157: What people don't know about coal

Jason Bohrer is President of the Lignite Energy Council, an industry group representing coal interests in North Dakota.

His group made a move about, you guessed it, coal.

"You get 50 miles outside those coal mines, people don't know much about them," he said, referring to the coal operations in central North Dakota. "What they do know they get from flawed sources."

On May 1, at CoalMovie.com, the Lignite folks are releasing a roughly 30-minute film about the history of coal in North Dakota. What it meant in the past, and what it means going forward.

Jason also talked about the fraught politics around coal power today, especially with the news that North Dakota's large coal-fired power plant may be closing. "It used to be Republicans and Democrats could sit in a room and talk about energy and there would be friends of coal on both sides," Jason said. "It's not like that anymore."

"There are very few people talking about long-term," Jason continued.

"The future is more in doubt now than it was five years ago."