There’s history to dig up in Chris Baumgartner’s office.
Chris Baumgartner, manager of member relations, keeps a piece of history in his office.
The Basin Electric manager of member relations has an old rusty shovel in his office. He got it from a friend, Jeff Umphlett, the general manager at Big Horn Rural Electric Company in Basin, Wyoming.
Jeff got it from his dad, Jim Umphlett. Jim says the shovel was always just sitting in the corner of the boardroom at Shoshone River Power Inc. in Cody, Wyoming. But when Shoshone River was bought out by Pacific Power & Light in 1986, Jim grabbed the shovel along with other memorabilia. He says at that point, the shovel was in mint condition. He believes it was used by a Tri-State G&T representative at the Leland Olds Station groundbreaking on June 22, 1963.
So what else to do with a perfectly good shovel? Jim used it in his garden until 2002, when he moved into a home that didn’t require yard maintenance. During the move, he collected a bunch of stuff to give to his son, Jeff, who was working for a co-op.
Jeff took it home. He started telling people about the shovel. You could just barely make out the words: “Leland Olds Station Groundbreaking 1963″
Jeff had an idea. “Here’s a guy (Chris Baumgartner) who’s so passionate about his job, so proud to work for Basin Electric, so I gave him the shovel.”
Chris keeps the shovel in his office as a conversation piece. He says he’s been told it should go into the Basin Electric vault. But until he’s forced to move the shovel to another location, he’s keeping it right where it is. It deserves a break.
(From left): BEPC President Art Jones, U.S. Senator Quentin Burdick, ND Governor William Guy, REA Administrator Norman Clapp, Maud Olds (Leland Olds' widow), Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Power Development Ken Holum and John Olds (Leland Olds' son).
Around Basin Electric, he’s known as the building superintendent. But Dan Job has another title. In the North Dakota National Guard, he’s Command Sergeant Major Dan Job.
During the last week, Dan flew with Major General David Sprynczynatyk to Djibouti, Africa, and Kosovo, to check in with two North Dakota National Guard units. The mission was kept secret until their return.
While he was overseas, Dan visited with three Basin Electric employees who are serving. Kelsy Hovey, Basin Electric pilot, is serving in Djibouti. Basin Electric business analyst Kim Miller and Dakota Gasification Company warehouse supervisor Jill Thomas are serving in Kosovo.
North Dakota National Guard unit serving in Djibouti, Africa.
(from left) BEPC employee Dan Job, BEPC employee Kelby Hovey, ND National Guard Major General David Sprynczynatyk.
In Djibouti, the soldiers are flying C-12 fixed wing aircraft, transporting personnel, supplies and doing some medivac for several countries located in the horn of Africa. In Kosovo, 650 soldiers are conducting a peacekeeping mission.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll run several stories about the Basin Electric employees who are serving with the National Guard. And the Jan/Feb 2010 edition of Basin Today will carry a full story.
It’s a pretty good haul to the top of a wind turbine. Just ask Jesse Johnson, construction coordinator on the PrairieWinds ND 1-owned project south of Minot, ND.
Johnson says it takes about 20 minutes to safely climb the ladder to the top of the 262-foot towers. He says there are three sections of ladder, with a resting platform between each section. The last section, which reaches the nacelle, is about 10 feet tall.
Jesse Johnson, construction coordinator, climbs a Minot Wind 2 tower.
Johnson says the project is moving very quickly. Crews are working around the clock to build, wire and inspect the towers. He says as of today, 13 towers are wired and mechanically complete. (You may remember, last Friday we reported that 40 towers were structurally complete.) There will be 80 turbines in total for the PrairieWinds 1 and Minot Wind 2 projects.
Each blade is 121 feet long. Johnson says it is important to NOT have a fear of heights when working with wind turbines.
Johnson says work on the Minot Wind 2 project (three towers) is on pace to be complete by the end of the week. PrairieWinds 1 is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2009 or early 2010.
Panorama picture taken from northernmost turbine in PrairieWinds project.
Today, the PrairieWinds 1 and Minot Wind 2 joint projects are 50% complete, structurally.
PrairieWinds 1 consists of 77 turbines; Minot Wind 2 consists of 3 turbines. As of today, 40 turbines have the rotors set on top, as seen in the photo below.
There are four main erections crews working in around-the-clock shifts on these projects.
At least one Basin Electric employee is serving overseas right now. Kim Miller is serving with the National Guard in Kosovo. We plan to have a story about her in our Jan/Feb 2010 edition of Basin Today.
When first contacted about agreeing to a story, Kim e-mailed this: “Basin Electric continues to amaze me with the level of support it provides to those of us who choose to be involved in the military. It is truly humbling.” We’re excited to hear more from her.
The second time was yesterday, at the Great Plains Energy Expo and Showcase, hosted by U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan. Salazar’s visit to the Synfuels Plant came up a number of times during his speech at the Expo.
In the video below, you’ll hear Salazar say coal is an important part of the United States’ energy future. Salazar says the United States needs to invest in the type of technologies he saw at the Synfuels Plant.
Salazar: “And oftentimes when we’d speak about it, we would speak about coal as coal being to the United States as oil is to Saudi Arabia. That’s because we know we have huge abundant resources in this country.”
Salazar: “Demonstrating functioning carbon capture and sequestration project, that’s the Dakota Gasification facility. And I went there because I know that coal is important to our country’s future. And I know that North Dakota and its technology can lead the way in terms of how we can capture carbon and how we can develop the coal resources of these United States.”
Basin Electric CEO and General Manager Ron Harper asked Salazar during the question-and-answer segment about a permitting process for sequestering carbon dioxide in federally-owned lands.
Salazar: “My hope is that the public lands are a place where we actually move forward with demonstration projects for carbon capture and sequestration.”
This is your one stop shop for all the video clips we captured at Basin Electric’s Annual Meeting. This should give you a quick and easy way to get a feel for what is on Basin Electric’s agenda for the coming year.
2. CEO and General Manager Ron Harper talks about the economic impact of coal and the investment Basin Electric has made in environmental technologies.
Global climate change. Some members of the U.S. Congress stand ready to act on legislation.
But can every American afford the solution?
Basin Electric is not opposed to reasonable climate legislation: we stand ready to help solve the issue of climate change.
During Senior Vice President of External Relations and Communications Mike Eggl’s Government Action Report, he showed a video documenting all the work Basin Electric has done to address climate change legislation. Watch it below.
As of October 31, the Wilton Wind Energy Center doubled in size. That’s when the last of 33 additional wind turbines were placed into operation, bringing the total number of turbines to 66, and the generating capacity of the wind project to 99 megawatts.
webeditor@bepc.com (Basin Electric Power Cooperative)
For the second year in a row, the energy footprint for Basin Electric’s 2009 annual meeting was derived from renewable energy. Highlighting the start of the annual meeting was John Doggett, senior lecturer at the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin.
webeditor@bepc.com (Basin Electric Power Cooperative)
Despite an economic recession, Basin Electric has been a beacon of stability by staying on top of developments and adjusting plans as needed to meet the challenges it faces in uncertain times.
webeditor@bepc.com (Basin Electric Power Cooperative)
Another power plant has been added to Basin Electric’s generating family. It’s located near Garvin, Minn., and is “fueled” by the heat from hot exhaust.
webeditor@bepc.com (Basin Electric Power Cooperative)
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The Basin Electric manager of member relations has an old rusty shovel in his office. He got it from a friend, Jeff Umphlett, the general manager at Big Horn Rural Electric Company in Basin, Wyoming.
Jeff took it home. He started telling people about the shovel. You could just barely make out the words: “Leland Olds Station Groundbreaking 1963″
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