Leaders discuss future of North Dakota coal power plants after announced closure

STANTON -- A North Dakota coal-fired power plant scheduled to close within the next year may not be the last one shuttered here, a congressman and a state regulator said this week.

Great River Energy announced last week it would retire the Stanton Station power plant in Mercer County by May. The company cited low prices in the regional energy market for the decision, but it also comes during debate over a pending federal regulation restricting carbon emissions from power plants.

North Dakota-elected leaders and utilities have been vocal over the past year in opposing the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. Some predicted it would require facilities to close, given the 45 percent carbon dioxide emissions rate reduction target the state would have to meet by 2030.

But Lyndon Johnson, a Great River Energy spokesman, said the Stanton Station closure was driven by economic factors and not the Clean Power Plan. The U.S. Supreme Court voted in February to issue a stay of the regulation.

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