Basin Electric Power Cooperative

Basin Electric Power Cooperative is a wholesale electric generation and transmission cooperative based in North Dakota that provides electricity to 2 million customers in nine U.S. states. The roots of the cooperative go back to 1960 when Leland Olds and ten power suppliers created Giant Power Cooperative. Giant Power was first going to be a generation and transmission cooperative, but to keep electricity cheaper for rural customers, Basin Electric Power Cooperative was started in 1961. Today, Basin Electric's power sources include coal, electricity, natural gas, and wind. The current CEO and General Manager is Ronald R. Harper.

Power portfolio
Out of its total 3,444 MW of electric generating capacity in 2005 (0.32% of the U.S. total), Basin Electric got 94.0% from coal, 3.9% from oil, 2.0% from natural gas, and 0.2% from wind. Basin Electric owns power plants in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

Coal lobbying
Basin Electric Cooperative is a member of the American Coal Ash Association (ACAA), an umbrella lobbying group for all coal ash interests that includes major coal burners Duke Energy, Southern Company and American Electric Power as well as dozens of other companies. The group argues that the so-called "beneficial-use industry" would be eliminated if a "hazardous" designation was given for coal ash waste.

ACAA set up a front group called Citizens for Recycling First, which argues that using toxic coal ash as fill in other products is safe, despite evidence to the contrary.

Direct purchasing

 * Grand Electric Cooperative - Bison, SD
 * KEM Electric Cooperative - Linton, ND
 * Minnesota Valley Cooperative Light & Power Association - Montevideo, MN
 * Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative - Jordan, MN
 * Mor-Gran-Sou Electric Cooperative - Flasher, ND
 * Powder River Energy Corporation - Sundance, WY
 * Oliver-Mercer Electric Cooperative - Hazen, ND
 * Rosebud Electric Cooperative - Gregory, SD
 * Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association - Rockford, MN

Generation and Transmission (G&T)

 * Central Power Electric Cooperative - Minot, ND
 * Central Montana Electric Power Cooperative - Great Falls, MT
 * East River Electric Power Cooperative - Madison, SD
 * L & O Power Cooperative - Rock Rapids, IA
 * Northwest Iowa Power Cooperative - LeMars, IA
 * Rushmore Electric Power Cooperative - Rapid City, SD
 * Upper Missouri G&T Electric Cooperative - Sidney, MT
 * Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association - Denver, CO

Class D Members

 * Corn Belt Power Cooperative - Humboldt, IA
 * Flathead Electric Cooperative - Kalispell & Libby, MT
 * Wyoming Municipal Power Agency - Lusk, WY

Existing coal-fired power plants
In 2005 Basin Electric had 3 coal-fired generating stations with 7 total generating units, totalling 3,236 MW of capacity. Here is a list of Basin Electric's coal power plants:

In 2005, Basin Electric's 3 coal-fired power plants emitted 23.9 million tons of CO2 and 66,000 tons of SO2.

Drinking water contaminated with hexavalent chromium from coal may cause cancer
A report released by EarthJustice and the Sierra Club in early February 2011 stated that there are many health threats associated a toxic cancer-causing chemical found in coal ash waste called hexavalent chromium. The report specifically cited 29 sites in 17 states where the contamination was found. The information was gathered from existing EPA data on coal ash and included locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Massachusetts, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virgina and Wisconsin. In North Dakota, the Basin Electric Power Cooperative's WJ Neal Station Surface Impoundment in Velva was reported as having high levels of chromium seeping into groundwater.

As a press release about the report read:


 * Hexavalent chromium first made headlines after Erin Brockovich sued Pacific Gas & Electric because of poisoned drinking water from hexavalent chromium. Now new information indicates that the chemical has readily leaked from coal ash sites across the U.S. This is likely the tip of the iceberg because most coal ash dump sites are not adequately monitored.

USDA approves loan for Antelope Valley CO2 capture
In January 2009, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a loan of up to $300 million to Basin Electric Power Cooperative for the development of a demonstration project to capture carbon dioxide emissions at its Antelope Valley Station in Mercer County. Basin Electric is partnering with Powerspan Corp. and Burns & McDonnell to demonstrate CO2 removal from the flue gas of a lignite-based boiler. The project would capture about a million tons of CO2 per year from part of the plant's exhaust stream and send it to oil fields along the pipeline used by the plant.

In July 2009, the project received up to $100 million from the Department of Energy's Clean Coal Power Initiative.

Powder River Basin Air Permit Lawsuit Dismissed
On March 5, 2010 the Powder River Basin Resource Council and Sierra Club lost a case in the Wyoming Supreme Court where the groups had challenged an air quality permit that the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality issued for the Dry Fork Station in 2007. The plant is closing in on 75 percent completion rate as of March 2010. The Supreme Court ruling lifts one of the last remaining obstacles for the plant's completion. The plant's $1.3 billion cost includes $334 million in pollution-control equipment.

The groups involved in the suit claimed the plant could degrade air quality the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in southern Montana. The plant is to be located 60 miles south of the reservation. The environmental groups argued that worst-case computer modeling showed the plant's emissions, combined with emissions from existing plants in Montana, could cause high levels of pollution on the Northern Cheyenne reservation. However, the justices on the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled that the state regulators granted the permit correctly.

Proposed Coal Plants

 * Dry Fork Station
 * Milton Young 3
 * NextGen Energy Facility

Wind Farms

 * Chamberlain Wind Project
 * Minot Wind Project
 * North Dakota Wind Energy Center I
 * Pipestone Wind Project
 * Rosebud Wind Project
 * South Dakota Wind Energy Center
 * Wilton Wind Energy Center

Peaking Stations

 * Earl F. Wisdom Generating Station Unit 2
 * Groton Generating Station
 * Madison Peaking Units
 * Spirit Mound Station

Other Generating Units

 * Recovered Energy Generation (cogeneration with pipeline pumping)
 * Wyoming Distributed Generation (natural gas units associated with coalbed methane projects)

Subsidiary companies

 * Dakota Gasification Company
 * Dakota Coal Company

Board of Directors

 * President Wayne Child District 5
 * Vice President Cliff Gjellstad District 3
 * Sec/Treasurer Kermit Pearson District 1
 * Asst. Secretary Don Applegate District 4
 * Director Gary Drost District 2
 * Director Wayne Peltier District 9
 * Director Dean McCabe District 8
 * Director Roberta Rohrer District 6
 * Director Reuben Ritthaler District 10
 * Director Roy Ireland District 7

Contact Details
Basin Electric Power Cooperative 1717 East Interstate Ave. Bismarck, North Dakota 58503-0564 USA Phone: 701.223.0441 Website: http://www.basinelectric.com/index.html

Related SourceWatch articles

 * North Dakota and coal
 * Wyoming and coal
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming
 * Rural Electric Cooperatives and Coal