Coal Remains a Vital Source of the Always-on Energy That Powers U.S. Economy

North Dakota’s lignite industry provides affordable, reliable, “always-on” energy to power homes, businesses, and our economy. We can’t take this for granted, which is why we are working to rebuild the capacity value for coal, as well as invest in the research and development of new technologies to help provide a true path forward for North Dakota’s abundant coal resources.

Coal remains one of the leading sources of baseload power to the grid, providing reliable access to electricity 24 hours per day and seven days per week. Our homes, businesses, and rural communities depend on a strong and resilient grid to reliably keep the lights on and stay warm during extreme weather.

Yet, some policies are forcing the grid in a direction away from the reliable and affordable electricity we depend on every day. State subsidies and mandates are pushing other resources on the grid, and we still need to maintain diverse sources of power when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining. The baseload power and capacity to the market provided by coal need to be appropriately valued to maintain reliability and ensure our grid is resilient for the years to come.

We’re pressing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to make sure the markets they regulate recognize the capacity value coal plants provide and their ability to be dispatched around the clock, particularly during extreme cold weather events. Market distortions caused by mandates and subsidies need to be corrected to properly value the benefits of coal, so we don’t prematurely close these always-on generation resources and put the reliability of our nation’s electrical grid at risk. Once these critical plants are gone, they aren’t coming back.

North Dakota’s current fleet of coal-fired electric generators play a strategic role in maintaining electric grid reliability and energy affordability in the Midwest. That’s why we’ve also worked with the Trump Administration to provide regulatory relief needed by the energy industry. We supported the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recently issued Affordable Clean Energy Rule, which replaced the costly one-size-fits-all emissions regulations for coal plants that unfairly targeted North Dakota.

Additionally, we’ve worked to position North Dakota at the forefront of research and development of emerging technologies that will allow us to continue harnessing our abundant coal resources with better environmental stewardship. As a member of the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Committee, I worked with the Department of Energy to secure over $30 million in federal funding to advance and commercialize Project Tundra, which retrofits the Milton R. Young Station coal-fired power plant with capture technology that sequesters and reduces emissions from carbon dioxide.

Furthermore, we are working to modernize the Section 48A tax credit and advance the 45Q tax credit for clean coal facilities to better support carbon capture retrofit projects, like Project Tundra. Doing so will ensure that industrial producers of CO₂ are able to make carbon capture technology commercially-viable and provide much-needed certainty and regulatory flexibility. As China and other developing nations continue to build new coal plants, our efforts are supporting the needed investments to maintain U.S. leadership for the next-generation of coal power plants and carbon capture technologies.

Coal remains a vital source of the always-on energy that powers our economy, and we must continue working to ensure the market properly values the reliability and resiliency characteristics brought to the nation’s grid, as well as to develop new technologies and invest in research to help meet global energy demand. We will continue working on these priorities and others to ensure reliability, good-paying jobs, and affordable energy prices for businesses and consumers.

Report this Page