NorthWestern recognizes former PSC chairman Gallagher

NorthWestern Energy on Monday held a ceremony to rename the control room at Rainbow Dam after Bill Gallagher, former member and chairman of the Montana Public Service Commission, which approved the sale of 11 hydroelectric dams in Montana from PPL Montana to NorthWestern Energy last year.

Gallagher insisted at the luncheon, which included NorthWestern employees, officials and PSC members, that he accepted the honor "on behalf of a lot of other people," including his colleagues at the PSC and their employees.

"I was the leader of a damn fine team," Gallagher said.

Rainbow Dam is located just north of Great Falls.

NorthWestern CEO Bob Rowe said the day was something of a celebration and recognition "of all the folks who worked very, very hard to get us to this day."

Gallagher said that when he was running for PSC, the most common question people asked him was, "Are you guys going to get our dams back?"

The dams had been owned by Montana Power Co., which sold them to PPL Montana.

At the time, Gallagher thought that to be impossible, but he explained that a confluence of several necessary factors, including record-low interest rates, low power rates, the dams' low carbon emissions and NorthWestern's emergence from bankruptcy, made the purchase possible.

The dams, including five north of Great Falls, were purchased by NorthWestern Energy for $870 million. They were built by the former Montana Power Co., and later sold to PPL Montana.