When the landscape is quiet again
North Dakota and the state’s rural electric cooperatives lost a true friend and statesman when former Gov. Art Link died last month at the age of 96.

You’ll read more about Gov. Link, his connection to the rural electric cooperatives, and the legacy he left our state on pages 3 and 4 of this month’s issue. That legacy is built around a short phrase, “When the landscape is quiet again.” These six words were the preamble to Link’s belief that after North Dakota developed its finite lignite energy resources, our grandchildren should find the land in as good or better shape than we found it.

Drive through coal country these days and you can see evidence of the importance and rightness of Gov. Link’s insistence that land mined for coal would be restored to its original state. A drive on U.S. Highway 83 between Underwood and Washburn provides stark evidence of the difference between reclaiming land or not.

The Falkirk Mine in McLean County, operated by North American Coal Corporation, supplies lignite to Great River Energy’s Coal Creek Station, which generates 1,100 megawatts of electricity for electric cooperative members in Minnesota. As you drive north of the plant, most of the land on either side of Highway 83 has been mined and reclaimed and it’s virtually impossible to tell that tons of coal have been taken from beneath it. As you approach Underwood, there’s currently a large open pit on the east side of Highway 83 from which coal is being mined. Just imagine if our state would have allowed a pit of this size and spoil piles around it to remain, as other states have done. It would have been a permanent scar on the landscape. Continue north on Highway 83, and you’ll see such a scar on the west side of Highway 83 at the junction of Highway 37 where a small grouping of spoil piles remains from early mining activity.

Today’s policy debate about our nation’s continuing thirst for energy underscores the relevancy of Gov. Link’s concerns. No matter what form of energy we choose to develop, there’s a need for balance and understanding of the long-term consequences of our decisions.

The environmental disaster in the Gulf Coast reminds us that despite our technological capabilities, failures occur. Our state is in the early stages of extracting what most believe to be a minimum of 4 billion barrels of commercially recoverable oil from the Bakken and Three Forks formations. This development is in its early stages and has provided record revenues for our state and welcome economic benefits. But this, too, comes with consequences. Gov. Link would ask what happens when this “one-time harvest” is done and the “landscape is quiet again.” Will we have made the right decisions to ensure that North Dakota is still a place for future generations to cherish?

Environmental concerns are not limited to fossil fuel development. North Dakota is said to have the best wind resource in America. That’s why about 1,200 megawatts of wind power generation has already been built in the state, with thousands more megawatts on the drawing board. The Legislature promoted this development with generous tax incentives that helped jump-start the industry. But now, there are differences of opinion on how wind turbines change the visual panorama of the prairie landscape. The Legislature has already begun grappling with development issues such as wind farm siting, decommissioning and removal of obsolete wind turbines, and landowner and adjacent property owner rights. Following Gov. Link’s legacy, our policymakers are showing concern about what North Dakota will look like decades from now when these wind farms have exceeded their useful life.

North Dakota’s rural electric cooperatives have invested about $5 billion in coal conversion facilities operating in North Dakota, and another $1 billion in facilities to deliver electric energy to our member-owners’ farms, homes and businesses. We certainly support energy development, and are proud to be an integral part of the cooperative network that develops and delivers energy to this state and nation.

We are also proud to have known, worked with and been influenced by Art Link. He taught us to think beyond today to a time when the landscape will be quiet again.