By Bruce Stevens
President, Indiana Coal Council 

If there is one monthly bill you can count on, it’s your electricity bill. I think Hoosiers across the state can agree; electricity is something we can’t do without.

And there is only so much we can save by using less. Every additional dollar spent on electricity is a dollar unavailable for a family to invest in improving its lot in life, or a business to invest in operations that could bring more jobs to the community.

So it isn’t surprising that reports of anticipated increases in electricity prices are causing concern and, among some, alarm. A recent Harris Poll found roughly 76 percent of Americans worry that high electricity prices are on the way. And their worries are substantiated.

Indiana’s middle class households may be America’s Biggest Losers from steeper monthly electricity bills, but they won’t be the only losers. Most vulnerable will be low-income and fixed-income households. They need heat and air conditioning just as much as more affluent households, but have less discretionary income to pay for it. And the Harris Poll found that is the greatest worry (88 percent) among retirees and seniors living on fixed incomes.

Also hurt will be manufacturers, which tend to prosper in Indiana where coal-fired electricity is reliable and affordable. Energy is a primary cost that often determines whether factories can compete globally or must re-locate abroad where power costs are lower.

At the heart of these concerns, is the reality of fuel switching – in which Indiana, to be fully compliant with the EPA’s greenhouse-gas regulations, would likely have to convert many coal-fired power plants to another fuel source.

Indiana has adequate coal within our state to provide for electrical generation for decades to come. To replace this homegrown resource, other fuels will have to be obtained from well beyond our borders. That’s an astronomically costly endeavor, and there currently is not sufficient infrastructure available across the state to support that fuel switch. Therefore, the EPA’s greenhouse-gas regulations are anticipated to shut down scores of power plants that generate more than 40 percent of the nation’s electricity – and 83 percent of Indiana’s power.

Previous federal regulations have already forced 20 percent of coal-plant capacity to soon be retired. These new EPA greenhouse-gas regulations are projected to close even more plants as electricity companies find compliance simply uneconomic.

As the EPA replaces coal with costlier sources, the agency claims the benefits will be worth it. You decide – knowing the impact on global climate change will be immeasurable and certainly unnoticeable, per the testimony of former EPA chiefs. During the next 120 days, it’s going to be absolutely critical for Hoosiers to understand the implications of these proposed standards – which have not been sanctioned by Congress, and are opposed by many on both sides of the aisle.

Unless a more common-sense approach emerges, the EPA’s green agenda will show no concern for what’s in your wallet – or for the future of Indiana.