If nothing else about the rule is changed, what the lignite industry hopes to see is a better timeline, Bohrer said. Instead of having to reach an interim benchmark, utilities are aiming to have until the final 2030 deadline to meet the changes.

“If you give us until 2025, we think we could make it happen,” Bohrer said.

A technology the lignite industry is pinning high hopes on to solve its carbon woes is the Allam Cycle.

The Allam Cycle, invented by 8 Rivers, uses pressurized carbon dioxide rather than steam to generate power more efficiently, at a lower cost and cleanly. It is being tested on a $140 million, 50-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant in Texas. After completing engineering and design work, North Dakota’s Energy & Environmental Research Center and industry partners decided the technology had potential for use with gasified lignite coal.

Part of the $5 million general fund appropriation to the Lignite Research Council went to lab test the Allam Cycle carbon capture and utilization system against the properties in lignite coal to determine what materials would be necessary to make the technology work for the industry. Bohrer said the project partners plan to come before the LRC in May for another round of funding.