Basin Electric supports North Dakota lawsuit against Minnesota

The civil suit asks that a 2007 law passed by the Minnesota legislature be declared unconstitutional because it interferes with interstate commerce.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative - November 2, 2011

Basin Electric is joining in a lawsuit filed Nov. 2 by North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem against the state of Minnesota. The civil suit is asking a federal judge to declare a law passed by the Minnesota legislature in 2007 as unconstitutional because it interferes with interstate commerce.

Along with the State of North Dakota and Basin Electric, Minnkota Power Cooperative, The North American Coal Corporation, the Lignite Energy Council, The Industrial Commission of North Dakota, and Missouri River Energy Services are all plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

The Minnesota law prohibits the importing of electricity from new, large coal-based resources and from entering into certain power purchase agreements from coal-based facilities unless a utility has incorporated offsets to reduce carbon dioxide.

Ron Harper, Basin Electric CEO and general manager, said Basin Electric provides electricity on a wholesale basis to a dozen Minnesota-based electric cooperatives. “Basin Electric fully supports the state’s efforts to challenge a law that could have detrimental effects for power generators across the upper Midwest,” he said.

“To single out and ignore a reliable source of generating electricity does not make sense,” Harper said. “Coal is the most plentiful source we have in the United States and it produces half the country’s electricity. Regionally about two-thirds of the generation Basin Electric provides for its members comes from coal.”

Harper said he’s confident Stenehjem will be successful in this effort. “Our economy is based on affordable, reliable supplies of electricity and singling out coal-based electricity is not the answer to solving the energy needs of our country or Minnesota.”