Dear IndianaDG Readers:
Please find below an excerpt from an Evansville Courier & Press article written by Eric Bradner concerning SB 510 which addresses the Indiana Gasification, LLC plant proposed for Rockport, IN. Last week, SB 510 was amended in the Senate Utilities Committee to the dismay of many of the bills supporters. The second reading amendment offered yesterday was clearly intended to "send a message" to Vectren who has been leading the charge for SB 510 which was introduced to introduce some ratepayer safeguards into the contract for the Indiana Gasification, LLC coal gasification plant proposed for Rockport with the Indiana Finance Authority.
Please don't get this Rockport plant confused with the I&M/AEP Rockport coal-fired power plants discussed in the last blog post. See http://wp.me/p37Lx8-14V
SB 510 is on third reading calendar for the Indiana Senate for final passage. SB 510 is expected to pass the Indiana Senate today (2/26/2013) and then will move on to the Indiana House for further deliberation. IndianaDG expects many more twists and turns on this issue before state lawmakers adjourn by April 29, 2013.
Laura Ann Arnold
Debating Rockport plant...
- By Eric Bradner
- Evansville Courier & Press
- Posted February 25, 2013 at 8:32 p.m.
INDIANAPOLIS —The battle between Vectren Corp. and developers of the coal-to-gas plant proposed to be built at Rockport, Ind., continued in the state Senate Monday as a senator took aim at Vectren’s coal purchases.
The chamber was debating a bill that could trigger another round of regulatory reviews of the state’s 30-year contract to buy and then resell the synthetic natural gas produced at the plant being financed by Leucadia National Corp.
Sen. Lindel Hume, D-Princeton, offered an amendment that was a shot at Vectren, which has opposed that Rockport plant.
His proposal would have required utilities such as Vectren that purchase coal from their own subsidiaries to pay the average market price for that coal, rather than higher prices they’ve negotiated for themselves.
“They cannot gouge the consumer. They can simply pass along the going rate for coal if they bought it on the open market,” Hume said.
“Even though it isn’t a problem at this point, it has been — we’ve seen that it did take place, and people were paying significantly higher than they should’ve been, and this would put a stop to that kind of thing.”
His proposal was ultimately voted down as senators decided it had little to do with the overall bill.