of Hebgen Lake and to protect important river resources downstream on the Madison River.

Hebgen Dam creates Hebgen Reservoir near West Yellowstone, which stores water for the Madison-Missouri river system. PPL Montana owns and operates eight hydroelectric facilities on the Madison and Missouri rivers.

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 nearly 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). More information about PPL Montana is available at www.pplmontana.com.