2022 Basin Bus Tour
July 12, 13 & 14, 2022
Knowing you have safe and reliable electricity is great to know, but do you really know how it is generated and what it takes to get it from Beulah, North Dakota?
On July 12 a tour bus loaded with members from Clay-Union Electric, B-Y Electric and Union County Electric set off to learn more of how the power is generated and distributed.
Our first stop was in Madison, SD to tour and visit with the folks at East River Electric, our generation & transmission cooperative.
After a long day of traveling we all got some rest in Bismarck and continued on with our tour the next morning with our first stop at Dakota Gasification Company, a subsidiary of Basin Electric Power Cooperative. DGC owns and operates the Great Plains Synfuels Plant near Beulah, North Dakota. The Synfuels Plant is the only commercial-scale coal gasification facility in the United States that manufactures natural gas.
Our next stop was to tour Antelope Valley Station, coal fired power plant, and then on to the Freedom Mines.
We also had a chance to stop by the Bisman Food Cooperative, which serves and sells products from over 70 local farms, ranches, and small businesses from ND.
On Thursday we edged our way home with a stop in Pierre, where South Dakota Rural Electric Association fueled the members with a picnic lunch before proceeding on to the Oahe Dam for the last tour of the trip.
The Basin Bus tour is a biyearly event and if you would like to learn more about where your electricity comes from, other than the switch, please plan on joining us in 2024.
