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Walworth County Still in Running: Basin Electric Considering Options in the Dakotas to Buy Land for $1.5 Billion Plant

Posted on: Friday, 26 May 2006, 21:00 CDT

By Russ Keen, American News, Aberdeen, S.D.

May 25--Officials from Basin Electric Power Cooperative are in Walworth County looking at potential sites for a $1.5 billion power plant the Bismarck, N.D.-based energy producer intends to build.

Basin has narrowed potential locations to three general areas, co-op spokesman Floyd Robb said Wednesday. Basin is also exploring sites in the Huron area and has already secured options to buy land near Stanton, N.D. It intends to do the same with property in the Mobridge/Selby and Huron/Wolsey areas, Robb said. With an option, a prospective buyer reserves the right for a set number of years to buy the land.

"Our land people are out looking," he said.

The plant will need about 1,200 acres, Robb said. It will easily be more than a year before a decision among the three locations is made and probably a decade before the plant is built, he said.

It's too early to talk about how many jobs the coal-fired plant will create, Robb said, because that depends in part how technology changes in upcoming years.

"We are still in the very early stages," he said. "We have not selected technology for the plant yet."

When the proposed project was first revealed in 2004, officials projected at least 100 well-paying jobs. At that time, a coalition of Basin and four other regional power providers was behind the project.

Now, "Basin is moving ahead on its own," Robb said. But that doesn't exclude the other players from rejoining the project, he said.

In 2004, five sites were under consideration, including the Mobridge/Selby area. Huron was not one of the five, though Yankton was. The others were in Iowa and North Dakota.

Walworth County residents formed the North Central Power Plant Task Force as soon as word got out that the coalition wanted to build.

"We have worked very hard, and we are very excited," said Phyllis Pudwill of Selby, vice chairwoman of the task force. "We will do anything we can to make it a reality. It certainly is not a done deal. There's a long way to go, but we are quite hopeful at this time. It would be something terrific for any community."

Mobridge advantage: One advantage to the Mobridge site is coal trains from Wyoming already pass through the town on Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad tracks on their way to the coal-fired Big Stone and Big Stone II power plants near Milbank, said Bob Sahr, member of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission.

An advantage to Huron is that it's served by BNSF and Dakota Minnesota and Eastern railroads, Sahr said.

Coal supply has become a problem, he said. He will testify today in Washington, D.C., before the Senate Energy Committee on the issue.

Big Stone II should have a 30-day supply of coal on hand, but it has gotten as low as enough for 10 days, partly because the railroad does not have enough cars, Sahr said. Getting that low forces the plant to cut back on production and buy more expensive electricity on the open market, he said.

Federal policies need to be revised to make shipment of coal a higher priority, Sahr said.

"It is a huge issue," he said.

Even so, the possibility of a $1.5 billion power plant coming to South Dakota is great news, he said.

"This is good news for both (South Dakota) sites," he said.

"To have two out of three sites -- we've got to be very positive about that. There are so many benefits to the project -- long-term, high-paying jobs and hundreds of short-term construction jobs, an increase in the tax base. It would be a huge shot in the arm."

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Copyright (c) 2006, American News, Aberdeen, S.D.

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Source: American News (Aberdeen, S.D.)

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