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Basin Electric among finalists for PR award

Basin Electric among finalists for top PR awards for St. Baldrick’s

Basin Electric Power Cooperative - January 12, 2010

Bismarck, N.D. – Basin Electric’s St. Baldrick’s Day campaign began with a desire to do good. Well, that desire grew. It grew … and it grew … and it grew. It grew to more than 200 volunteers willing to lose their hair and $124,000 raised during the cooperative’s 2009 event.

Now, Basin Electric is being recognized for its St. Baldrick’s campaign communications efforts. The cooperative recently learned it’s been selected as a finalist in the Philanthropy Communications category of the PR News’ Corporate Social Responsibility Awards.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one of the key benchmarks of an organization’s overall success and reputation. PR News’ CSR Awards recognize both the communications surrounding a CSR initiative and the initiative itself.

Basin Electric’s St. Baldrick’s initiative is a finalist among globally recognized businesses, such as Aflac, eBay and Hasbro. The philanthropy communications category recognizes an organization with a successful giving program in which the communications of these efforts has improved the standing of the organization in the communities it serves. Past winners include Hard Rock International, Bank of America and Deloitte & Touche.

St. Baldrick's is the world's largest volunteer-driven fundraising event for childhood cancer research. Thousands of volunteers shave their heads in solidarity of children with cancer, while requesting donations of support from friends and family. In the two years Basin Electric has held a St. Baldrick’s event, it has shaved more than 300 heads and raised more than $200,000.

In recognition of Basin Electric’s achievement, the cooperative will receive an award at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 24, 2010. The full list of honorees can be found at http://www.prnewsonline.com/awards/csr2009_event-finalists.html.

About Basin Electric Power Cooperative

Basin Electric is a consumer-owned, regional cooperative headquartered in Bismarck, N.D. It generates and transmits electricity to 135 member rural electric systems in nine states: Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. These member systems distribute electricity to about 2.8 million consumers.

Basin Electric’s generating resources include: two coal-based power plants in North Dakota – the Antelope Valley Station, Beulah, and the Leland Olds Station, Stanton; a coal-based power plant in Wyoming – the Laramie River Station, Wheatland; three peaking stations – the Spirit Mound Station, Vermillion, S.D.; the Groton Generation Station Groton, S.D., and the Wisdom Unit 2 Station, Spencer, Iowa; nine combustion-turbine generators (natural gas) in the Gillette, Wyo., area; four wind turbines – two near Minot, N.D., and two near Chamberlain, S.D.; and 80 wind turbines near Minot, N.D. (2010). Basin Electric is also the sole purchaser of electricity from sources operated by others including: six baseload waste-heat stations owned and operated by Ormat Technologies Inc. along the Northern Border Pipeline; the output of three wind farms owned and operated by NextEra Energy Resources, Juno Beach, Fla. (These wind farms are located near Wilton and Edgeley/Kulm, N.D.; the other is near Highmore, S.D.) Basin Electric has long-term, purchase power agreements of varying capacities from the George Neal Station Unit 4 (coal-based), Sioux City, Iowa, operated by MidAmerican Energy; the Walter Scott, Jr. Energy Center (coal-based) units 3 and 4, Council Bluffs, Iowa, operated by MidAmerican Energy; the Wisdom Station (coal based), Spencer, Iowa, operated by Corn Belt Power Cooperative; peaking stations located in Spencer, Estherville, Pocahontas, and Webster City, Iowa; the Duane Arnold Energy Center (nuclear), Cedar Rapids, Iowa, operated by NextEra Energy Resources; the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska; and three Iowa wind farms – near Superior/Lakota, operated by Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative; in Hancock County operated by NextEra Energy Resources and in Palo Alto County operated by Crosswind Energy, LLC. For more information, go to www.basinelectric.com.