Indiana Supreme Court takes up case between state, utility
Contract law dominated an Indiana Supreme Court hearing over an agreement requiring the state to buy synthetic natural gas from a private plant and resell it on the open market.
Contract law dominated an Indiana Supreme Court hearing over an agreement requiring the state to buy synthetic natural gas from a private plant and resell it on the open market.
Indianapolis Power and Light Co. plans to revamp coal plants in Indianapolis and Petersburg to comply with federal rules. State regulators gave the go-ahead on Wednesday, setting the stage for a potential rate hike.
Despite close ties to the project manager of the Rockport coal-gasification plant, Indiana Supreme Court Justice Mark Massa has decided to hear a pending case on the project.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said the bank used improper bidding strategies to squeeze excessive payments from two power grid operators, including the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, which is based in Carmel.
Coal use in the United States will continue to fall, though the slide will be gradual as electric utilities switch to cleaner alternatives over “years and years,” billionaire Warren Buffett said at an event in Carmel this week.
Duke Energy said that its $3.5 billion, high-tech 618-megawatt plant near Vincennes will produce 10 times as much power as a former plant but emit about 70 percent less pollution.
The state Supreme Court agreed Thursday to step into a legal fight between backers and opponents of a proposed $2.8 billion coal-gasification plant in southwestern Indiana.
The Sierra Club wants the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to block an IPL plan to spend $511 million on pollution controls at its 39-year-old Harding Street plant, plus a four-unit station in the southwestern Indiana town of Petersburg.
Indiana Gasification project manager Mark Lubbers told the Evansville Courier & Press that neither the General Assembly nor Gov. Mike Pence support the project.
Plans for the plant, officially announced Wednesday, call for an environmentally friendly facility outside of Martinsville that could produce 650 megawatts of power. Construction could employ 660 workers.
Indiana Gasification LLC project manager Mark Lubbers said developers wouldn't have tried to build the plant at Rockport if the law passed early Saturday morning had been in place.
Rep. Matt Ubelhor, R-Bloomfield, successfully pushed an amendment Wednesday that would shield the southern Indiana project from the review sought by the plant's opponents, who contend it could saddle ratepayers with higher bills.
The House Utility Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would send the $2.8 billion project back to regulators for another round of reviews unless the Indiana Supreme Court sides with the project’s developers
A Court of Appeals ruling upheld the 30-year contract between developers of the $2.6 billion synthetic gas plant and the Indiana Finance Authority. The agency would buy gas at a pre-negotiated rate and resell it to customers at a fixed rate.
A Senate committee is leaving a contentious battle over a proposed $3 billion coal-gasification plant in the Indiana Supreme Court’s hands for now.
Options include increasing exports as opposition to coal-fired electricity generation heats up at both national and local levels.
The Indiana Department of Labor alleges lack of proper safeguards in an August blast that injured two workers at IPL’s Harding Street generating station on the southwest side.
Senate Utilities Committee chairman Sen. Jim Merritt said Thursday he's delayed until next week a hearing on the bill involving Indiana Gasification LLC's planned $2.8 billion plant in the Ohio River city of Rockport.
Utility wanted to conduct a study to determine how to dispose of carbon dioxide produced by its Edwardsport coal gasification plant.
Under the legislation, state utility regulators could order Indiana Gasification LLC to make refunds to gas customers every three years if the price of synthetic gas it produces from coal is greater than the market price of natural gas over the period.