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.

More resources:

Our Energy, Our Future
Find a Balanced Solution

This year’s Annual Meeting banquet entertainment is known for their raucous bar show, performed in several cities across the country.

But for our purposes, Deuces Wild! Dueling Pianos toned it down a bit. The show was great!

Basin Electric’s Annual Meeting staff put a lot of work into the writing and production of the speeches and preconference sessions. But one piece you may not see (unless you’re there) are the courtyard booths and displays.

Tracy Fugere and Chris VandeVenter got some video to give you a feel for what you’re missing.

Wayne Child, president of the Basin Electric board, called the 2009 Annual Meeting to order at 12:50 p.m. Soon after, Wayne announced this would be his final Annual Meeting as board president.

Wayne Child and Basin Electric CEO and general manager Ron Harper gave their addresses for the year. Below is a video Harper debuted during his presentation.

Also, keynote speaker John Doggett gave an address called “Don’t Blink: The emergence of new global markets and what it means for you.”

Here are a couple excerpts from his speech:

John Doggett, keynote speaker

“… I am completely opposed to the introduction of a Cap and Trade system in the U.S. It simply won’t work. There is no way to monitor and audit emissions on a 24-hour basis without creating a police state. Given the inability of the SEC to catch Madoff, I have no faith in the ability of the government to uses the tens of billions of dollars that a Cap and Trade system would take from the private sector and use it for good. …”

“… My message is simple. These politicians must not be allowed to wreck our economy just because they don’t have faith in the creative abilities of Americans. Let me be clear. Government does have a role in this. That role is to provide tax credits and research grants that speed the process of innovation. I believe in the carrot, not the stick. I believe in America’s creative genius, not in a government mandated Cap and Trade dictatorship. …”

REMEMBER: Watch Basin Electric’s Annual Meeting live at this link: 2009 Basin Electric Annual Meeting

The preconference session, “Skyrocketing Health Care and Pension Costs: What they mean for cooperatives,” had three parts. The first focused on health care, followed by a presentation by Sharon Klein, Basin Electric manager of Human Resources, on how employee benefits are changing. The third part was a discussion on employee incentives and benefits.

The Nov/December 2009 issue of Basin Today features an in-depth article on health insurance coverage at Basin Electric: Co-ops search for a cure

REMEMBER: Watch Basin Electric’s Annual Meeting live at this link: 2009 Basin Electric Annual Meeting

Watch Basin Electric’s Annual Meeting live at this link: 2009 Basin Electric Annual Meeting

(If the meeting hasn’t started yet, you should see a video about Basin Electric playing. As soon as the meeting starts — it’s scheduled to begin at 12:50 p.m. CDT — the feed will go to the live cameras.)

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.

View Larger Map

It’s the seventh heat recovery generating unit that has been built since 2006. The last, and eighth one, will be operational by the end of this year.

See this January blog post for more on how the units work: Using waste heat to make electricity

Allen Boushee, distributed generation engineer III, says the plant near Garvin was placed in operation last week.

Construction on the substation and transmission interconnection for the Garvin site has been coordinated by East River Electric Power Cooperative, Madison, S.D. Ron Rebenitsch, Basin Electric’s Manager of Alternative Technologies, notes that the support of East River in interconnecting the Garvin site was an important part in bringing this project into Basin Electric’s power supply resource base.

Tri-State G&T’s headquarters are in Westminster, Colorado, just to the north of Denver. Today, the area was blanketed with about a foot of snow. Areas in the Colorado mountains are seeing three feet of snow.

Photo taken by Mike Koenig.

Photo taken by Mike Koenig.

The photo below is especially neat. Take a look at the garbage can on the far right of the photo. The snow forms what looks like a little ocean wave.

Photo taken by Mike Koenig.

Tri-State’s blog is at this link: Powering the West. Tri-State is a Basin Electric Class A member.

When Casey Jacobson, Basin Electric attorney, and Chad Kuntz, Basin Electric electrical engineer III, decided they wanted to get married, they didn’t make a big deal of it.

They just planned a secret trip to Scotland, with a secret engagement, secret documents, secret ceremony and secret Web site.

But when they got home after the September 10, 2009 ceremony, they had a lot of explaining to do.

The couple chose to elope so they could get married on their own terms.

The couple booked their hotel room and Dornoch Cathedral in Dornoch, Scotland, in February. They got engaged in June. In September when they left for Scotland, family and friends thought that’s just what it was — a trip. (Watch the video below to hear about the wedding and logistics.)

Chad says keeping the secret wasn’t too difficult for him. He could laugh off his friends’ jokes, questioning when he was ever going to get married. Casey had a tougher time because she had friends getting engaged and married over the summer. They would talk about their dress and their plans, and Casey couldn’t join in.

Married at Dornoch Cathedral by Rev. Susan Brown.

Casey Jacobson and Chad Kuntz met working on the same project together at Basin Electric.

By the way, the photo at the top of this blog post was Casey’s idea. Finding Chad red socks that she approved was tougher than she imagined it would be. He had to accept wearing the red hearts.

Casey started putting their Web site together months before the wedding. Check it out at this link: www.chadandcaseygotmarried.com. They promise to have more pictures on the site soon.

Basin Electric’s 2009 annual meeting is a week away. The theme for this year’s meeting is “Stability in a Climate of Change.” It’s being held Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 4-5 at the Ramkota Hotel in Bismarck, N.D. The meeting begins at 12:50 p.m. in the Dakota Ballroom.

John Doggett, keynote speaker

Ron Harper, Basin Electric CEO and general manager, will outline the past year’s activities, as well as the cooperative’s decisions, accomplishments and some of the challenges facing Basin Electric and its membership.

Reports on generation and transmission will also be given on opening day of the annual meeting.

A pre-conference session is planned for Wednesday, Nov. 4, prior to the start of the annual meeting. It will feature two panel discussions – one on skyrocketing healthcare costs; the other on the changes of employee benefits and pension costs. This session begins at 9 a.m.

Thursday morning, the meeting reconvenes at 8:20 a.m. with the Government Action Report and additional staff reports from Finance, Dakota Gasification Company and Dakota Coal Company.

Voting on resolutions follows as well as election results for director seats from District 1 – East River Electric Power Cooperative, District 3 – Central Power Electric, and District 8 – Upper Missouri G&T.

Tours to the Great Plains Synfuels Plant, Antelope Valley Station and The Coteau Properties Company Freedom Mine are scheduled for Wednesday.

Watch for full coverage of it all, right here on The Flip Side.