Republican donors still poisoning South Dakota lakes

Utilities are not your friends.

Researchers at the South Dakota School of Mines already know most, if not all, the mercury in the state's lakes has precipitated from emissions released from coal fired power plants in North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

The list now includes 26 lakes across 17 counties. Fish with high mercury levels include Walleye, Northern Pike, Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass, and White and Black Crappie in sizes ranging from 12 inches to 30 inches and over. [Bill Janklow's idea of public radio]

How bad does it have to get before the State of South Dakota files lawsuits against Black Hills Energy, Basin Electric, NorthWestern Energy, Otter Tail and/or the Colstrip Generating Station? 

Recall that in 2009 Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based NorthWestern Energy was responsible for a gas explosion in Bozeman, Montana that destroyed several businesses and killed one person. In 2020 NWE attempted to buy an additional 25% share of Colstrip Unit 4 in eastern Montana for a dollar. South Dakota, of course, has no corporate taxes and banks there hoard trillions for an exclusive set of Republicans.

Majority owners Puget Sound Energy, Avista Corp., PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric have all announced plans to exit Colstrip by the end of 2025. That’s made them uninterested in investing in Colstrip’s future. The power plants have extensive problems. Damage to the Unit 4 boiler was estimated to cost $20 million in repairs in 2019. And a recent survey found Units 3 and 4 malfunctioned 77 days in 2018. Both units were off-line again for extensive maintenance in spring 2021. [Missoulian]

In 2018, Black Hills Energy sold some of its 700 oil and gas wells in New Mexico and the Powder River Basin in Wyoming to help finance a $70 million monolith headquarters in Rapid City. It was built there on the backs of subscribers without choices because out of state Republicans who write the tax law own South Dakota and because the state ended environmental oversight. BHE raised much of its construction cash on Colorado cannabis. But the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission is staffed by Republicans so they're pushovers for rate increases by companies who bankroll their elections to the posts they hold.

If South Dakota had a Democratic attorney general she'd sue Montana and Wyoming for the toxic legacy created by Colstrip, Basin Electric and Black Hills Energy. In 2020 Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued ExxonMobil, Koch Industries and the American Petroleum Institute for lying to residents of that state.

The Big Stone Power Plant in northeastern South Dakota is owned by Otter Tail Power, Montana-Dakota Utilities and NorthWestern Energy. This monster burns 3,500 tons of subbituminous coal every hour so those companies spend millions every year greasing Republican politicians and poisoning waterways.