Gov. Mike Rounds emphasized the importance of increased power generation in his State of the State address. He plans to propose legislation that would offer incentives for construction of two power plants in the state.
His plan calls for a break in the state's 2 percent construction tax as well as property tax relief on pollution control equipment for power plants. One recipient would be the coal-fired Big Stone Power Plant near Milbank, which plans a $1 billion expansion. The incentives may be enough to lure a proposed $1.5 billion plant to South Dakota rather than nearby states.
Rounds noted that coal-fired plants produce about 42 percent of the state's electricity, and he suggested that additional plants would lead eventually to more transmission capacity to move electricity to users in other states and improve the chances of increasing wind energy.
—Kathy Cobb
