Judge: Power-plant documents were public record

Associated Press - July 18, 2008 2:44 PM ET GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) - A district judge has ruled that the city of Great Falls shouldn't have withheld drafts of documents from an environmental group. The documents involved the city's relationship with Southern Montana Electric. SME and the city have proposed a coal-fired power plant east of Great Falls. The case arose in March 2007, when a member of the Montana Environmental Information Center was denied access to drafts of documents, including contracts between the city and SME. The following month, City Attorney David Gliko said preliminary drafts of agreements between the city and SME were not public documents. MEIC field suit in May 2007 and was later joined by the Montana Newspaper Association. The parties were notified of the ruling by Judge E. Wayne Phillips of... [read full story]