Dedication ceremony held for MLC loadout facility
Operated by Montana Limestone Company (MLC), a load-out facility and a truck dump on U.S.Hwy 310 will be used to load rail cars with limestone from a nearby quarry for shipment to a North Dakota power plant.
Basin Electric Power Cooperative
- June 9, 2010
Warren, Mont. - About 100 people were on hand today to help dedicate the newest Montana landmark near Warren. It is a load-out facility spanning U.S. Hwy
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The load-out facility includes a truck dump on the east side of the highway for trucks to deliver limestone from a quarry operated by Montana Limestone Company (MLC), a subsidiary of Dakota Coal Company. The limestone is then conveyed across the highway to storage bins where it can be transferred to rail cars. The load-out and truck dump are owned and operated by Montana Limestone Company.
Doug Tucker, a commissioner for Carbon County, said there's a lot of activity in this quiet corner of Carbon County. "People don't realize what we have here in this part of the county. The limestone industry is a big part of our economy. It's a hidden giant of an industry," he said. "This is truly an exciting day, where we have the ability to harvest natural resources in an environmentally sound manner."
Reuben Rittahler, chairman of the board of directors for MLC, said the addition of the load-out facility is based on environmental protection. "Since 2002, we've been able to supply a high-quality product to our internal and external customers," he said. "And now in 2010, we're expanding to provide another high-quality product to a new internal customer at the Leland Olds Station."
MLC will use a unit train to deliver 100,000 tons of limestone in the spring, and a like amount in the fall to the coal-based power plant. "Even though the Leland Olds Station primarily uses lignite coal, we do supplement it with coal from the Powder River Basin. As an efficiency move, we'll use the same set of rail cars that deliver PRB coal to also deliver the limestone in the spring and fall. This schedule reduces capital investment by sharing the train," Ritthaler said.
Ritthaler is proud of the effort that's been undertaken for this project to make sure the plants run efficiently and environmentally sound for many years to come. "We believe in the co-op philosophy that if we work together, we can accomplish great things that benefit us all. A long chain of co-op involvement brings us here today"
Dakota Coal is a subsidiary of Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Bismarck, N.D.. Ron Harper, Basin Electric's CEO and general manager, said a 2007 decision made by the directors of Basin Electric to install sulfur-dioxide scrubbers at Leland Olds, was the basis for this project. "Even though the coal-based power plant has been in operation since the mid-1960s, it has been an integral part of Basin Electric's generating fleet; and will be for many more years to come," he said.
"The scrubbers were a $410-million addition to a plant that was constructed for less than $150 million," Harper said. "But it is a worthwhile investment for our member cooperatives and North Dakota's environment. While Leland Olds has always been in full compliance with all its federal and state environmental permits, adding the scrubbers will better position Leland Olds to operate for an additional 20 to 30 years."
Commercial operation for the scrubber on Leland Olds Station Unit 2 is scheduled for the fall of 2010; the Unit 1 scrubber is planned to be operational next spring. When the scrubbers are operating on both units, it will require about 653 tons of limestone per day to remove sulfur dioxide emissions from the plant.
Construction of the $30-million load-out facility began in June 2008, and start-up operations began this spring, according to Karl Lemmerman, project manager for Dakota Coal Company, who described the load-out facility. The highlight of the construction project was installing the overhead conveyor tube in May of last year, he said.
Lemmerman said the tube is 85 feet long and weighs 65,000 pounds. As limestone is trucked from the quarry to the truck dump; the rock will travel through the tube over U.S. Highway 310 to a dual railcar load-out facility on the west side of the highway. The conveyor is capable of delivering more than 600 tons of limestone per hour. Lemmerman said Dakota Coal Company worked with the Montana Department of Transportation since the fall of 2008 to secure the necessary permits for installing the tube.
About Basin Electric Power Cooperative
Basin Electric is a consumer-owned, regional cooperative headquartered in Bismarck, N.D.. It generates and transmits electricity to 135 member rural electric systems in nine states: Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. These member systems distribute electricity to about 2.8 million consumers.
Basin Electric's generating resources include: two coal-based power plants in North Dakota - the Antelope Valley Station, Beulah, and the Leland Olds Station, Stanton; a coal-based power plant in Wyoming - the Laramie River Station, Wheatland; three peaking stations - the Spirit Mound Station, Vermillion, S.D.; the Groton Generation Station Groton, S.D., and the Wisdom Unit 2 Station, Spencer, Iowa; nine combustion-turbine generators (natural gas) in the Gillette, Wyo., area; 82 wind turbines near Minot, N.D.., and two near Chamberlain, S.D. Basin Electric is also the sole purchaser of electricity from sources operated by others including: eight baseload waste-heat stations owned and operated by Ormat Technologies Inc. along the Northern Border Pipeline; the output of five wind farms owned and operated by NextEra Energy Resources, Juno Beach, Fla. (These wind farms are located near Wilton - two phases -- and Edgeley/Kulm, N.D.; Highmore and Groton, S.D.)
Basin Electric has long-term, purchase power agreements of varying capacities from the George Neal Station Unit 4 (coal-based), Sioux City, Iowa, operated by MidAmerican Energy; the Walter Scott, Jr. Energy Center (coal-based) units 3 and 4, Council Bluffs, Iowa, operated by MidAmerican Energy; the Wisdom Station (coal based), Spencer, Iowa, operated by Corn Belt Power Cooperative; peaking stations located in Spencer, Estherville, Pocahontas, and Webster City, Iowa; the Duane Arnold Energy Center (nuclear), Cedar Rapids, Iowa, operated by NextEra Energy Resources; the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska; and three Iowa wind farms - near Superior/Lakota, operated by Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative; in Hancock County operated by NextEra Energy Resources and in Palo Alto County operated by Crosswind Energy, LLC. For more information, go to www.basinelectric.com
Headquarters
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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.