Environmental Stewardship

As a member owned electric cooperative we often find ourselves in the middle between our member owners who are in the development mode and our member owners who may be impacted by the development. From very specific issues to the more global issues, cooperatives across the country are working together to manage these issues effectively.

In keeping with our Environmental Stewardship Policy adopted on September 21, 2007 PRECorp has established and maintained the following programs and initiatives.

Green Tag Program
PRECorp purchases Green Tags from our power supplier, Basin Electric, and offer them to our members for just $0.40 per 100 kWh block, a rate much below other options available to our members. This program gives our members who wish to do so the opportunity to support research and development of renewable resources.

Photovoltaic Program
PRECorp's photovoltaic (PV) program allows members to take advantage of solar benefits. We offer technical assistance to help members decide how well the system will work for their application and the type and size of system they need. PRECorp has also been able to arrange special incentive vendor pricing that allows our members to purchase the systems up to 40% below retail discounts.

Avian Protection Program
In 2005 PRECorp formally implemented an Avian Protection Plan (APP). PRECorp has made a long term commitment to build only bird friendly structures in the future and retrofit our existing system when possible. On March 31, 2006 PRECorp hosted our first Avian Protection Forum. Approximately 40 people were in attendance ranging from US
Fish and Wildlife Service, US Forest Service and BLM staff to gas and oil producers and consultants who have similar interests to PRECorp in avian protection and power line interface. We continue to build on this program with development of a plan to specifically address sage grouse.

Energy Efficiency and Conservation
PRECorp provides service to just over 12,100 residential and commercial members in a five county region. We provide educational information to all our members regarding energy efficiency and conservation in our monthly publications, the WREN and Power Lines, as well as, on our website, www.precorp.coop. PRECorp also continually monitors advancements in line technology that will increase efficiency at a distribution level.

Green Seal Certification
Green Seal Certification is a Federal Government sponsored program to promote energy conservation and environmentally friendly business practices. PRECorp is incrementally implementing changes in our main offices (Sheridan, Sundance and Gillette) to meet the Green Seal standards. This includes replacing standard fluorescent fixtures with energy saving fixtures using environmentally friendly lamps, investigating the use of LED (Light
Emitting Dioxide) lamps as a future alternative to both incandescent and fluorescent lamps, installing water saving plumbing fixtures and devices, providing "handsfree" fixtures in office restrooms and using "Green" nontoxic environmentally friendly janitorial chemicals.

Fuel Conservation
Because of the substantial size of the PRECorp fleet, in September 2005 PRECorp officially adopted a Fuel Conservation policy. The policy sets out the following guidelines for employees:

Use video or teleconferencing when appropriate versus driving
Increase communication to plan for car pooling when possible
Use regular fuel instead of premium
Turn vehicles off instead of letting them idle
Drive 5 miles per hour below the speed limit

Facilities and Information Services
Powder River Energy Corp. maintains three main offices and four outposts. We continually look for ways to improve our energy efficiency at all locations in regard to facilities and technology. Examples of improvements include increased insulation in garages, replacing or installing garage door seals, replacing compromised thermal seals in
office windows, timers on restroom fans, automatic light switches for restrooms and storerooms, replacement of CRT computer monitors with flat panel LCD monitors, power saving features on personal computers and "Awake Monitoring."

Powder River Energy is also proud to be a member of Basin Electric Power Cooperative (BEPC); our power supplier. Due to our "all power requirements" agreement with BEPC any power we purchase must come directly from Basin Electric. BEPC is a leader in carbon sequestration and actively supports renewable resources in the following ways:

Wind: Basin Electric is a recognized leader of wind energy development in the Upper Midwest. Through joint projects and purchase agreements, they have added approximately 136 megawatts (MW) of wind energy to their portfolio over the past several years. The wind farms are located in North and South Dakota which are
considered regional wind sources for Wyoming.

Dakota Gasification Company: The Great Plains Synfuels Plant, North America's only operating, large scale carbon sequestration project, is a subsidiary of Basin Electric. The Synfuels plant began operating in 1984 and today produces more than 54 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas annually. Sequestered carbon dioxide from the plant is now part of an international venture for enhanced oil recovery in Canada.

Renewable Initiatives: Basin Electric supports the national "25 by '25" initiative. The"25 by '25" initiative sets a voluntary goal calling for 25 percent of the nation's energy sources - electric power, transportation fuels, industrial and commercial - to come from renewable resources, including hydropower, by the year 2025. The initiative ties in with the goal Basin Electric set in 2005 declaring that, by 2010, 10 percent of the energy it produces will come from renewable resources. Basin Electric is about 80 percent toward reaching that goal.

PRECorp Environmental Stewardship Policy