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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Indiana’s Rising Utility Rates Result In Calls For Change

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Monday, October 22, 2012   

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana utilities statewide are either making environmental upgrades or awaiting approval to upgrade 30- to 60-year-old coal power plants at a cost of a couple (b) billion dollars to ratepayers. Nachy Kanfer, deputy director of the Sierra Club Central Region, says his organization and the Citizens Action Coalition are two groups that believe those dollars could be better spent on moving to greener energy.

"If Indiana's utilities insist on continuing to use coal, that's not going to be the most cost-effective option for ratepayers. Ratepayers are going to pay more and more and more if utilities continue trying to burn coal, because coal is getting more expensive, while other kinds of energy are getting cheaper."

Most Hoosier utilities supplement with small amounts of wind, but at NIPSCO, Director of External Communications Nick Meyer says wind isn't reliable enough yet.

"We have some of the largest industrial customers in the world, you know – a significant portion of steel is made right here in our backyard and so, they very much rely on having that constant electricity with no interruption."

Upgrades to NIPSCO's coal-fired plants is costing ratepayers $800 million. IPL's updates are estimated at $606 million. Indiana and Michigan's are estimated at $707 million.

The Sierra Club's Kanfer says Indiana utilities have more energy options available than just raising rates to keep the old coal plants on-line.

"When you have a wind farm in Indiana, selling power for a 10- to 20-year term at a guaranteed 4.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, you're not going to find anything to beat that."

Duke Energy Indiana, with a capacity to produce 6800 megawatts of power, is purchasing up to 100 megawatts of wind energy from a Benton County wind farm over 20 years. Meanwhile, Lew Middleton, Duke's communications manager, says they are awaiting approval from regulators on their environmental compliance coal-plant upgrades.

"The estimate for all of these pollution-control installations will be right at about $450 million, plus financing costs."

Duke's plan will create 285 construction jobs, adds Middleton. Hoosiers concerned about their utility rates can make their thoughts known by contacting the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor.



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