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Butte, Mont. – April 16, 2025 – Colstrip Plant owners NorthWestern Energy and Talen Energy express their gratitude to Montana’s Governor Greg Gianforte, U.S. Senators Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy, U.S. Representatives Ryan Zinke and Troy Downing, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin and the federal administration for the proclamation granting two years of relief from a new Environmental Protection Agency rule. This relief is crucial for the future of Montana’s power generation resource, which ensures reliable energy service in all weather conditions.

“Energy policies that consider energy reliability and energy bill impacts are in the best interest of Montana and the nation,” said Talen Montana President Dale Lebsack. "We are thankful for the recognition of these important factors."

Talen Energy President and CEO Mac McFarland added, “We greatly appreciate the engagement by the Governor, the Montana delegation, and the federal administration.  Their support for Colstrip makes a significant difference and is helping to ensure reliable and reasonably priced power is available to Montana citizens.”

“This relief means our Montana customers will not be burdened with hundreds of millions of dollars of costs to comply with a new regulation that would only marginally increase the Colstrip Plant’s air toxics efficiency,” said NorthWestern Energy President and CEO Brian Bird. “The Colstrip Plant is a vital part of our balanced generation portfolio, providing reliable power to Montana customers at reasonable costs.”

The Colstrip Plant is 99.6% efficient in reducing air toxics emissions. The new rule would improve air toxics emissions to 99.8% efficient.

Today, the Colstrip Plant meets both federal and Montana's more stringent mercury standards, as well as the revised mercury standards set by the new EPA rule.

The executive proclamation allows the Colstrip Plant's owners time to effectively evaluate options for compliance with new air toxics standards and provides the federal government time to review the new EPA rule and assess its potential consequences for reliable energy service.

"We appreciate the state and federal administrations’ support in ensuring that energy reliability and affordability remain a priority”, said Bird and Lebsack.  “Working together, we can deliver an energy grid – and an energy future – that is affordable, weather-resilient, responsive, and ready for the demand arriving now.”

NorthWestern Energy - Delivering a Bright Future

NorthWestern Energy, provides essential energy infrastructure and valuable services that enrich lives and empower communities while serving as long-term partners to our customers and communities. We work to deliver safe, reliable, and innovative energy solutions that create value for customers, communities, employees, and investors. We do this by providing low-cost and reliable service performed by highly-adaptable and skilled employees. We provide electricity and / or natural gas to approximately 775,300 customers in Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Yellowstone National Park. Our operations in Montana and Yellowstone National Park are conducted through our subsidiary, NW Corp, and our operations in South Dakota and Nebraska are conducted through our subsidiary, NWE Public Service. We have provided service in South Dakota and Nebraska since 1923 and in Montana since 2002. For more information, visit www.northwesternenergy.com

About Talen

Talen Energy (NASDAQ: TLN) is a leading independent power producer and energy infrastructure company dedicated to powering the future. We own and operate approximately 10.7 gigawatts of power infrastructure in the United States, including 2.2 gigawatts of nuclear power and a significant dispatchable fossil fleet. We produce and sell electricity, capacity, and ancillary services into wholesale U.S. power markets, with our generation fleet principally located in the Mid-Atlantic and Montana. Our team is committed to generating power safely and reliably, delivering the most value per megawatt produced. Talen is also powering the digital infrastructure revolution. We are well-positioned to capture this significant growth opportunity, as data centers serving artificial intelligence increasingly demand more reliable, clean power. Talen is headquartered in Houston, Texas. For more information, visit https://www.talenenergy.com/

Media Contacts:

NorthWestern Energy

Jo Dee Black

866-622-8081

jodee.black@northwestern.com

Talen Energy

Taryne Williams

Director, Corporate Communications

Taryne.Williams@talenenergy.com