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Lignite is coal. Formed over millions of years by decomposing plant material, it’s abundant, low-cost, reliable and environmentally sustainable.
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Mined: Lignite Energy in America: a podcast from the Lignite Energy Council. Join hosts Kate and Geoff as they explore industry-related topics.
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06/30/2022 – Lignite Line
Lignite Line – U.S. Supreme Court decision, election results, MISO board meeting and more….
U.S. Supreme Court decides in favor of coal
In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Environmental Protection Agency cannot pass sweeping regulations that could overhaul entire industries without additional congressional approval. The case stemmed from the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan which aimed to reduce carbon emissions as power plants.
“The Lignite Energy Council opposed the Clean Power Plan and joined the lawsuit because it was designed to be overly burdensome to states like North Dakota and its power plants. It would have resulted in higher costs, a decrease in grid stability, and the loss of thousands of jobs with no environmental benefit. The Lignite Council applauds the decision by the Supreme Court that puts the power into the hands of elected officials instead of bureaucrats in Washington. We are proud to have filed an amicus brief in favor of the lawsuit and grateful for the leadership of North American Coal and the ND Attorney General’s Office who led this legal effort.
Meanwhile, while D.C. lawyers battle in courtrooms or environmental industry groups release apocalyptic press statements, we will instead continue to lead by example on environmental issues–building the largest carbon capture retrofit projects in the world while being a strident advocate for next-generation technologies that continue to make North Dakota the cleanest air state in the nation.”
EERC Hosts 6th Annual Energizing ND Conference
The Energy and Environment Research Center hosted its annual conference on the UND campus this week where attendees heard a lot of enthusiasm from speakers from North Dakota’s energy sector.
Governor Doug Burgum highlighted the need to increase public awareness both inside and outside of our borders regarding North Dakota’s proactive approach to energy policy which provides the best regulatory, geologic, and business climate for cutting-edge technologies in carbon capture and rare earth minerals. Burgum proclaimed, “If you care about clean energy generation, you should want all of your energy produced in the United States because we produce the cleanest energy in the world.”
Jason Bohrer and Jonathan Fortner attend the conference on behalf of the Lignite Energy Council.
Primary Election results
This month’s ND Primary Election was the culmination of legislative redistricting and intraparty challenges. The results were a mixed bag of wins and losses as it pertains to the lignite industry. In the 2021 Legislative Session, there were 112 Lignite Champions that voted for each of the top-five priorities as set by the Lignite Energy Council’s Government Affairs Committee. Of the 112 Lignite Champions, 50 won their primary election, 39 were not up for election, 15 retired from public office and 9 lost their primary. This leaves 79% of the current Lignite Champions with the possibility to continue to serve in office in the 2023 session, if those on the ballot all win their general election races. While this is not the desired outcome in any election cycle, this is a good starting position to work from to begin the process of relationship building and education on the lignite industry with new legislative office holders.
Of the 21% of the Lignite Champions who will no longer serve in office during the 2023 legislative session, there are enormous shoes to fill to replace the likes of Senator Rich Wardner, Senator Jessica Bell, Representative Chet Pollert, Representative Jeff Delzer, Representative Dave Nehring and many more that are too numerous to mention. Their leadership on behalf of the lignite industry will be sorely missed and difficult to replace. Kudos to each of them from the Lignite Energy Council for their remarkable legislative service.
MISO Board of Directors Meeting
The MISO Board of Directors held their 2nd Quarter meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana this month. The main takeaway from the meeting is that the grid operator is increasingly more reliant on imports from its neighboring regional grid systems which will make this summer the most challenging in MISO history. This is largely because while installed capacity from all generation sources has increased in the last five years, the accredited capacity has actually decreased due to thermal retirements in the 15-state MISO region along with the increasing transition to renewables which have a lower capacity factor.
The Independent Market Monitor advocated to the Board of Directors that they need to fix the capacity market and shortage pricing if MISO wants to continue to have reliability of the system as the demand side needs a lot of work to establish the value of reliability. MISO CEO John Baer echoed the same comments he made at the Q1 Board Meeting that he was greatly concerned about the transition of the grid. The grid needs to have controllable resources and they are falling behind at too rapid of a pace and MISO needs to make market changes to make sure baseload remains. MISO stakeholder groups will continue to look for ways to make this happen and the Lignite Energy Council’s Jonathan Fortner will be participating in those discussions and activities as a voice for coal in the marketplace.
Lignite Energy Council holds 36th annual Lignite Education Seminar
More than 60 elementary and secondary teachers switched roles in mid-June as they became the students at an educational seminar conducted by the Lignite Energy Council. The seminar was held June 13 – 16 at the National Energy Center of Excellence on the Bismarck State College campus (ND), and included educators from North Dakota and Ohio.
The seminar, titled “2022 Lignite Education Seminar: Energy, Economics and Environment,” provided teachers with the information and educational materials they need to teach their students how lignite is mined and used to produce energy for homes, farms and businesses in the Upper Midwest. The seminar covered lignite’s economic impact on the region, as well as important environmental issues affecting the lignite industry.
As part of the seminar, the teachers toured BNI Coal’s Center Mine and Minnkota Power Cooperative’s Milton R. Young Station.
PIC OF THE WEEK
Teachers from across ND tour BNI Coal’s Center Mine
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