No doubt about it, North Dakotans consume a lot of energy…partly because of extreme temperatures in the winter and summer. However, distances between towns and our industries also contribute to high energy use. That’s why we devoted our January Table Topics to the discussion of affordable energy and why it’s important to people living in the Flickertail State. As a state, we are the second-highest per capita users of energy in the country. It’s important that energy remains affordable and one way is the continued use of the state’s abundant reserves of lignite to generate affordable and reliable electricity.