Feds Approve BNI Coal’s Center Mine Plan, North Dakota
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The Interior Department has approved a new federal mine plan at the Center Mine in North Dakota, U.S. Sen. John Hoeven announced recently.
The plan was needed to allow mining of federal coal under a lease awarded in January 2021, according to Hoeven, R-N.D. His office said Interior in July 2021 required a supplemental environmental assessment that was held up for almost two years “due to additional regulatory hurdles.”
Center Mine is owned and operated by BNI and supplies coal to the adjacent Milton R. Young Station power plant that provides electricity to customers in North Dakota and Minnesota.
Hoeven convened a meeting between Minnkota, BNI, and Interior officials in November to move the process along. Without plan approval, BNI would have had to implement contingency plans that could have cost millions and raised electric prices, according to the senator’s office.
Source: Elko Daily Free Press
BNI Coal, a subsidiary of BNI Energy, is developing North Dakota’s abundant lignite energy resource. At its Center Mine, BNI mines and reclaims about 200 acres a year to supply lignite coal to fuel the nearby Milton R. Young Generation Station. Two electric generating cooperatives, Minnkota Power and Square Butte, operate the Young Station, which consume virtually all of the coal produced at Center Mine under agreements in place through 2037. The Young Station generates low cost, reliable, domestic energy for customers in North Dakota and Minnesota.
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