Someone with the right qualifications could have the career opportunity of a lifetime managing the country's only synthetic natural gas plant near Beulah.

Fred Stern, manager of Dakota Gasification Co., announced plans he'll retire March 9, give or take a week or so.

Stern, 55, has managed the coal-to-gas plant since 1999, and has been only the third manager since Basin Electric Power Cooperative purchased the plant in 1988.

He succeeded Chester Howard, who only stayed one year, and Al Lukes, who was manager when Basin bought the plant from the Department of Energy. The federal government had taken receivership when the original plant partners defaulted on a federal loan guarantee. Basin will complete its payments in 2009.

Stern said the plant is running at top efficiency and with a competent staff on board he felt it was time to look at other opportunities, including leisure time in the Missouri River and Lake Sakakawea country around Beulah.

The position has been posted internally throughout Basin Electric, which also has coal-fired electric generation and transmission facilities in North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. Stern had been plant manager at Basin's Leland Olds Stanton Station before moving over to DGC.

Gary Loop, DGC's chief operating officer, said he'll look for someone to replace Stern who brings the same good "people" skills and high regard for his co-workers that were hallmarks of Stern's management style.

"He brings out the best in everybody. He created an atmosphere where all employees can contribute to the plant's success," Loop said.

Loop said a DGC plant manager also needs to be technically sound and understand the complexity of the operation. He said he feels confident he'll find the next manager within the ranks of Basin employees.

Stern said he is especially proud of how the DGC staff recovered from a serious boiler explosion and fire two years ago, working in adverse January temperatures to make critical repairs and get the plant back on line.

During Stern's tenure at DGC, the plant also completed a carbon dioxide pipeline project to ship waste CO2 gas to Weyburn, Saskatchewan, where it is injected into the oil fields to enhance oil recovery.

The CO2 project turned the waste gas into a revenue-making byproduct well in advance of when it is possibly regulated as a pollutant and plant operators will have to prevent it from being emitted into the atmosphere.

In 2004, Stern also managed DGC through its only complete staged shutdown, when for the first time since the plant went into operation 1984, both gas trains were idled and the plant went "black" so that all components could be inspected and planned maintenance performed.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 1-888-303-5511, or lauren@westriv.com.)