Efforts to save Ponderay Newsprint plant lead to lawsuit settlement
With the goal of keeping its largest customer afloat, the Pend Oreille Public Utility District has settled a 2-year-old lawsuit with Ponderay Newsprint Co.
The rural utility will pay the newsprint plant north of Spokane in the community of Usk $557,000 under the terms of the settlement and give the plant a $50,000 monthly break on its electric bill as long as it continues to operate.
In return, Ponderay Newsprint will pay $150,000 toward finding new buyers for the electricity generated by the utility’s Box Canyon Dam on the Pend Oreille River.
The settlement, announced last week, ends a dispute that was scheduled to go to trial in June. However, questions linger about the long-term viability of Ponderay Newsprint, which buys about 70 percent of the utility’s electric load.
Read more: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/feb/12/efforts-to-save-ponderay-newsprint-plant-lead-to-s/
