The Lewis & Clark Expedition diaries recorded the first documented use of lignite during the 1804 Fort Mandan winter. The site of the original fort is now surrounded by four major mines and seven power plants. According to the Lignite Energy Council, fly ash, one of the byproducts of the power plants, is the primary building material used in the exterior and interior walls of the Fort Mandan Visitor Center. Even the gypsum wallboard is synthetic and made from coal byproducts.
North Dakota is one of the country’s top 10 coal producing states, mining some 30 million tons every year since 1988. North Dakota has the single largest deposit of lignite coal in the world, with recoverable reserves estimated to be 25 billion tons. The ND Geological Survey estimates that the state’s lignite reserves will last about 835 years at current rate of consumption. The energy value of North Dakota’s lignite reserves are equal to almost three times the entire proved reserve of oil in the U.S.
For more than a hundred years, lignite coal has brought jobs, economic growth, energy and tax revenue to our region. According to North Dakota State University Agricultural Economics Department, the lignite industry is the state’s fifth largest industry behind government, agriculture, tourism and manufacturing. Oil/natural gas is ranked sixth.
The lignite coal industry employees 3,800 workers and provides the highest paying wages of any industry in North Dakota. Oliver and Mercer Counties, which are home to three coal mines and five power plants, lead the state in highest average wages.
North Dakota’s Lignite coal is used primarily (79%) to generate electricity for more than 2 million people in the region. Thirteen and a half percent (13.5%) is used to generate synthetic natural gas that is delivered to 225,000 homes and businesses in the eastern United States. About 7.5% is used to produce fertilizer products containing anhydrous ammonia and ammonium sulfate.
Despite this long history of success, there are challenges facing the coal industry in North Dakota. A number of employees at these plants have been there for over 20 years and are nearing retirement. The industry faces a challenging level of recruitment and training to replace these workers and maintain their increasing productivity expectations.