Support for North Dakota coal power in Minn. Legislature

Surface mined coal is loaded into a truck at the Dakota Westmoreland Corp coal mine in Beulah, N.D. on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Will Kincaid)

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – A Minnesota lawmaker says some legislators in St. Paul are backing a North Dakota lawsuit against Minnesota coal restrictions.

Minnesota law bans utilities from importing electricity from newly built coal plants outside Minnesota. It assigns environmental costs to coal use, and would make it more expensive for utilities to buy coal-generated power.

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem (STEN’-jum) is challenging the Minnesota law in federal court. On Thursday, Minnesota state Rep. Michael Beard said he and other Minnesota lawmakers support the lawsuit.

Beard was in Bismarck to attend an oil industry conference.

North Dakota is 1 of Minnesota’s major suppliers of electricity. Beard says the Minnesota Legislature has members who admire North Dakota’s electric industry “and wish we could do more business with it.”