The Lignite Energy Council Board of Directors recently approved a donation of $20,000 to help North Dakotans affected by the 2011 floods. The donation was split between the North Dakota Community Fund for Flood Relief and the Minot Community Fund for Flood Relief.
The donation from the Lignite Energy Council is on top of what other companies in the lignite industry have already done to help prepare for flooding before it occurred this summer and the donations that have been made to repair and rebuild homes and businesses following the flood.
At the council's annual meeting on Oct. 5, four companies who are major members of the Lignite Energy Council received Community Service plaques for their donations of $50,000 or more each for flood relief efforts. The four companies are: Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Great River Energy, MDU Resources Group Inc. and North American Coal Corporation.
A survey of the Lignite Energy Council's 367 members showed LEC member companies have conservatively contributed a total $370,000 in cash contributions plus another $108,000 in in-kind contributions and more than 1,800 hours in employee time-off for helping fill, move and install sandbags or remove furniture, etc. from homes in the flood zone.
"Companies involved in the lignite industry have been extremely generous and stepped forward to help families in several communities in North Dakota that were impacted by 2011 floods," said John Dwyer, president and CEO of the Lignite Energy Council. "The donations made by the Lignite Energy Council are on behalf of all our members to express their support of the state's citizens in rebuilding and repairing after the major flooding that has occurred this year."
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The Lignite Energy Council is a trade association representing the state's four lignite mines, lignite-based power plants, the Dakota Gasification Company and 350 companies that supply goods and services to the lignite industry.
