John Russell, writing for the Indianapolis Star, has an article on a high level meeting between Duke executives and Gov. Daniels, seeking the Governor’s help in dealing with General Electric and Bechtel on issues having to do with cost overruns in the construction of Duke’s new plant at Edwardsport.
I don’t know that this reveals much of anything other than the fact that Duke has much better access to the Governor than Duke’s consumer advocate critics do. But, that was already pretty clear. Duke and Edwardsport have been in the news lately because the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission is having hearings to determine whether Duke can pass those cost overruns to ratepayers or whether the company has to absorb the cost itself. I haven’t been paying much attention to the issue, but I suspect I should be. Snarky Indiana’s Twitter feed has been pretty educational on the subject, however.
Doug… Ratepayers have practically been undefended in this case. When they approached the Legislature for some exceptions they said it would cost approximately $1.2B. It is now up to nearly $3B. The Citizens Action Coalition dug into why and how this happened. Just with the facts they have to date exposed: the Chairman of the IURC has been fired, the Indiana President of Duke has been let go, the number 2 in Duke has also been let go (with a $8,000,000 goodbye and the requirement he not speak to others), new hearings have to be held to redo all the possible tainted rulings involving these people, and today was the Star story about how the Governor met with Duke in what appears to be their effort to get him to aceed to their request that ratepayers should cover the cost over runs, but this type of contact may be more than inappropriate. There is more, but, yes, this issue would benefit greatly from your examination!
Thanks for the background, Win!