An economic development squad is heading to Dallas to woo wind-energy firms. Indiana ranked second in the nation last year
in
adding wind-generating capacity.
Veolia Water is contesting three "serious" safety penalties involving a gas line strike. IOSHA alleges utility failed
to instruct employees and properly determine location of lines.
Indianapolis Power & Light tilted at wind farm developer by terminating its contract. Now a new agreement avoids the potential
$190 million in damages enXco sought against the local utility.
Duke Energy has signed the agreement to formalize the $204 million in economic stimulus funds it will receive from the federal
government, the power provider said Thursday.
Duke Energy has dramatically scaled back its proposed “smart” electric grid rollout, five months after regulators rejected
an initial, $445 million plan.
Gem Utilities Inc. and Gem Water Inc. have offered their sewer and water operations to the town of Cumberland for $6 million.
Recent events in the Gulf of Mexico have placed considerable focus
on the everyday contributions the men and women in the oil and natural gas industry make to help fuel and power our way of
life.
City would use $425 million expected from selling the city’s water and sewer utilities to Citizens Energy Group to upgrade
city streets, sidewalks and bridges.
The waterworks board’s plan to hire outside consultants to study the proposed sale of Indianapolis Water could delay the deal.
Not only are utilities grappling with how to pull carbon from their coal-fired emissions, but they also crave certainty about
where to put the carbon. With minimal information available about Indiana’s deep subsurface , much remains to be done to determine
where and at what scale the practice could be deployed here.
So-called carbon capture and sequestration, or CCS, is seen by some in the utility business as a potential salvation for coal.
But utilities may face a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you don’t scenario.
Indiana saw a 700-percent increase in total wind-generated power in 2009, an increase second only to Utah, according to the
U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report.
Citizens Energy should have completed the majority of its due diligence of the city’s water and sewer utilities, which
it plans to acquire, by the end of this month.
Part of the overall utility problem is that lack of government oversight and public policy vision has made Indianapolis one
of the highest-polluting and just plain ugliest cities in the Midwest.
So far, in discussing his plan to sell the city’s water and sewer utilities, Mayor Greg Ballard has
emphasized the impact on utility rates, the $1.5 billion in city debt Citizens would assume, and the chance
to improve streets and sidewalks. But Ballard also has another key objective: business attraction and
expansion.
A $1.9 billion proposal to sell the city’s water and sewer utilities splashed into public view last month, but some
financial details settling at the bottom line could make the deal harder to swallow.
Matthew Klein has agreed to serve on a panel discussion concerning the canal: “Indy’s Central Canal—public
resource
or private pipeline?” during the Indiana University Law Environmental Symposium, April 1 at IUPUI’s Inlow Hall.
Citizens Energy Group’s plan to buy the city’s water and sewer systems will require the utility to raise $262 million in new
bond debt and inherit $1.5 billion in debt. Yet Citizens executives maintain the financial load should not impair the bond
ratings of its principal utilities, Citizens Gas and Citizens Thermal.
Cost savings from combining three utilities helped give Citizens Energy Group an advantage in the deal to take over Indianapolis’
water and sewer operations, said Michael Huber, the city’s director of enterprise development.
Experts
say Indianapolis is moving forward on recycling, that environmental research is discovering promising technologies, and that
manufacturers are finding new things to make. Local cognoscenti from the green community testify to these developments in
five included videos.
