Democratic principles in action
Committees review cooperative resolutions and bylaws in advance of the 2011 annual meeting.
Basin Electric Power Cooperative
- November 1, 2011
Julie Slag
At their meeting on Sept. 12-13 in Bismarck, the committee voted to re-elect Arden Fuher, Central Power Electric Cooperative, Minot, ND, as committee chair. In addition to the committee members, Charlie Gilbert, board director from Corn Belt Power Cooperative; Doug Hardy, general manager, Central Montana Electric Power Cooperative; Scott Parsley, assistant general manager, Member Services, East River Electric Power Cooperative; Paul Griffin, Tri-State G&T government relations representative; and Basin Electric staff also attended the meeting.
The committee expressed interest in hearing more about Basin Electric’s relationship with the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO), a regional transmission organization that markets power along the “seam” of the Western Area Power Administration, Heartland Consumers Power District and Basin Electric’s high-voltage Integrated System (IS). Due to transmission constraints in the Eastern Interconnection, Basin Electric has experienced difficulty in getting its surplus power into the MISO market, and that has had financial and operational impacts throughout Basin Electric, Heartland and Western’s Joint Marketing Program. The committee asked to hear from Basin Electric senior management about MISO-related issues.
Mike Risan, Basin Electric senior vice president of Transmission, spoke about the transmission build-out required to serve oil loads in the Bakken, and current and future issues related to serving expanding loads in western North Dakota. He said several operating options are being considered in an independent high-level cost-benefit analysis and results will be shared with the board and the membership. Risan also discussed the impact of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rulings on Basin Electric’s ability to sell its power into the market.
Wayne Backman, Basin Electric senior vice president of Generation, spoke to the committee about the ramifications of the issue on market access, resource development and reserves that are used to backup Basin Electric’s units during unplanned outages. Backman also described the unprecedented operating mode that occurred this summer attributable to the high water releases on the Missouri River.
Mike Eggl, senior vice president of External Relations & Communications, said Basin Electric will feature a pre-conference session about MISO-related issues at the annual meeting, and encouraged the committee to adjust their annual meeting schedule to allow for attendance at the session. Read more about regional transmission organizations (RTO) like MISO on page 8.
During the MISO discussion, it was noted that the cooperative’s Statement of Ideals and Objectives contains language that deals with thermal-hydropower marketing. There were no changes to the Vision Statement.
Committee members asked general questions about environmental issues, green tags and recent rulings from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Basin Electric Staff Counsel Deborah Levchak responded to those questions.
During a discussion of the national fiscal crisis, Hardy offered amended wordage to the plug-in hybrid vehicles resolution, C-9. “Tax reform is an issue that is very complicated,” Eggl said, and requested that staff reformulate the resolution to include new language about production tax credits for review in November.
Other issues discussed by the committee include control and use of Missouri Basin water, rural communications systems, multipurpose water development projects, land purchases for conservation, coal-based generation, net metering, support for dams on American rivers, federal government jurisdiction over all waters of the United States, renewable energy incentives, air regulation, carbon capture and storage, regional haze, EPA and Clean Air Act programs, infrastructure security costs, Endangered Species Act, impact alleviation, and electric resistance heating.
Dale Niezwaag, Basin Electric senior legislative representative, discussed a new draft resolution regarding western North Dakota development, and said it was “not a statement of support for oil and gas,” but designed to offer direction to the transmission build-out serving electric loads in the area. New language was requested reflecting permitting difficulties and broader geographic regions. Another proposed resolution concerned Congressional reporting of activities related to the Equal Access to Justice Act.
The committee noted that 2012 is the International Year of the Cooperative. They agreed to hold an 11 a.m. meeting after the annual meeting pre-conference session on RTOs to decide whether changes to current or newly drafted resolutions were necessary.
Bylaws Review Committee
The Bylaws Review Committee meets every two years and is charged with review of Basin Electric’s bylaws. The committee consists of one manager and one director from each district. At their June 6, 2011, meeting, the committee re-elected Jeff Nelson, CEO and general manager of East River Electric Power Cooperative, Madison, SD, as its chairman.
The committee recommended the membership approve proposed Bylaw Amendment No. 1. This amendment updates the descriptions of the territorial districts set forth in Article III. They also surveyed the membership and no additional amendments were identified.
2011 Resolutions Committee
District 1 Alden Flakoll
District 2 Harold Dykstra
District 3 Arden Fuher, chairman
District 4 Alan Lucken
District 5 Jack Finnerty
District 6 Melanie Roe
District 7 John Van Beek
District 8 David Sigloh
District 9 Robert Shaffer
District 10 Philip Habeck
District 11 Don Feldman
Charlie Gilbert, board representative
2011 Bylaws Review Committee
District 1 – East River
Jeff Nelson, chairman
James Ryken
District 2 – L & O
Curt Dieren
Arlyn Zylstra
District 3 – Central Power
Tom Meland
Arden Fuher
District 4 – NIPCO
Kent Pauling
Alan Lucken
District 5 – Tri-State
Ken Anderson
Rick Gordon
District 6 – Central Montana
Doug Hardy
Melanie Roe
District 7 – Rushmore
Vic Simmons
John Van Beek
District 8 – Upper Missouri
Tom Barnett
Dave Sigloh
District 9
Jerry Reisenauer (Grand)
Timothy Young (Wright-Hennepin)
District 10 – PRECorp
Mike Easley
Dave Hoyt
District 11 – Corn Belt
Ken Kuyper
Don Feldman
Headquarters
1717 East Interstate Avenue
Bismarck, ND 58503-0564 USA
Phone: 701.223.0441
Basin Electric Power Cooperative will provide cost-effective wholesale energy along with products and services that support and unite rural America.
