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