Big Stone II will allow smooth transition to reducing carbon footprint
Editor, Bemidji Pioneer
The February 10, 2008, edition of the Bemidji Pioneer carried a story (“Energy policy experts say more needs to be done”) that requires a response from the Big Stone II Project. The story attributed statements about Big Stone II made during a recent panel discussion at Bemidji State's American Indian Resource Center.
There is no question that – regardless of a person's opinion of climate change and its causes – government policy will require extensive reforms to reduce our carbon footprint. The five Big Stone participants believe that achieving that end must be accomplished in a common sense manner – one that allows for a well founded transition that preserves our economic viability. If we fail, we will trade one problem for another.
Many would have us believe that we can abandon our use of coal on a dime. Neither our economy nor the infrastructure that supports it will allow that radical change and there is no authoritative source in the country that is suggesting that we can provide for the needs of our economy and our people without the continued use of coal-fired electricity.
Big Stone II is, however, an example of how a coal plant can serve in an orderly transition to a world that is carbon constrained. Big Stone II will result in more than doubling the generation capacity at the plant site while reducing every regulated emission – including mercury.
The Big Stone II participants remain committed to an agreement with the Minnesota Department of Commerce to offset 100 percent of the carbon emissions attributable to Minnesota consumers – about 45 percent of the plant's total output.
Although Minnesota laws and regulations cannot be substituted for those of other states, the fact remains that with Big Stone II there will be less CO2 emitted once the plant goes on-line. Furthermore, BSP II is the only resource option that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil because an increased reliance on intermittent renewable resources, such as wind, will increase the dependence on foreign energy products when the wind doesn't blow.
With our regional reserve generation capacity forecast to vanish by 2011, Big Stone II and its associated transmission are urgently needed. Big Stone II allows us an opportunity to meet that critical need in a forward-looking way – one that will help maintain our economic health and provide a sound transition to a carbon-constrained future.
Ward Uggerud
Senior Vice President
Otter Tail Power Company
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