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Documents relating to the Highwood Generating Station could stay under lock and key after all, despite a ruling on Tuesday from a district judge that boxes of documents must be released to the public.

On Wednesday, Southern Montana Electric and the city of Great Falls appealed the decision.

The motion says that a stay or injunction is necessary to "preserve Southern Montana's rights to protect its documents, based on claims of trade secret."

The court ruling on Tuesday recognized trade secrets in a select number of documents, and the judge says those do not have to be released.

Other claims of attorney-client privilege and confidentiality were deemed invalid.

The fight over the documents has lasted three years.

NOTE: the original posting of this story contained an inaccurate headline indicating that the stay had been approved. The stay has not been approved, and we apologize for the error.