Column: Don't leave Hoosiers in the cold by closing reliable coal plants early
In 2021, Americans saw clearly the importance of grid reliability, as the Texas grid buckled under severe winter weather and left millions of Texans without heat or power. While Hoosiers were thankfully spared of this nightmare, the danger of blackouts in Indiana this winter is very real — and becoming more likely. Rather than bolstering our state’s supply of reliable energy, Indiana’s reliable coal-powered electricity facilities are going offline without replacements in place.
Indiana gets cold and snowy winters, which means reliable access to heat and power is a life-or-death issue for many Hoosiers. For decades, Indiana’s abundant supply of coal-powered electricity has kept our state safe and warm in winter weather. But environmental activists are working to completely eliminate coal-powered energy by petitioning lawmakers to stand idly by as coal plant after coal plant closes before the end of their useful lives.
One would think that we would have a plan to ensure that the loss of energy production from closing coal plants won’t impact access to reliable energy for Hoosiers. But unfortunately, that’s not the case. We are closing coal plants well before viable alternatives are in place, meaning there is a growing gap in energy currently on our grid. This is creating increasing vulnerabilities to the kinds of catastrophic disruptions we saw in Texas, putting the safety of Hoosiers at risk this winter. We need coal in Indiana, or else we’ll have nothing to fall back on.
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Our state lawmakers must step up to protect our grid from wanton and premature coal plant closures. For inspiration on solutions, they should look to our neighbors in Kentucky.
Last year, Kentucky passed Senate Bill 4, which granted new powers to the state government to oversee and approve coal plant closures before they happen. Under this new law, it must be proven — before a coal plant officially closes — that they can adequately replace the lost generation without impacting grid reliability or raising energy rates on Kentuckians. This bill doesn’t ban coal plants from closing, but it does provide accountability and oversight to ensure that they aren’t prematurely closing without reliable replacements.
It’s worth noting that this bill isn’t about preventing new innovations in energy. We can and should continue investing in new energy technologies that create even more available energy that people can rely on. This bill is simply about ensuring that environmental agendas don’t take away reliable power from citizens without any plan or consideration in place for the consequences.
Indiana’s lawmakers should introduce similar legislation. We need to give the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) — the agency responsible for overseeing the power grid — enough authority to prevent premature closures and maintain grid reliability for every Hoosier. As of now, the IURC has almost no ability to prevent coal plant closures if they feel it would reduce reliability or raise rates on Hoosiers.
Indiana has so far been spared the devastating power outages that states like Texas have experienced, but with our state’s most reliable source of energy being stripped away by environmentalist pressure, disruptions could become commonplace in the years ahead. Kentucky’s lawmakers took the right step by creating new guardrails around premature coal plant closures — Indiana’s lawmakers should follow their lead.
William Ellis is an Ellettsville Town Councilman and Vice Chair of the Monroe County Republican Party.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Column argues Indiana should regulate coal plant closure
