World Commodities - Coal production in North Dakota dropped 8% in 2019.

Byline: S. Kamal Hayder Kazmi

Coal production in North Dakota dropped 8% in 2019, compared to the prior year. The state's five coal mines produced 27.2 million tons of lignite, according to a trade group. The Lignite Energy Council says the reduction was mainly due to major outages at various power plants and maintenance at the Great Plains Synfuels Plant. The council represents lignite producers, electric utilities and about 250 industry-related businesses.

"The lower tonnage in 2019 also resulted partially from electricity produced from other sources including natural gas, wind generation and the...