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membership agreement on October 28, 2013.<br />
The agreement will see the partners harness<br />
their complimentary resources and expertise.<br />
“The partnership with the Australians was<br />
initiated out of a desire on our part to become<br />
more involved in the global coal industry,”<br />
says Bohrer. “Coal will actually increase<br />
in importance as an energy resource as the<br />
world develops and industrializes. We have<br />
the technological resources and expertise to<br />
ensure that North Dakota becomes a leader<br />
in the global lignite world, just as it is becoming<br />
a leader in the global oil and gas industry.<br />
Australia has a large supply of lignite coal and<br />
it makes sense for them to partner with us so<br />
that we can jointly work on some of the biggest<br />
challenges the industry sees.”<br />
Facing global<br />
challenges<br />
Phil Gurney is the CEO of Brown Coal<br />
Innovation Australia. He maintains that<br />
the long-distance partnership made sense<br />
on many levels. “Brown Coal Innovation<br />
Australia (BCIA) is Australia’s major funder<br />
of research and development targeting the<br />
future, environmentally responsible uses of<br />
brown coal (lignite),” he says. “Recognizing<br />
that these are global challenges, BCIA has<br />
sought to partner with leading organizations<br />
worldwide to help accelerate the development<br />
of cost-effective, low-emissions coal<br />
technologies.<br />
“BCIA and the North Dakota Lignite<br />
Energy Council (LEC) share a common<br />
view of supporting the development and deployment<br />
of technologies that will lead to a<br />
brighter future for businesses and communities<br />
based on local lignite resources,” Gurney<br />
continues. “The partnership between the<br />
North Dakota LEC and BCIA was therefore<br />
a natural fit.”<br />
The aforementioned research and development<br />
plays an integral part in the advancement<br />
of the coal industry. In North Dakota, projects<br />
are underway to explore new ways of generating<br />
electricity from lignite affordably, while<br />
reducing the carbon dioxide that is released directly<br />
into the atmosphere. Getting regulatory<br />
approval on new techniques is difficult but the<br />
pursuit of new methodology is vital.<br />
“What we fear is that when the Environmental<br />
Protection Agency has signaled<br />
a desire to prohibit new construction in the<br />
entire coal industry, it results in people walking<br />
away from a lot of good ideas that could<br />
provide stable jobs and low-cost power to a<br />
lot of people,” says Bohrer.<br />
Administration provides independent statistics<br />
and analysis of the energy industry. Looking<br />
to the future, they project that 10 years<br />
from now, coal will still play an important<br />
part of the energy portfolio in the country.<br />
Jason Bohrer, looking forward, is positioning<br />
the LEC to be as vital as ever.<br />
“I hope to have a partnership with the<br />
industry in the Bakken—not just to serve<br />
the new loads that will be created but to also<br />
extend the life of the oil play by using our<br />
products for enhanced oil recovery efforts,”<br />
he says. “Most critically, 10 years from now,<br />
I hope we are still providing the reliable,<br />
low-cost electricity that provides such a great<br />
quality of life for those of us in the Upper<br />
Midwest.”<br />
Bohrer speaks passionately about his role<br />
in advocating for coal as an energy source. It<br />
was a major decision for him to uproot his<br />
family and move them to North Dakota, but<br />
it was a decision that he felt was vitally important.<br />
Get to Know Our Experts<br />
“I firmly believe that the way this country<br />
approaches energy policy over the next 10<br />
years is critical,” he says. “If we, as a nation,<br />
embrace our natural resources and make wise<br />
energy choices, we will see unprecedented<br />
economic growth. But if we get it wrong, and<br />
enact policies that transform electricity into<br />
a luxury good, like it is in Germany or other<br />
parts of Europe, it will mark the beginning of<br />
a long, slow decline for this country that will<br />
end our days as an economic leader and the<br />
world’s only superpower.<br />
“But it will also mean we have taken<br />
good paying jobs out the hands of thousands<br />
of workers,” Bohrer continues. “We can afford<br />
to be comfortable when it is -20°F because<br />
of the hard work the men and women<br />
in the mines and plants do in order to keep<br />
our quality of life the highest in the modern<br />
world. Maintaining that quality of life for the<br />
families of North Dakota and the region is<br />
why this industry is so important and why I<br />
love going to work every day.”<br />
Jason Bohrer<br />
Jason Bohrer is president of the North Dakota Lignite Energy<br />
Council. He graduated from high school in Aberdeen, ID, and later<br />
went to North Dakota State University. He got a degree in history but<br />
eventually started working in politics, which eventually took him to<br />
Washington, DC.<br />
For roughly 10 years, Bohrer worked on energy policy until the opportunity<br />
came up to join the NDLEC team in Bismarck, ND. “Seeing<br />
an opportunity to come back to North Dakota and raise my family in ‘the real world’ outside<br />
of Washington was something that I couldn’t resist.”<br />
Preparing for<br />
unprecedented growth<br />
The United States Energy Information<br />
BASIN BITS | Spring 2014 107