The Minnesota Attorney General (AG)’s office submitted testimony to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission last month objecting to Otter Tail Power’s efforts to charge its ratepayers for dues it pays to the Lignite Energy Council. Minnesota’s Attorney General thinks utility ratepayers should not be forced to fund the Lignite Energy Council, a coal industry group that has opposed clean energy policies in Minnesota and supported policies that subsidize the coal industry in North Dakota and nationally. Additional financing could come from North Dakota’s public bank – though the bank initially declined to lend for the project until North Dakota legislators passed a state law this year that could transfer risks to North Dakota taxpayers. Minnkota is also reportedly seeking a $700 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy Loan Programs Office. The documents, which are quarterly reports submitted to the Department of Energy by the coal plant operator Minnkota Power Cooperative, also show several efforts to cut costs for the proposed carbon capture project that could create new environmental risks, such as burning waste from the carbon capture process in the coal plant and injecting wastewater underground.Įngineering studies for the coal carbon capture proposal, known as “Project Tundra,” have been funded mostly by US taxpayers through the Department of Energy. A proposal to build a carbon capture project at a coal plant in North Dakota faces delays, higher than expected costs, and a key contractor who said it won’t construct the facility, according to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
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