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July 2016 www.coalage.com 45 news continued electrons it receives, whether or not the trans- action is pursuant to a long-term purchase agreement with an out-of-state generator." Stenehjem praised the ruling, saying the law would have hurt businesses and electricity customers in North Dakota and Minnesota. Jason Bohrer, president and CEO of the North Dakota Lignite Council, thanked Stene- hjem for his "outstanding leadership that has led to two legal victories against Minnesota's NextGen Act of 2007." A federal judge in 2014 also ruled in favor of North Dakota in its long- standing legal dispute with Minnesota. The Lignite Council, a regional trade association, and several of its members were party to the lawsuit originally filed in 2011. "Our two states, North Dakota and Minnesota, have an energy partnership that goes back several decades," Bohrer added. "North Dakota produces afford- able and reliable electricity from our state's coal mines. Much of our electricity is exported with a majority flowing to Min- nesota customers." Bohrer said he hoped the legal victory "can be set aside and our two states can work together in the future on mutually beneficial energy solutions." But that does not appear to be Minne- sota's intent. Dayton said in a statement that after consulting with Minnesota At- torney General Lori Swanson, he decided to appeal the appeals court's decision. "The state statute does not prevent anyone from building and operating a new power generating facility," he said. "It only requires that those new emissions must be offset by the same or greater reduction in emissions from existing plants. Minne- sota's law encourages the replacement of older, more-polluting power plants with more efficient, cleaner facilities." LCT Energy Suspends Construction on Maple Springs Mine Waiting for the market to improve, Penn- sylvania's LCT Energy, a subsidiary of Rob- indale Energy, has temporarily stopped construction on its new Maple Springs un- derground metallurgical coal mine while it still pursues a permit from the Pennsyl- vania Department of Environmental Pro- tection (PADEP) for the proposed Rustic Ridge No. 1 mine, destined to be another deep met coal producer. The company began driving the slope for Maple Springs, in Somerset County, late last year and the mine should have started producing coal this year. Now, production is likely to be delayed until sometime in 2017. That is when Armagh-based Robindale be- lieves the met coal market will improve suf- ficiently to allow Maple Springs to be com- pleted. "We're certainly hoping things pick up," Gil Widenhofer, Robindale's vice presi- dent, said in June. Maple Springs, a continuous miner op- eration, would start out with a single pro- duction unit and turn out about 500,000 tons per year. Like most other coal producers in the U.S., Robindale/LCT have been forced to curtail some operations as they try to navi- gate through the toughest coal market in decades. In early summer, LCT still operat- ed seven surface and underground mines in Somerset and Clearfield counties. The Brubaker surface mine in Somerset County was not one of them. Currently idled, according to the Mine Safety and Health Administration, Brubaker once produced about 300,000 tons annually and was target- ed to eventually reach the 1-million-ton-per- year mark. In all, LCT, formed in December 2009, controls approximately 150 million tons of met coal reserves. DTE Retiring 8 Coal Units Detroit-based DTE Energy confirmed June 8 that it plans to retire eight coal-fired gen- eration units at three Michigan sites by 2023. The River Rouge facility, the St. Clair facility in East China Township, and the Trenton facility are all slated for closure. Together, they produced one-quarter of DTE's total energy in 2015. The announce- ment follows a previous one earlier this year closing three aging units, citing pro- jected future costs. By 2023, DTE will idle 11 of its 17 coal-fired units. "We will replace 11 aging coal-fired generating units at three facilities built in the 1950s and 1960s with a mix of newer, more modern and cleaner sources of ener- gy generation such as wind, natural gas and solar," said DTE Chairman and CEO Gerry Anderson, adding that the company is also working on legislation to ensure adequate generating capacity for Michigan as power plant closures continue. "This is important, given that 10% of Michigan's power is supplied by market- ers who depend upon excess supply from plants like those being retired." Renewables now make up 10% of the utility's total sales. News Continued from Page 16