Farmland sale clears way for Coteau's Freedom mine expansion
New York (Platts)--8Jun2005
A dairy farmer who fought an expansion of Coteau Properties Co.'s Freedom mine near Beulah, North Dakota, is dropping his opposition because Coteau is buying him out. Last week, the state Public Service Commission accepted Wayne Boeshans' petition to declare his property unsuitable for coal mining. North Dakota law requires the three-member commission to hold a hearing before ruling on Boeshans' request. Boeshans also asked for an informal hearing on Coteau's request for a 5,710-acre expansion of the mine, Jim Deutsch, the PSC's land reclamation director, told Platts Coal Trader on Tuesday. Coteau's pending application to expand the mine includes 240 acres of Boeshans' land. Eighty acres, which include Boeshans' farmstead and dairy operation, are not included. However, the additional land could be included if the sale is completed. Boeshans claimed mining was incompatible with existing land use plans, one of four criteria the state allows for land to be declared unsuitable for mining, Deutsch said. Boeshans said mining near his dairy farm would aggravate his wife's asthma and cause his dairy cows to give less milk. "It would have been questionable whether the property would have qualified under the criteria allowed by law," Deutsch said. But on Monday, Boeshans' attorney, Gregory Lange, told Deutsch that Boeshans and his wife had reached an agreement to sell the land to Coteau and they expect to close on the land later this week, Deutsch said. The price was not disclosed. "Accordingly, [the Boeshanses] will be withdrawing their request for an informal conference, and their petition to determine an area unsuitable for mining," Lange said in his e-mail. Lange did not return calls for comment. Boeshans had also asked the Mercer County Planning and Zoning Commission to deny the mine's conditional use permit. The commission delayed action on Coteau's request to change the zoning of the proposed mine land from agricultural to industrial in February and April. It is expected to be considered at the planning commission's June 30 meeting. Freedom produces lignite and is North Dakota's largest coal mine, producing more than half of the state's annual coal output of about 31-mil tons. The mine supplies coal to two electric power plants and the Great Plains Synfuels Plant near Beulah, which processes lignite into synthetic gas. This story was originally published in Platts Coal Trader http://www.coaltrader.platts.com
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