Employees at Otter Tail Power Company’s Coyote Station and Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Leland Olds Station were honored recently by receiving the Lignite Energy Council’s Safety Excellence Award, recognizing their facilities as having achieved the lowest overall accident incident rates in the lignite industry in 2007.

Other companies receiving recognition for outstanding safety achievement in 2007 included:

• Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Antelope Valley Station at Beulah;

• The Coteau Properties Company’s Freedom Mine at Beulah;

• Dakota Westmoreland Corporation’s Beulah Mine at Beulah; and

• The Falkirk Mining Company’s Falkirk Mine at Underwood.

These four companies received Distinguished Safety Awards by compiling safety records which were lower than the industry’s average accident rate in 2007.

“The lignite users and producers in this region believe that the efficient production of a low-cost, reliable energy source cannot be achieved without serious attention to the health and safety of the employees who work to produce that product,” said John Dwyer, president of the Lignite Energy Council. “That’s why we acknowledge those companies that are leading the way in the field of safety.”

The Lignite Energy Council conducts programs to help maintain a strong lignite industry, one that currently employs over 24,000 people, has annual economic impact of $2.8 billion in North Dakota, and generates over $100 million in state taxes each year.

LEC safety award winners

(L to R) David Saggau, chairman of the Lignite Energy Council Board and President and CEO of Great River Energy, presents Brian Scherer of the Coyote Station with the Safety Excellence Award from the Lignite Energy Council.

(L to R) David Saggau, chairman of the Lignite Energy Council Board and President and CEO of Great River Energy, presents Mark Thompson of the Leland Olds Station with the Safety Excellence Award from the Lignite Energy Council.

(L to R) Greg McKee of the Antelope Valley Station receives the Distinguished Safety Award from John Dwyer, president of the Lignite Energy Council.

(L to R) David Saggau, chairman of the Lignite Energy Council Board and President and CEO of Great River Energy, presents Jeff Peters and Frank Green of The Freedom Mine with the Distinguished Safety Award from the Lignite Energy Council.

(L to R) Ray Moots of Dakota Westmoreland Corp. receives the Distinguished Safety award from John Dwyer, president of the Lignite Energy Council.

(L to R) David Saggau, chairman of the Lignite Energy Council Board and President and CEO of Great River Energy, presents Rob Ford of The Falkirk Mine with the Distinguished Safety Award from the Lignite Energy Council.