The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, contends the Minnesota law violates the U.S. Constitution. It imposes illegal restrictions on doing business between states, and infringes on Congress' power to regulate carbon dioxide pollution and interstate power sales, the lawsuit contends.

fergusfallsjournal.com
AP and Daily Journal reports
North Dakota and representatives of its coal industry sued the state of Minnesota on Wednesday, seeking to invalidate a law that restricts the ability of Minnesota utilities to buy electricity from western North Dakota's coal fields.
The law essentially bans Minnesota utilities from importing power from new coal plants outside the state, and raises the cost of future purchases of coal power by assigning environmental costs to use of the fuel.
Fergus Falls-based Otter Tail Power Company produces some of its electricity as a partner in the Coyote Station (power plant), northwest of Bismarck, N.D. Pelican Rapids-based Lake Region Electric Cooperative (LREC) derives its energy from Twins Cities-based Great River Energy. Electricity comes to Great River from coal plants in western North Dakota.
Wayne Stenehjem, North Dakota's attorney general, said the Minnesota law hampers the future development of North Dakota's coal industry.
"A good portion of (Minnesota's) electricity comes from right here in North Dakota," Stenehjem said Wednesday. "They need it, and they are going to need it even more so in the future, because their energy demands are going to increase ... Their (law) will simply increase the price of electricity for their own citizens."
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, contends the Minnesota law violates the U.S. Constitution. It imposes illegal restrictions on doing business between states, and infringes on Congress' power to regulate carbon dioxide pollution and interstate power sales, the lawsuit contends.

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