The reciprocal membership arrangement will enable the two organisations to “harness their complementary resources and expertise” to further develop and support opportunities for collaboration in low-emissions brown coal utilisation, according to Lignite Energy Council president and CEO Jason Bohrer.

He announced the membership agreement with BCIA following a rigorous review of international R&D organisations.

“We were studying international R&D groups that we could partner with in order to leverage the benefits of our R&D program,” Bohrer said.

The Lignite Energy Council has an R&D program dating back to the 1980s and is a trade association representing North Dakota’s lignite mines, lignite-based power plants, the Dakota Gasification Company and more than 375 companies that supply goods and services to the lignite industry.

Australia and the state of North Dakota rank as the top two known reserves of brown coal in the world.

BCIA chief executive Dr Phil Gurney said: “The Lignite Energy Council is the second international member of BCIA and this new partnership is further evidence of the strong international commitment to a low-emissions future for brown coal.”

A delegation of United States engineers and researchers will travel to Australia in the near future to share information on brown coal R&D projects and to participate in BCIA’s upcoming Coal-to-Products seminar.

BCIA and the Lignite Energy Council have also agreed to establish a travel scholarship that will contribute toward the cost of travel between the United States and Australia for scientists working on collaborative research.