April 27, 2013- by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor
What happened in the legislature tonight was something extraordinary. Citizens came together to turn legislative direction, 180º on the Rockport Gasification fiasco.
Think about it. Vectren, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, Farm Bureau all came together with environmentalists and consumers to stop something ridiculous form going any further.
For Valley Watch, like both the Marble Hill Nuclear Plant and Peabody’s Thoroughbred coal plant in Muhlenberg Couty, KY, this fight has been seven long years.
Frankly, I was expecting much closer votes in both chambers but was really surprised at the House vote of 70-28. But Suzanne Crouch successfully carried the bill with grace and intelligence, informing legislators clearly and accurately about its contents at a late hour.
Valley Watch has worked closely with Vectren on this fight, so has the Hoosier Chapter of the Sierra Club for which I serve as Energy Chair. Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign came in at just the right moment and provided a huge level of grassroots support, generating phone calls and letters to legislators throughout the session. Instrumental in this effort was a dedicated Rockport group called Spencer County Citizens for Quality of Life. The unbelievably talented staff at the Citizens Action Coalition performed numerous services as professionally as any lobbyist there. So did Sierra’s lobbyist Mark St. John.
However, the issue is not finished. There is still the matter of the Supreme Court appeal and what they decide will determine the outcome. If the IURC does review the contract with the instructions from the legislature to insure savings during the term of the contract, Leucadia says they will walk away. But, they seem to never give up their quest to socialize their risk at the expense of consumers.
Already Rockport, Indiana sees annual toxic emissions of more than 30 million pounds from AK Steel and AEP’s Rockport plant. Now, Governor Mitch Daniels and others want to see those emissions increase while also increasing winter heating expenses for Hoosiers through the construction of the proposed Indiana Gasification facility. Photo © 2011 John Blair
Valley Watch has been an intervenor in the IURC proceeding and we are appellants now before the Supreme Court. We certainly will not back down now. We also intend to fight the plant’s proposed loan guarantee by the Federal Government. In fact, we have been doing that since 2009.
Not only is this proposal a financial disaster, it is also a terrible environmental justice issue since Rockport is already one of the most polluted towns on earth according to EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory. Their pollution and health burden is already too high. The loan guarantee coupled with forcing Hoosier consumers to purchase their product is far removed from anything considered “Free Enterprise.”
We feel that we will prevail for no other reason than it just makes sense to let this thing go. But we have multiple issues with which to continue our fight should Leucadia decide to stay the course.