CEO: utilities must join climate-change debate
NORTH DAKOTA - 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 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.
Related News

California Utility Cuts Power to Massive Areas in Northern, Central California
LOS ANGELES - California utility Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) has cut off power supply to hundreds of thousands of residents in Northern and Central California as a precaution to possible breakout of wildfires.
PG&E confirmed that about 513,000 customers in many counties in Northern California, including Napa, Sierra, Sonoma and Yuba, were affected in the first phase of Public Safety Power Shutoff, a preemptive measure it took to prevent wildfires believed likely to be triggered by strong, dry winds.
The utility said the decision to shut off power was "based on forecasts of dry, hot and windy weather including potential…