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Judge OKs Big Stone ll permit
Published 12:00pm Saturday, March 3, 2007The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission said Friday that a circuit judge has upheld its decision to grant a permit for the Big Stone II power plant construction near Milbank, S.D.
Seven utility companies, including Fergus Falls-based Otter Tail Power Company, plan to build the $1.6 billion coal-fired power plant near the existing Big Stone I plant in northeastern South Dakota.
“Laying the groundwork for meeting future energy demand requires a balanced mix of generation resources,” Otter Tail Power Company Director of Public Relations Cris Kling said. “It will take advanced coal projects such as Big Stone II along with wind, other traditional and renewable resources, effective pollution-control technology and conservation measures to keep clean and cost-effective electricity readily available.”
The 630-megawatt Big Stone II would come on line in 2011 and help meet what Otter Tail Power sees as regional customers’ increasing energy needs in Otter Tail County and nearby counties. The company and its partners pledge to build Big Stone II in a low-cost and environmentally responsible manner.
“The new plant would emit 20 percent less carbon dioxide compared with the average of other regional coal-fired plants,” Kling said. “Electricity output would more than double at the site (Big Stone II) with no increase in emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury, thanks to new technologies.”
Otter Tail Power’s upgraded power lines, as part of the Big Stone II project, would help carry wind-generated energy from the Buffalo Ridge in southwestern Minnesota. That also would benefit electricity consumers in Fergus Falls and throughout Otter Tail County.
The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Fresh Energy, Izaak Walton League of America-Midwest Office and the Union of Concerned Scientists appealed the permit on the grounds that plant emissions would contribute to global warming, according to the PUC.
Big Stone II co-owners are Otter Tail Power Company, Central Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, Great River Energy, Heartland Consumers Power District, Montana-Dakota Utilities Co., Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency and Western Minnesota Municipal Power Agency.
Along with its partnership in Big Stone I and the proposed Big Stone II, Otter Tail Power Company also has ownership in the 400-megawatt Coyote Station about 60 miles northwest of Bismarck, N.D., owns Hoot Lake Plant east of Fergus Falls, operates smaller waterpower stations in the Fergus Falls area, is a partner in wind energy and buys and sells bulk power on the wholesale market.
