Eco Report February 11, 2021

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A state senate bill would study how to reduce consumer utility costs through securitization. Much like refinancing a home, it allows customers to pay off coal plants over a longer period of time at a lower rate— lowering energy bills.

—Norm Holy

 Indianapolis Power & Light Company is planning to acquire a 195-megawatt solar project. The project, which is expected to be completed in 2023, will be located in Clinton County, and Chicago-based Invenergy will develop the project and manage construction.

—Norm Holy

According to the Indiana Environmental Reporter, a bill backed by farmers and environmentalists establishing the state’s first carbon market has passed its first hurdle toward becoming a law.

—Norm Holy

One of the challenges for solar companies that want to invest in Indiana is that different counties charge different tax rates. A new bill would provide some guidelines.

—Norm Holy

Two new wind farms are now online and generating electricity for NIPSCO, the company announced on February 1. The Indiana-based projects — Rosewater Wind in White County and Jordan Creek Wind in Benton and Warren counties — are generating enough electricity to power 125,000 homes, according to NIPSCO.

—Norm Holy

Indigenous water protectors and environmental activists are launching a new campaign to stop the Canadian company Enbridge’s Line Three pipeline by pressuring Wall Street bank CEOs, other executives and board members to cease financing the project.

—Linda Greene

According to a new report by the U-S House of Representatives Oversight Committee’s subcommittee on economic and consumer policy, popular commercial baby foods contain the heavy metals arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury at levels above what the U-S Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, considers safe for other products.

—Linda Greene

Environmental groups are urging President Biden not to name former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to return as head of the U-S Department of Agriculture.

—Linda Greene

In a major victory for public health, District Court Judge Edward J. Chen has ordered EPA to require industry to report on asbestos imports and uses.

—Linda Greene

With cities running out of space and rising sea levels predicted to put 800 million city dwellers at risk by 2050, more of us may have to get used to living on water.

—Norm Holy

A coalition of environmental and community groups is working to stop the New Fortress liquified natural gas pipeline and terminal in San Juan Bay, Puerto Rico.

—Linda Greene