By Keith Benman, Times of Northwest Indiana
keith.benman@nwi.com
Industries critical to Northwest Indiana's economy fear sweeping climate change legislation that appeared headed for sure passage in the U.S. House late Friday will increase costs to customers and could cost the region jobs.
"We are certainly in favor of addressing climate change," said NIPSCO spokesman Nick Meyer. "But what we don't want is an undue impact on our customers."
The utility estimates its 457,000 electric customers would face increased costs totalling $100 million in 2012, which is the first year the carbon caps mandated by the bill would kick in, Meyer said. That works out to an average of $219 per customer.
The cost would be much higher for large users, including the giant steel mills that are among NIPSCO's largest customers. That kind of undue impact would play out all across the Midwest, so the utility opposes the bill in its present form, Meyer said.
U.S. Steel Corp. referred questions on the bill to its trade group representative, the American Iron and Steel Institute.
The U.S. steel industry believes the cap-and-trade regime, and the associated rise in energy costs, would put U.S. manufactures at a decided disadvantage when it comes to foreign competition, according to Nancy Gravatt, a spokeswoman for the American Iron and Steel Institute.
"If steel production were to move to countries with lax environmental standards, it could have the perverse effect of actually increasing global (carbon dioxide) emissions," Gravatt stated in an e-mailed statement.
The Indiana Farm Bureau remains opposed to the bill, despite significant progress made by Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., in improving the bill for farmers, said Indiana Farm Bureau President Don Villwock.
Farmers are mainly concerned about what would happen with the price of vital farm inputs such as diesel fuel, fertilizer and even farm equipment as manufacturers pass on their increased costs, Villwock said.
Farmers have to take what prices they can get for their product, so they cannot pass on costs to customers like power utilities and others, Villwock said.
"As a farmer, I can't go out to the marketplace and just ask for more for my corn or dairy products or hogs," Villwock said.
The trade group for the state's largest energy producers supports the legislation in its final form as voted on Friday, mainly because it did not include the dreaded carbon tax or permit auctions, according to Ed Simcox, President of the Indiana Energy Association.
In its original forms, climate-change legislation unduly penalized Midwestern states like Indiana that are heavily dependent on coal-fired electric generation, Simcox said.
Even Indiana's largest grassroots consumer group, which is often heavily involved in environmental issues, opposed the bill. But it's reasons for opposing the bill were quite different than those of industry.
The Citizens Action Coalition wanted a flat carbon tax or the auctioning of carbon permits, said CAC organizer Kerwin Olson. The bill in its present form actually allows for expanded use of coal-fired electric generation, he said.
"It's not better than nothing, because it allows investments in coal plants," Olson said. "It just doesn't go far enough."