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Coal and Coal Gasification
The first important mining operations in Western North Dakota were sponsored by the North Pacific Railroad along its tracks in 1884. Among coal-producing states, North Dakota ranks ninth and produces 3 percent of the nation's output. North Dakota has one of the world's largest deposits of lignite coal.
In 1981, the federal government approved a $2 billion loan for construction of America's first commercial-scale synthetic gas plant near Beulah. Today, the Great Plains Synfuels Plant, as it is called, is owned by the Dakota Gasification Company and converts 18,000 tons of lignite into 160 million cubic feet of substitute natural gas daily.
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