“Coal Friendly” Indiana 3rd in Nation in Coal Plant Retirements #BeyondCoal

On November 1st, a utility in Northwest Indiana filed plans  to retire half of its Super Polluter R.M. Schahfer coal-fired power plant by 2023 — the 693rd and 694th generating units to propose closure in the United States since Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign began in 2010.

Citing intense economic pressure and risk of spending an additional $1 billion to update and maintain outdated coal technology, Northern Indiana Public Service Company committed to closing 848 megawatts of capacity at the R.M. Schahfer Generating Station in Jasper County by 2023. NIPSCO also confirmed the retirement of the 603 MW Bailly Generating Station along Lake Michigan’s southern shoreline in its 20-year energy plan, which was filed with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

A recent Center for Public Integrity-USA Today-Weather Channel investigation identified the NIPSCO Schahfer plant as one of the nation’s 22 “Super Polluters” — power plants and industrial facilities that emit the most toxic pollution and greenhouse gases in the country. Schahfer emitted 8.8 million tons of greenhouse gases into the air in 2014 and more than 1.6 million pounds of toxic chemicals.

With this proposed retirement, Indiana ranks third in the nation for coal retirements proposed since 2010, with 6.96 gigawatts of coal capacity either retired, refueled or proposed for retirement. Only Ohio (10.09 GW) and Illinois (7.21 GW) have retired or proposed to retire more coal capacity than Indiana.

NIPSCO has confirmed in stakeholder meetings that their coal plants are losing money and ran less than 40 percent of the time in 2015 because they could not compete in the electricity marketplace. NIPSCO’s coal inventories had piled up earlier this year, forcing the company to run the plant at below operating cost to reduce its coal stockpiles, according to Platts business news service.

“NIPSCO’s problem is not unique. Coal is losing money for customers in Northwest Indiana and throughout our state and nation,” said Jodi Perras, manager of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign in Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky. “NIPSCO’s plan confirms that there’s no future for coal even in ‘coal-friendly’ Indiana. It’s time we face that fact.”

With this proposed retirement,  NIPSCO plans to reduce its energy mix from 90 percent generation from coal in 2010 to 25 percent or less by 2037, according to its 20-year energy plan. No other Indiana utility has charted such an aggressive course to reduce its coal use.

“We commend NIPSCO for stepping forward as an Indiana leader in moving away from coal and also for adopting innovative programs to purchase renewable energy from customers,” said Steve Francis, a member of the Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter’s executive committee. “Indiana government leaders need to take note of these undeniable and irreversible trends.  Our state must transition to renewable energy that Hoosiers want — like solar, wind and energy efficiency — while offering economic assistance to coal country for a just and fair transition.”

NIPSCO has also pledged to provide ongoing work opportunities to employees who would be affected by the plant retirements, and pledged to work with union leaders to achieve that goal.