The fate of the Indiana Gasification project is now apparently in the hands of the Indiana Supreme Court where Leucadia Project Manager is friendly with at least one of the Justices. See: http://www.in.gov/judiciary/citc/files/massa-lubbers.pdf
Photo © 2013 John Blair
April 30, 2013-Statement of Mark Lubbers, Indiana project director for Leucadia’s Indiana Gasification proposal
If the Supreme Court takes the case, the Ct of Appeals decision is immediately vacated, so the IURC approval is again live. The Ct of Appeals opinion was not unanimous and we have asked the court to side with Chief Judge Robb’s dissent, which said that the Court could have upheld the IURC approval and dealt separately with the definition problem. Since then, of course, the parties have dealt with that admittedly inartful definition language by deleting the offending 37 words from the definition of Retail End Use Customer; so the problem identified by the Ct of Appeals no longer exists.
If the Supreme Court takes the case, we think we have a good chance of winning.
If the Supreme Court does not take the case, the project is dead. The legislature and the governor knew this when they opted for the language in the law just-passed. There was an alternative way for the IURC to have a “final look” at the project to consider if the contract was still good for ratepayers given supposed changes in the energy market. That alternative was rejected in favor of adopting new standards that the legislature and the governor knew would kill the project. (Because it would require a different contract and two years of review that the project cannot sustain.) The decision to take this path was a conscious decision to kill the project.
Since this conscious decision was made, the judgment of the state is very clear: neither the legislature nor the governor support the contract or the project. Therefore, the claim made by legislative leadership and the governor that everything is fine if the Supreme Court sides with us is a false promise; no one would invest $750 million where such clear opposition from the government is evident. The institutions that provide the capital to build a plant of this size will not do business in a state that is so cavalier about the $20+ million dollars we have already invested.
We will finish the judicial review that has been going on now since December 2011. We will file today a motion for the Court to schedule oral argument. We will work hard for a win if the Supreme Court takes the case. If we win, however, only a clear reversal of position by the Governor would enable the project to go forward.
I understand that hearings are to be geld on the coal gasification plant at Rockport in the following locations: Lafayette, Jasper, and Indianapolis. I wonder; why would the IDEM hold a hearing in Tippecanoe County on a coal gasification plant a couple hundred miles away in Spencer County? The meeting in Jasper makes a little more sense; but not much. And, the last one up in Indianapolis – Well, that IS the capitol –
survives some of the logic test. I ask, why not hold hearings in Rockport, Tell City, and Boonville or even Evansville – We have a US Court House here.
Folks, we are going to get this plant at Rockport whether we want it or not and be damned with the enviroment or even the additional cost to Hoosier consumers. I mean, look how successful the Duke Energy plant at Edwardsport is…