Pure Pierre Politics

First, it was Basin Electric putting on hold its NextGen coal-fueled electricity plant that was proposed near Selby in Walworth County. Now it’s Otter Tail Power pulling out of the coal-fired Big Stone II expansion in Grant County. Both can be directly attributed to the nation’s election of Barack Obama last November. South Dakota is part of a region that is approximately 70 percent dependent on coal-fired electricity. Not even nine months officially in office, President Obama has sent a clear no-coal message that has been heard loud and clear throughout the utility world. His emphasis on non-carbon sources of energy comes at the same time that electricity providers can’t afford financially to wait out a change of administration in three or seven more years. As Wayne Backman, Basin’s senior vice president of generation, said in a video-taped message delivered at the East River Electric Cooperative annual meeting Wednesday about the NextGen project: “It’s hard to take a road trip when you don’t know the rules of the road.” While Big Stone II technically isn’t dead, losing the lead developer in Otter Tail isn’t promising. One selling point for Big Stone II was that the additional transmission lines which would be needed would have the capability to carry lots of wind power too to market. Now that’s up in the air. The announcement by Basin regarding its Day County wind-farm project signals a continuing shift. The electricity will ride East River’s transmission system and will be purchased by the federal Western Area Power Administration for the first three years. WAPA, which markets hydro-electricity from the Missouri River dams and others, has been forced to purchase lots of power because it couldn’t and still can’t meet customer commitments during the long drought. WAPA administrator Tim Meeks described the Day County deal as “a shining example” of how the federal agency is trying to add more renewable energy to its portfolio. Among those in the audience Wednesday were Matt McGovern and Rick Hauffe of Repower South Dakota, the state branch of the Gore-Obama coalition known as Repower America that is working for Senate passage of climate-change legislation. Repower is battling state by state, two senators by two senators, using an election-campaign style of political organizing at the grassroots level. Also on hold is the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern coal-line project that would have crossed South Dakota to reach the Powder River Basin coal fields of Wyoming.