State reaches agreement to build SNG facility
ROCKPORT, Ind. — Gov. Mitch Daniels announced the Indiana Finance Authority (IFA) Board voted unanimously earlier this month to approve a $2.65 billion project to build a new generation substitute natural gas plant in Spencer County, bringing hundreds of permanent and 1,000 construction jobs to southern Indiana and providing savings to energy customers.

“We’re out to pay Hoosiers instead of people elsewhere for the energy we need. We’re out to protect ratepayers against the likelihood of higher long-term gas prices. We’re out to put people to work in rural Indiana. And we’re out to become a leader in the high-tech field of cleaner energy,” said Daniels.
According to the governor’s office, the proposed substitute natural gas (SNG) plant would also guarantee at least $100 million of savings in today’s dollars but likely be substantially more based on existing public forecasts; operate with 99 percent fewer pollutants than a traditional coal plant; and be designed to capture 90 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions.

According to the agreement, IFA will enter into a 30-year contract with Indiana Gasification, LLC, a subsidiary of Leucadia National Corp., to purchase 38 million MMBtus of substitute natural gas – approximately 17 percent of the total used by non-industrial customers in the state – when SNG production begins in late 2015.

The IFA will file a petition to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) for approval of the agreements related to this project. Construction could begin in early 2012.

USDA rule change follows meat packer case
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (AP) — The USDA is telling slaughterhouse veterinary inspectors to ensure cattle are euthanized when they are too sick or injured to stand.

The directive issued Dec. 22 is meant to keep potentially contaminated meat out of the food supply. It alters current rules that allow so-called downer cows with treatable conditions to receive veterinary care and then be slaughtered for meat.

Consumers Union food safety expert Michael Hansen said the rule change appears to be in reaction to the 2008 abuse allegations at a California slaughterhouse that led to the largest beef recall in U.S. history.

Iowa farmer accused of stealing corn from lender
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa farmer has pled not guilty to a federal charge that he stole 32,000 bushels of corn that were mortgaged to a government-owned agricultural lender.

Chris Wessels of Earlville was arraigned in federal court in Cedar Rapids on Dec. 22 on one count of stealing corn pledged to the Commodity Credit Corp. The 49-year-old was released and trial was set for February.
Prosecutors say the corn was mortgaged as a security for a $61,000 loan. An indictment alleges Wessels stole the corn for his personal use between January and May 2008. Wessels’ attorney did not immediately return a phone message.

Pigs die in fire at hog operation in Iowa
NEW ALBIN, Iowa (AP) — Authorities said a fire at a hog operation in northeastern Iowa destroyed at least two buildings and killed several pigs.
Waterloo television station KWWL said the fire broke out the afternoon of Dec. 20 at a farm near New Albin in Allamakee County. Fire crews remained on the scene into that Monday night.

There was no immediate word on how many animals died in the blaze or an estimate on the damage. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Michigan monks who sell jam in U.P. settle lawsuit
EAGLE HARBOR TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A township in the Upper Peninsula has settled a lawsuit with monks over construction of a building next to where their local fruit preserves are sold.

Eagle Harbor Township in Keweenaw County has agreed to allow the building for fruit storage under Michigan’s right-to-farm law. The Society of St. John sued in federal court in 2009, claiming the township had violated its rights as a religious group.

The township said the monks have operated the Jampot under an exception to the local zoning ordinance. Officials in 2008 had turned down an expansion and questioned whether the property was only for religious purposes. The agreement filed two weeks ago also clarifies what rights the monks, affiliated with the Ukrainian Catholic Church, have on their property.