BISMARCK, N.D. - The chief executive of a North Dakota-based electric power cooperative says utilities must be engaged in the climate-change debate and use their unified voice.
Basin Electric Power Cooperative CEO Ron Harper says utilities can help develop a comprehensive plan that addresses climate change, encourages technology development and gives utilities time to develop that technology.
His comments came Wednesday during Basin Electric's annual meeting.
Harper also said utilities must fight to protect coal's place in the nation's energy future. But he says there's also a responsibility to explore new ways to use it.
Basin Electric provides power to nine states: Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado and New Mexico.
Just as Lawrence Kazmerski, a top official at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, was about to give the keynote address at the University of Minnesota's annual E3 conference at the RiverCentre in St. Paul, the lights went out, bathing the audience in darkness and a deep sense of irony.
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