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Coal Plants in North Dakota

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The one new conventional coal plant proposed to be built in North Dakota is projected by NRDC to generate 93,797 tons of contaminated coal waste, including 98 tons of toxic metals. North Dakota ranks 27th in waste production expected from new conventional coal plants, and 27th in toxic metals from those plants.

North Dakota ranks 14th in the country for contaminated coal waste, with 3,001,100 tons of waste reported to the U.S. Energy Information Administration in 2005. The state also ranks 8th in toxic metals contaminating its coal waste, with 3,419 tons of toxic metals, based on NRDC estimates.

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Statistics for New and Proposed Plants in North Dakota

Plant	County	Estimated tons of coal waste	Estimated tons of toxic metals
Spirit Wood	Stutsman	93,797	98

Statistics for Existing Plants in North Dakota

Plant	Owner (primary)	County	Tons of waste	Percent of waste disposed	Tons of toxic metals
Coal Creek	Great River Energy	McLean	1,109,400	62.3%	1,062
Antelope Valley	Basin Electric Power Coop-East	Mercer	670,200	100.0%	796
Milton R Young	Minnkota Power Coop Inc	Oliver	400,100	95.9%	556
Leland Olds	Basin Electric Power Coop-East	Mercer	370,900	92.4%	508
Coyote	Otter Tail Power Co	Mercer	303,600	94.2%	369
Stanton (GRERIV)	Great River Energy	Mercer	74,600	97.7%	41
R M Heskett	MDU Resources Group Inc	Morton	72,300	100.0%	88

Percent of waste disposed indicates the proportion of contaminated coal waste disposed of in landfills, ponds, or on- or off-site disposal facilities. For detailed information on how each plant reported its waste disposal in 2005, see the detailed data Excel spreadsheet.

Sources: Permit applications for new plants; Energy Information Administration data; NRDC estimates. The most recent data available from the EIA is from 2005 and it is possible that operational changes at particular plants will have changed the yearly waste volumes and disposal methods. Click here for detailed glossary of terms and our methodology.

last revised 3/12/2009