By Megan Banta
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission has approved an agreement that will enable Indiana Michigan Power to use a lower-cost technology to meet environmental standards at its Rockport Generation Plant.
The commission’s approval follows that of the Indiana Department of Environment Management, which gave the company the green light on Aug. 27, and an agreement between Indiana Michigan Power and the Environmental Protection Agency, environmental groups and several northeast states back in February.
The agreement, which is between the power company, a group representing its industrial customers and the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, allows the plant to comply with strict emissions standards from the EPA by using dry sorbent injection technology.
This technology is a two-step process also known as DSI that removes acid gases to help with pollution control. The change to DSI technology will cost an estimated $258 million, compared to a more traditional method that would have cost an estimated $1.4 billion.
Paul Chodak, the Fort Wayne-based company’s president, said he is pleased his company was able to reach an agreement “that will result in cleaner air with a greatly reduced impact on customer rates.â€
David Stippler, Indiana’s utility consumer counselor, said his office worked diligently to make sure the agreement both satisfied environmental mandates and had the least impact on customer rates. He said the change at the plant is key to the state’s future.
“Clean coal technology is and must continue to be a crucial component in addressing Indiana’s energy future,†Stippler said.
The agreement also led to a contract for the company to buy 200 megawatts of electricity each year from a wind farm planned for Winchester and the closing of an older coal-fired plant in Lawrenceburg.
Indiana Michigan Power is owned by American Electric Power.
Megan Banta is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
If republicans had their way, we’d have dirtier air than China.
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