I don’t know enough about coal gasification or the law signed by the Governor to try to explain it, so I’ll just link to the article by Lesley Stedman Weidenbener. It involves a convoluted system of contracts and a thirty year commitment. The Citizen’s Action Coalition has its concerns:
Kerwin Olson, program director for the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, said that last year coal prices doubled even as natural gas prices were going down.
“Certainly the price of coal is going to affect the cost of this synthetic natural gas,” he said. “As far as the ratepayer impact goes, it’s unthinkable for us that the state would force ratepayers to enter into a 30-year contract with no review of the price whatsoever.
“The way we see it, that’s an erosion of consumer and ratepayer protection.”
Back in the late 90s when I worked for LSA, the Citizen’s Action Coalition was raising concerns about electricity deregulation even as lobbyists for Enron and others were pushing for it. California went through an electricity deregulation debacle after it passed such a measure and Enron has gone. So, when the CAC sounds the alarm bells, it catches my attention.
I have no doubt they’ll build this thing right upwind from my location, just like all the other polluters down here.
Meanwhile the business will be guaranteed a profit regardless of market conditions, with us picking up the tab. I think we’re still paying for Marble Hill all these years later, too.
Yep, Rockport, about fifteen miles upwind. All that to Alcoa, Century Aluminum, the Coleman generating station, the Rockport coal fired power plant, AK Steel. Just more shitty shit to breathe.