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Utility Dive: Indiana Senate Strips Controversial Coal Bill of Fuel Oversupply Provision, Drawing Utility Support

Posted by Catherine Morehouse on Feb 28, 2020

Utility Dive covered Indiana Senate amendments to HB 1414 (a bill that supports coal plants that AEE opposes), quoting AEE's Dylan Reed. Read excerpts below and the entire UD piece here. 

Indiana's controversial House Bill 1414 was stripped of its most contentious language in the Senate Utilities Committee on Thursday, allowing it to pass 8-2 and move onto the Senate floor. The latest iteration "takes out all the worst of it," Advanced Energy Economy Director Dylan Reed told Utility Dive. Language that would have allowed utilities to store up to 90 days of fuel supply on site was removed, and the sunset was pushed up six months to Dec. 31, 2020, around the time the state's task force is supposed to issue its recommendations for how the state should proceed on energy policy. This version still slows down a utility's retirement process, mandating utilities looking to retire more than 80 MW of generation notify the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission (IURC) and go through a public hearing within 120 days of giving notice...

Several interests in the state were opposed to the bill. It was seen by business, consumer, environmental and clean energy groups as a way to keep more expensive resources online, rhetoric the senators likely wanted to move away from, according to Reed. "I think this version shows that Senators are looking for a moderate approach to handling coal retirements," said Reed. Utilities previously opposed the bill, but after today's amendments have thrown their support in the ring...

HB 1414 narrowly passed the House earlier this month, and was expected to face broad changes in the Senate because of strong stakeholder opposition, Democratic senators told Utility Dive earlier this week. The latest version also lets utilities move forward with their integrated resource plans and updates portions of the bill to clarify language ensuring that coal workers who have been laid off will get priority funding from state education grants...

Read the entire UD piece here. 

Topics: United In The News