To all the people who breathe the air from the Leland Olds power plant and to the men and women who make a living there, Basin Electric Power Cooperative delivered a heck of a Valentine's Day smooch on Tuesday.

The cooperative announced it will install an estimated $300 million worth of air pollution equipment on two of the oldest coal-fired units in Coal Country.

The equipment will scrub out nearly all of the sulfur dioxide, a toxic yellow-hued gas that comes from burning lignite coal. Leland Olds emits about 47,000 tons of sulfur every year.

The equipment will make it easier to build new plants in North Dakota by removing thousands of pounds of pollution from the air. It also guarantees the long-term operation of Leland Olds, a fact that had been in question until now.

Construction of the equipment could begin next year. It will require a platoon of workers skilled in everything from working steel, to welding to wiring who will be there for a couple of years.

It also will require more fulltime employees to operate it.

This investment by Basin is double a previous investment in air pollution controls at its synthetic natural gas plant near Beulah, but it has a different kind of significance.

The co-op also had been looking at shutting down the plant, rather than invest in scrubbers to clean up the pollution. The clock was ticking on that call because of rules on regional haze set out in the 1990 Clean Air Act.

Plants like Leland Olds that weren't scrubbed for sulfur would have to be by 2013.

A third, much more expensive option would have been to remodel the plant to liquefy coal and use the ensuing gas as a boiler fuel.

Dave Glatt, chief of Environmental Health in North Dakota, said the decision is good news on several fronts.

"The best news is for the air, but also for the long term viability of the plant. It also opens up the potential for more development," Glatt said.

Glatt said the reduction at Basin will likely be the first of several, because several other power plants are under review for their contribution to regional haze.

In addition, the State Health Department has been in a seven-year dispute with the Environmental Protection Agency over whether the state exceeds allowable pollution at Theodore Roosevelt National Park and other Class I air pockets in the state.

Glatt said this announcement makes the dispute a non-event.

Hazen Mayor Lonny Adler said the project will help the economy and bring people to the area.

"It's a good deal to keep it (the plant) here," he said.

Basin spokesman Floyd Robb said the decision to proceed with scrubbers was approved by Basin's board of directors Monday.

The board wants a study done this year so that the project can be put out on bids after December.

Robb said the study will determine what kind of pollution scrubbers, wet or dry, will be installed and whether the two units can share one.

The two units at Leland Olds went on line in 1966 and 1975. They produce a combined 670 megawatts of electricity and cost $140 million to build.

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