The Interior Department has approved a new federal mine plan at the Center Mine in North Dakota, U.S. Sen. John Hoeven announced recently.

The plan was needed to allow mining of federal coal under a lease awarded in January 2021, according to Hoeven, R-N.D. His office said Interior in July 2021 required a supplemental environmental assessment that was held up for almost two years "due to additional regulatory hurdles."

Center Mine is owned and operated by BNI and supplies coal to the adjacent Milton R. Young Station power plant that provides electricity to customers in North Dakota and Minnesota.

Hoeven convened a meeting between Minnkota, BNI and Interior officials in November to move the process along. Without plan approval, BNI would have had to implement contingency plans that could have cost millions and raised electric prices, according to the senator's office.