Hal Benton reported in The Seattle Times on May 9, 2018, that state regulators had “stepped up their climate activism” by asking power utilities in the Washington to assign or increase a carbon price “for planning purposes” on their fossil fuel sources of electricity.

This will apply to the electricity produced with coal from Montana and Wyoming.  Benton says it specifically threatens the economic viability of the Colstrip Generating Plant.

Interesting, that Puget Sound Energy already assigns a carbon price in their accounting records, but Pacific Corp, the parent company of Pacific Power, did not intend to until 2026.  These two utilities, and Avista Corp, supply electricity to 1.47 million customers in Washington.

This article was summarized in IEEFA.