INDIANAPOLIS – The powerful Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission can — and should — investigate early retirements of coal-burning power plants, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita wrote in a memorandum of legal guidance recently released.
Rokita opined that the IURC is implicitly duty-bound to prevent such closures until a utility finds “dispatchable” replacement power. But the Statehouse, Rokita added, could add legal requirements.
Sen. Chris Garten, a Republican from Charlestown, requested Rokita’s help. He said lawmakers are considering changes.
Garten says he supports all energy sources. He contacted Rokita about coal retirements because “you don’t see closures of other facilities right now.”
Coal plants have historically had 50-year lifespans, according to a 2019 article published in Nature Communications. But they can last longer with fixes and upgrades.
U.S. coal plants are about 44 years old, in a capacity-weighted average, according to an analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Plants scheduled for retirement this year averaged 54 years of age: almost a decade older.
But coal plants decommissioned amid their expected decades-long lives have become a political flashpoint.
Proponents maintain that early retirements are critical to avoiding climate change’s worst impacts, while opponents argue that closures jeopardize affordable energy supply. Both sides offer contrasting views on whether keeping the plants online benefits utility customers.
Read more of the Leslie Bonilla Muñiz story for the Indiana Capital Chronicle, here.
