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Lignite Energy Council tells Mercer County leaders coal still fuels local wages and future projects
Summary
Jonathan Fortner of the Lignite Energy Council told the Mercer County Commission the state’s lignite industry supports tens of thousands of jobs and argues that recent state bills and federal rule changes create opportunities for carbon capture and critical-mineral processing that could boost county revenue streams.
Jonathan Fortner, interim president and CEO of the Lignite Energy Council, told the Mercer County Commission on Monday that North Dakota’s lignite industry remains a major economic force and urged local leaders to track state policy changes that could bring investment and jobs to coal counties.
Fortner told commissioners the industry mines about 25,000,000 tons of lignite annually and “we provide over 12,000, direct and indirect jobs, more than a $100,000,000 in state, county, and local tax revenues on an annual basis.” He said recent state legislation — notably House Bill 1279 — extended a conversion-tax relief that, he said, preserved roughly $70 million in state-level support and protected county distributions.
Why it matters: Fortner framed the issue as both a revenue and a resilience question. He said the industry faces shifting federal rules and litigation at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency level but that investments in carbon capture and critical-mineral processing offer a path to retain plants and expand local tax bases. “We have the second largest lignite deposit in the world,” Fortner said, adding that existing geology and ongoing projects put North Dakota ahead on carbon-capture research and potential commercial scale-up.
Fortner summarized several legislative and federal items: a state-level critical-minerals framework he described as a first-in-the-nation effort to provide a 2.5% floor for mineral owners, continued funding for state litigation ($3 million), and tax provisions that he said make projects more investable. He said the Lignite Research Council is funding a $100,000 NDSU study to quantify tax histories and potential revenue under different development scenarios.
Commissioners pressed for local detail: one commissioner asked how many of the roughly 1,400 coal-industry jobs Fortner cited were filled by Mercer County residents; Fortner said he did not have county-level employment breakdowns available but offered to find the data. The commission also discussed potential infrastructure implications — including road access and local permitting — if projects such as CO2 capture or mineral processing move forward.
What’s next: Fortner offered to return with the NDSU study findings and more county-level data when available. The commission did not take formal action on the presentation but asked staff to track follow-up material.
