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Lignite Energy Council donates $20,000 to flood relief efforts

Basin Electric receives a Lignite Council 2011 Community Service Award for its financial contributions to help North Dakota communities repair and rebuild after major flooding this year.

News release from the Lignite Energy Council - October 15, 2011 - October 21, 2011
Steve Van Dyke (701) 258-7117

The donation from the Lignite Energy Council is on top of what other companies in the lignite industry have already done to help prepare for flooding before it occurred this summer and the donations that have been made to repair and rebuild homes and businesses following the flood.

Four major members of the Lignite Energy Council – Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Great River Energy, MDU Resources Group, Inc., and North American Coal – recently received wards for their financial contributions of $50,000 or more to help North Dakota communities repair and rebuild after major flooding this year. Pictured (L-R) are: John Dwyer, Lignite Energy Council; Lyndon Anderson, Great River Energy; Andrea Stomberg, MDU Resources Group, Inc.; Bob Benson, North American Coal Corporation; and Ron Harper, Basin Electric Power Cooperative

At the Council’s Annual Meeting on October 5th, four companies who are major members of the Lignite Energy Council received Community Service plaques for their donations of  $50,000 or more each for flood relief efforts. The four companies are: Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Great River Energy, MDU Resources Group, Inc., and North American Coal Corporation.  Dakota Gasification Company is a major subsidiary of Basin Electric Power Cooperative.

A survey of the Lignite Energy Council’s 367 members showed LEC member companies have conservatively contributed a total $370,000 in cash contributions plus another $108,000 in in-kind contributions and more than 1,800 hours in employee time-off for helping fill, move and install sandbags or remove furniture, etc. from homes in the flood zone.

“Companies involved in the lignite industry have been extremely generous and stepped forward to help families in several communities in North Dakota that were impacted by 2011 floods,” said John Dwyer, president and CEO of the Lignite Energy Council. “The donations made by the Lignite Energy Council are on behalf of all our members to express their support of the state’s citizens in rebuilding and repairing after the major flooding that has occurred this year.”

The Lignite Energy Council is a trade association representing the state’s four lignite mines, which produce about 30 million tons of lignite annually, along with the lignite-based power plants, the Dakota Gasification Company and 350 companies that supply goods and services to the lignite industry.