On July 1 legislators and activists in North Dakota got news of a temporary victory in a fierce fight to keep open the Coal Creek generating plant at Underwood, 50 miles north of Bismarck, the capital; and the adjacent Falkirk lignite mine. The two-unit, 1100- MW facility is the largest in the state, and vital to the generating profile for reliable electricity in the region. The area college runs a successful student training program in partnership with the coal operations.
A Bismarck-based firm, Rainbow Energy, announced on July 1 that it would purchase Coal Creek, and the mine, and keep them running, so that they would not be shut down by the current owner, Great River Energy, which had scheduled Coal Creek’s closure in 2022. Great River planned to install a giant wind farm on the property.
