BISMARCK, N.D. — The North Dakota Public Service Commission voted unanimously to approve a new wind power project in the state, but one member says North Dakota is becoming so dependent on wind power.
The Sunflower Wind project — 59 new turbines to be built in Morton and Stark counties south of Hebron — will provide 80 megawatts of power when completed.
But even as he voted to approve the project, Public Service Commissioner Randy Christmann, a Republican, was critical of what he says as the state’s growing dependence on wind energy.
He said the state essentially has no choice in the matter thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Obama administration.
“The North Dakota Legislature’s objective of 10 percent has long since been surpassed,” Christmann said during the hearing. “It disturbs me that we are becoming this reliant on wind. However, thanks to the (Obama) administration and specifically the EPA, we’re down to almost zero alternatives.”
The emission limits proposed by the EPA for power generation in North Dakota allow no more than 1,817 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour by the year 2020, and 1,783 pounds per megawatt hour by 2030. Those limits were released for public comment earlier this year.
Coal-fired power plants average about 2,250 pounds per megawatt-hour. The EPA last year began taking public comment on a proposed cap of 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per megawatt-hour of electricity generated for new power plants.
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