As the trade association representing about 250 members, the Lignite Energy Council plays many roles. We represent you with policymakers. We engage with the utilities and mines when it comes to research and development projects. We provide lignite education to teachers in the region, but we also communicate on your behalf with various audiences – including our membership. The Member Update chronicles multiple activities regularly for our members, but besides this communication, there are many others. Let me name a few.

We have had special virtual town hall meetings with North Dakota’s Congressional Delegation. The last one was with Representative Kelly Armstrong, but we also recently conducted calls with our U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven. These are important to the industry because the policies enacted in Washington, D.C., can affect our ability to mine coal and turn it into energy – both at the power plants and the synfuels plant.

Last May, we debuted a 30-minute film about the lignite industry titled “Coal: Powering the Past, the Present and the Future.” The film encapsulates our industry and is told by the very people who are connected to it – including elected officials, industry executives, miners, utility employees, researchers and others. The film has received good reviews and has been seen by people throughout the United States. When we say that lignite is different from coal, that message resonates through-out the film.

We have supplemented that video production with a series this summer called “I am Lignite.” The first three employees profiled work at BNI Energy’s Center Mine, but we will be adding more employees to this series of videos in the not too distant future. The short videos tell personal stories about the employees, their careers and their contributions to their communities and to others. These videos are important as we increasingly look for ways to “personalize” the industry. We’re more than just numbers and affordable electricity, we also are about people. We are also promoting those videos with advertisements on TV and digital platforms that encourage viewers to visit www.IAMLignite.com. 

I want to also mention our second season of Podcasts. If you caught our first season stories, we have made some changes to make the second season even better. For one thing, we now have two co-hosts. One is Kate Muggerud from KAT Communications and the other is Geoff Simon, director of the Western Dakota Energy Association. Geoff brings a wealth of energy knowledge to the Podcasts and compliments Kate very well. We also have been using Zoom for the interviews and posting the audio and video on the LEC Website.

We have completed five so far in season two and are working on more. The Podcasts are interesting because there is more time to delve deeper into subjects that are important to our industry. One of them that I’ll call out is an interview with R&D directors of the Lignite Research Program. Take the time to learn the history of the program, find out how it works and learn about the successes it has made to the industry.

Along with those, we continue to use our social media channels – such as Facebook and Twitter – to tell our story. We also have weekly guests on the Energy Matters radio show on Tuesday afternoons. The show is on KFYR radio – 550 AM. And we continue to have our monthly Table Topics series, which we send to LEC members.

It’s important that our members know what’s going on in the industry as you are the ambassadors to your friends and family.

Thank you for your continued support of the industry and best wishes as we continue through the challenges of COVID-19 and others.

Jason Bohrer,
President and CEO
Lignite Energy Council