Montana Title 69. Public Utilities and Carriers § 69-2-302. Electric facilities provider--wildfire--wildfire mitigation plan approval

(1) An electric facilities provider shall prepare a wildfire mitigation plan in accordance with this section and submit the plan to its approval authority and commence implementation of its wildfire mitigation plan no later than December 31, 2025.  An electric facilities provider shall resubmit an updated or subsequent wildfire mitigation plan to its approval authority at least every 3 years.

(2) A wildfire mitigation plan must include a description of:

(3) An electric cooperative must present incremental costs associated with implementing a wildfire mitigation plan to its approval authority for consideration when reviewing the plan.  However, those costs may not be a part of the wildfire mitigation plan itself.

(4) For the purposes of this part, the approval authority for an electric facilities provider's wildfire mitigation plan shall:

(5) The department and Montana disaster and emergency services shall review a wildfire mitigation plan submitted to the commission and within the public comment period provide comments and recommendations regarding aspects of the plan within each of their jurisdictions.

(6) The approval authority shall approve the wildfire mitigation plan if the approval authority determines the wildfire mitigation plan contains the required components in subsection (2), is in the public interest, and reasonably balances the incremental costs of implementing the plan with the risk of a potential wildfire.

(7) No later than June 1 of each year, the electric facilities provider shall submit to its approval authority a report summarizing the electric facilities provider's wildfire mitigation efforts and compliance with its currently authorized wildfire mitigation plan.

(8) For any jointly owned electric facilities, the operator shall prepare and implement the required wildfire mitigation plan for the jointly owned electric facilities.  If an owner of a jointly owned electric facility is a regulated utility, the commission is the approval authority whether or not the operator is a regulated utility.  The operator's submission and implementation of a wildfire mitigation plan as required by this subsection satisfies the obligations under this section for the jointly owned electric facility only.

(9) In accordance with the Montana Administrative Procedure Act, the commission may make any necessary rules establishing procedures for the review and comment on a regulated utility's wildfire mitigation plan, including for the appointment of a technical master to determine whether the wildfire mitigation plan contains the required components in subsection (2).

(10) Nothing in this section may be construed to create a new liability, basis for claim, or separate legal cause of action arising from the review or approval of a wildfire mitigation plan when none would exist otherwise.