Two Lignite Energy Council board members and about 30 other electric company executives met with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to discuss concerns with the current regulatory environment on June 19 in Washington, D.C.

The meeting was the second in less than two months with Pruitt for LEC chair Paul Sukut and past chair Mac McLennan.

Basin Electric Cooperative CEO Sukut and Minnkota Power Cooperative CEO McLennan, along with other North Dakota electric cooperative leaders, also met with the Administrator Pruitt on April 25 to discuss industry issues.

As Basin, Minnkota and other cooperatives continue to pursue efforts to maintain cost-effective coal-based generation, the two North Dakota cooperative executives and others were given the opportunity to discuss with Pruitt what they believe is necessary for the existing fleet to continue operating with some level of certainty.

For that to happen, a clearer regulatory path is needed.

“Administrator Pruitt made it clear that the administration is worried about long-term energy security in the U.S. and the role that baseload assets, which include coal and nuclear, play in that,” McLennan said. “There’s a fundamental concern about marketplace conditions today that are making it difficult for those assets to be valued appropriately.”

McLennan said it appears Pruitt and the EPA want to figure out how to protect the environment while at the same time allow for economic development.

“He’s not only looking at the existing fleet today, but what a future fleet would look like as well,” McLennan said. “Certainly the administrator and the administration appear to understand the issues impacting our industry.”

McLennan said he and Sukut, who were among nine G&T executives invited to the meeting, continue to press Pruitt to come to North Dakota to get a firsthand look at the state’s energy industry.

Meetings with energy industry officials have filled Pruitt’s calendar since he took office earlier this year.

“I’m grateful to Administrator Pruitt for his time and the productive discussion we had on rules and regulations – things of vital importance to our membership,” McLennan said.

Sukut said, “The meeting was overall very positive. Administrator Pruitt was genuinely interested in hearing from us and concerned with finding a path forward that considers the impacts for all, especially the end consumer.”