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Wind Power Proposal May Not Breeze Through Legislature

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 February 2006, 00:00 CST

By The Associated Press

The idea of harnessing wind power to generate electricity is gaining steam in Indiana, where several Republican proposals before the General Assembly aim to get Hoosiers to use cleaner energy sources.

Although there's little promise that lawmakers will approve major environmental legislation this session, advocates say the discussion at least is headed that way.

Steve Aker, a project manager at White Construction, a Clinton, Ind., contractor that claims to be the nation's third-largest installer of wind farms, said tapping into clean energy sources such as wind could lead to the creation of new companies in Indiana.

"The environmental end is very important, but truly, it's economically viable. (Wind farms) would be such a boon to Indiana from an economic development standpoint," Aker told The Indianapolis Star for a story published Saturday.

Various Republican proposals before the General Assembly would give tax breaks to encourage more gas stations to pump ethanol and biodiesel and more motorists to use it. Some would require more electricity to be generated by synthetic gases made from farm waste or coal, by solar panels and even by wind farms.

Last week, U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., co-wrote a letter to support a mandate, proposed by state Rep. Don Lehe, R-Brookston, to require utilities to derive a specific percentage of their power supply from renewable sources.

Lugar, also a Republican, argues that alternative energy could boost the economy and, because it's made at home, could protect the United States from further foreign conflicts.

Most of the energy proposals at the Statehouse will have to wait until next year.

Two different House committees watered down alternative energy bills last week. Lehe's bill, after input from Gov. Mitch Daniels' staff, was referred to a summer study committee, which will consider both renewable energy mandates and tax credits.

Power utilities say they support greater use of clean energies but do not want a government mandate.

Proponents of renewable energy say Indiana should follow the 21 states and the District of Columbia that have mandates similar to the one Lehe proposed. They say such mandates, by requiring utilities to buy renewable energy, give private developers long- term assurance that they will get a return on their investments, which total hundreds of millions of dollars.

Grant Smith, executive director of the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana and a longtime advocate of renewable energy, said he's heartened that lawmakers are finally showing an interest in alternative energy sources.

"At least now we have Representative Lehe and others, both Republicans and Democrats, recognizing the potential here," he said.

Source: Evansville Courier & Press

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