A look at news and events in the Daniels Administration

March 24, 2009– Indiana's leadership in homegrown clean energy production moved another step forward this week when Governor Mitch Daniels signed into law a measure that will bring new generation substitute natural gas technology to the state, provide billions in savings to energy customers and create 1,000 construction and 500 permanent jobs in southern Indiana.

“Edwardsport establishes our unique leadership in producing electricity from clean coal. Rockport will be first in gas from clean coal. In concert, these two facilities will make Indiana the world’s clean coal leader,” said Daniels.

The governor announced in October 2006 that a substitute natural gas company intended to build a facility in southern Indiana that would produce pipeline quality substitute natural gas (SNG). The proposed plant, to be located in Rockport, would:

• Provide $2 billion in private investment to southern Indiana for the plant.
• Create billions in savings for energy customers
• Produce 1,000 construction jobs, 200 full-time jobs at the plant, and hundreds more coal mining and related jobs.
• Operate with 99 percent fewer pollutants than a traditional coal plant. Should national coal policy mandate the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2), the SNG plant is designed to capture 90 percent of its CO2 emissions.

SNG facts

Project History

• For the last three years, Indiana has endeavored to take the lead in advanced coal development. The state already enjoys unique leadership in the generation of electricity using coal at the IGCC Wabash River power plant in Terre Haute and Duke Energy’s construction of an advanced coal power plant in Edwardsport. A SNG plant in Indiana would lead in the modern production of gas from coal. Together this leadership will combine to make Indiana a world leader in preserving coal as a clean, vital portion of meeting energy demand.
• In 2006, Governor Daniels began discussions with a group about constructing a SNG facility in Indiana and to sell its product to Indiana utilities.
• In 2007, the governor supported tax credits for producers of SNG and the legislature passed investment tax credits in House Enrolled Act 1722. 
• When potential accounting problems prevented the state’s utilities from proceeding with binding contracts, the administration proposed a bill to provide the state with the authority to enter into long-term contracts for the purchase of SNG. As an essential step in securing the low-cost energy, economic development and environmental benefits of a SNG plant, Senate Enrolled Act 423 provides an innovative arrangement. No state dollars will be used to construct the plant, which will utilize homegrown energy resources.
• SEA 423 received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate (48-0) and House (90-8). It authorizes the Indiana Finance Authority (IFA), on behalf of the state, to enter into negotiations for 30-year contracts for the purchase and sale of SNG for delivery to Indiana customers. Daniels was joined at the bill signing by Senator Brandt Hershman (R-Monticello), Senator Jim Merritt, (R-Indianapolis), Representative Russ Stilwell (D-Boonville), and Representative Win Moses (D-Fort Wayne).

Facility

• Coal can be refined to produce SNG, essentially the same as the natural gas which is currently used to heat many Hoosier homes.
• Natural gas markets have proven very unstable and are subject to frequent fluctuation. Since Indiana coal prices have proved to be relatively affordable and more stable than natural gas, this technology will provide Hoosier ratepayers a more reliable and consistent costing gas source in the future.
• One plant could produce enough SNG to meet 15 percent to 20 percent of Indiana’s current residential and commercial gas consumption. 
• Savings for Hoosier utility customers could be $3 billion or more based on federal government estimates of future coal and natural gas prices. The project would produce 1,000 construction jobs, 200 full-time jobs, and hundreds more coal mining and related jobs together with the economic stimulus provided by over $2 billion in private investment in southern Indiana.
• SNG is produced with 99 percent fewer emissions than a traditional coal power plant.

Click here to listen to audio from the bill signing.

Governor launches 2009 Bill Watch

March 26, 2009- Legislation approved by the General Assembly has started to arrive in the Governor’s Office for Governor Daniels’ action.  We’ve launched the 2009 Bill Watch on the governor’s website to keep you updated as additional bills are received and/or action is taken by the governor.

2009 Bill Watch: http://www.in.gov/gov/billwatch.htm

March 20, 2009– Governor Mitch Daniels has announced that the state’s plan to use nearly $132 million in federal stimulus funding for energy conservation efforts that are 11 times the current annual program will be submitted to the federal government in the next few days.

“In using federal stimulus dollars, our template is speed, jobs, and lasting value.  In the conservation context, that means helping as many low-income Hoosiers as fast as possible while permanently reducing state energy consumption by the equivalent of one small power plant every 10 years,” said Daniels.

Here are the features of the state’s plan:

Goals

• Maximize energy conservation by lowering energy costs for as many Hoosier homes as possible. Energy savings per household are estimated by the federal government at 30 percent.  (Energy audits of the existing Indiana energy conservation program show savings of around 15 percent for electric and 20 percent for natural gas.)
  • Reaching the governor’s goal of a 20 percent to 30 percent reduction in energy consumed by each home would result in average savings of $15 to $25 per month
• Permanently reduce the state’s energy consumption. Avoid future energy use of 25MW per year, equal to one small power plant every 10 years.

Funding

• Indiana will receive $131.8 million in stimulus funding for energy conservation (weatherization) efforts. When this new effort and existing programs are combined, the state program will be 11 times the total of all current annual weatherization programs, which will continue.
• Funding will come in two increments of 50 percent from the U.S. Department of Energy. The first funding will be available upon approval of the state plan, which will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Energy by April 1, 2009.
• States are required to use the Weatherization Assistance Program funds by September 30, 2010.  With a focus on speed, Indiana will work to complete its conservation activities as soon as possible and well before the federal deadline.

Jobs

• The state’s conservation program will fund at least 2,300 jobs.  
  • 300 energy assessment and inspection workers will be trained, and about 2,000 energy contractors will be needed to complete the energy-savings home work.

Program and participation

• More than 30,000 low-income households will receive assistance. Participation will be from among those who have already qualified for the state’s Energy Assistance Program. This will reduce the opportunity for favoritism or fraud, which is of significant concern to the federal government.
• Participants must be at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level. Priority will be given to elderly and disabled residents and families with children. Eligible households will be notified. 
• Up to $5,000 per household energy conservation expenditure, beginning with an energy audit, and followed by installation of energy savings equipment such as programmable thermostats, LED lighting, insulation, caulking or even new furnaces or hot water heaters.
  • To serve more homes and maximize support of Indiana businesses, a state quantity purchasing plan will be used to purchase materials in bulk using the state’s Buy Indiana initiative, to the extent allowable by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act legislation
• The state will issue a Request for Proposals the week of March 23 for the first 50 percent of the energy conservation funds. Bids will be sought from qualified non-profit entities such as Community Action Programs, Rural Electric Membership Corporations (REMC) and the Indiana Builders Association, to administer the funds and ensure that work is begun quickly and completed as soon as possible.
• Respondents will be required to demonstrate how efficiently the funds will be used and how many Hoosier households will be helped. Contracts will be performance based and respondents will be measured on how much conservation is achieved per dollar spent: the faster and more efficiently work is done and conservation is achieved, the more dollars a contractor will be awarded.

Transparency and oversight

• Oversight, transparency and accountability will be strict. The federal government has targeted this program for audits nationwide based on concerns about fraud and waste.
• Additional controls such as criminal background checks, legal status checks on workers, and quality assurance reviews will be incorporated.

Click here to listen to audio from the media availability.

For updated information regarding Indiana’s use of federal stimulus funds, please visit: INvest.in.gov

Daniels adds President Benjamin Harrison to Hoosier Heritage Portrait Collection

March 20, 2009– A portrait of President Benjamin Harrison is the newest edition to the Hoosier Heritage Portrait Collection that adorns the south wall of the Governor’s Office.

Harrison, of Indianapolis, was a successful lawyer and in his later years argued cases before the Indiana Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court.   He interrupted his law career to join the Civil War and served in the Union Army as a Brevetted Brigadier General.  In 1881 Harrison was elected to the United States Senate by the Indiana General Assembly and in 1888 was elected President.  He remains the only President elected from the State of Indiana. 

The portrait, an oil painting by Kurz & Allison, a Chicago lithograph company, originally belonged to the Harrison family.  It is on loan from the President Benjamin Harrison Foundation and replaces a portrait of Jane Chambers McKinney Graydon.

Click here for a biography of President Harrison and a photo of the portrait.

In January 2006, the governor designated the south wall of the governor’s office as a place for portraits of historically important Hoosiers – a change in the longstanding tradition of hanging portraits solely of former governors.  The portraits, which are loaned to the state, are part of a rotating exhibit that is updated periodically.  Portraits of Mother Theodore Guerin, Harvey Weir Cook and Theodore Clement Steele, are also currently hanging in the Governor’s Office.  For more information about the Hoosier Heritage Portrait Collection, please click here.

Overheard: Governor Daniels in the News

Coal bill is 'win-win-win,' says Hume

Princeton Daily Clarion
March 25, 2009
By: Andrea Howe

Legislation signed Tuesday that creates a supply of synthetic natural gas through Southern Indiana coal gasification is a huge step in clean coal technology, says State Sen. Lindell Hume, D-Princeton.

Hume co-authored the bill signed into law by Gov. Mitch Daniels this week. The law allows the Indiana Finance Authority to act as an intermediary contracting partner between gas utilities and the coal gasification plant near Rockport.

The Rockport plant would be the first modern coal gasification plant of its kind in the nation. Daniels says the plant creates 1,000 construction jobs, 200 full-time jobs at the plant and hundreds more coal mining and related jobs.

The governor’s office reported the gasification lant would operate with 99 percent less pollutants than a traditional coal plant.

Duke Energy’s Edwardsport plant leads the state’s technology in producing clean electricity from coal, said the governor. Edwardsport’s $2.35 billion plant will turn coal into gas and burn it in turbines to produce electricity.

The Rockport plant will be first in gas from clean coal, he said.

“In concert, these two facilities will make Indiana the world’s clean coal leader,” said Daniels.

Hume said the new legislation is “win-win-win” for Indiana. “It’s something that creates and protects jobs, the cost is lower and it reduces the reliance on other sources for energy,” he said.

Hume said the initiative will provide there are ways to convert coal, which is plentiful in Indiana, into a clean energy source. “Those who say there is no such thing as clean coal...it’s purely political propaganda,” he said Wednesday morning.

The Edwardsport plant, Hume said, will more than likely be using coal produced in Gibson County. “It’s definitely a good sign for energy and for our economy.”

The governor said Tuesday that federal agencies predict it will be cheaper in the long-run to make synthetic natural gas from coal because the Indiana market for coal is much more stable than natural gas markets.

Deal leaves state with 1 less worry

The Indianapolis Star
March 22, 2009
By: Dan McFeely

State government is protected from a stumbling economy in at least one way -- the Indiana Toll Road -- thanks to the lease deal that has effectively insulated it from declining traffic and fewer tolls.

The state leased the 157-mile Toll Road to a private consortium for $3.8 billion in 2006 -- money that is nonrefundable no matter how bad the economy gets.

"Although we are concerned, it is not our problem," Leigh Morris, deputy commissioner of the Indiana Department of Transportation, told a highway conference last week. "If we had not leased it, then the problems would belong to the state of Indiana."

Traffic volume is down on the Toll Road, as it is on public interstates, especially among heavy-duty freight trucks.

But with a lease for 75 years, Matt Pierce, communications director for ITR Concession, is confident the economy will bounce back.

"We knew we were going to have peaks and valleys. This is a valley."

ITR runs the Toll Road for its two lessees -- Cintra Equity of Spain, which operates 1,740 miles of roads in Canada, Portugal, Ireland, Chile, Spain, Greece and the U.S.; and MIG Equity of Australia, which has 617 miles of roads in Canada, the U.K., France, Portugal, Germany, Australia and the U.S.

Both companies appear to be navigating the recession, saying they are financially strong and can operate the Northern Indiana freeway. Both have sold off parts of their separate real estate empires to raise cash as bank lending slows throughout the world. So far, there are no concerns that the ailing global economy might spoil Indiana's lease deal.

If the firms did go bankrupt, the state would resume control of the Toll Road and keep all of the $3.8 billion.

Late last year, the average daily traffic numbers showed signs of dropping -- down 16.4 percent in the second half of 2008 when compared to 2007, according to MIG. In December alone, the traffic count went from 31,031 average per day in December 2007 to 28,904 in 2008, an 8 percent drop.

In a quarterly report, Cintra Equity said the drop could be attributed to the winter weather, although the numbers reported also indicate traffic decreases on most of its roadways.

Pierce said the overall decline in numbers also could be the result of a construction project near the I-65 interchange that might have discouraged travelers. That project was part of the $300 million in upgrades completed or under way, most of it being spent on adding lane capacity in Northwest Indiana and modernizing the toll booths so that more electronic tolling can take place.

Called the I-Zoom on the Toll Road, electronic tolling is a major source of optimism for ITR.

The tiny electronic units, which allow cars to avoid having to stop and pay cash, are sold for $50 ($40 of which goes into an account to pay your tolls and $10 of which is held as a refundable deposit) and are compatible with other states' electronic tolling systems.

About 58,000 people have become I-Zoom users, which is about 72 percent of the traffic in Northwest Indiana's stretch and 69 percent the rest of the roadway, according to Pierce.

The old (cash only) toll system handled an average of 125 vehicles per hour. The new $40 million electronic system is handling about 225 vehicles per hour.

Cars with I-Zoom can drive the whole 157 miles for $4.65. Without it, the cost was increased to $8.

Just Horsing Around: First Lady visits county for equestrian lessons

Hendricks County Flyer
March 26, 2009
By: Ryan Palencer

BROWNSBURG — Not every customer at Natural Valley Ranch turns heads, but that’s exactly what happened on Wednesday when Indiana First Lady Cheri Daniels showed up for equestrian lessons.

Marie Damler and her husband Chuck said Daniels did just fine.

And the lesson gave Daniels an opportunity to learn some new feats.

“I’d only been on a horse once before,” she said. “It was kind of a single file trail. It’s something that I have never mastered. It was fun. I was a little nervous and I am not sure about the trotting. It was fun and something that I would like to try again.”

Daniels teams up with the Ed Wank and Dave O’Brien from the Wank and O’Brien Morning Show on 97.1 Hank FM to travel around the state and perform tasks that she had never done before.

“It’s great fun,” Daniels said. “We decided to collaborate on a segment that we do. We thought it would be fun to have listeners call in and give us ideas of what to do. They called us and it sounded like fun. Hopefully, I will be back to do it just on my own.”

Marie Damler said her helper in the barn made the call to the show and was well received after a couple of attempts.

“Our helper made a phone call when she was listening to the Wank and O’Brien Morning Show,” Marie said. “They are promoting the Governor’s wife going somewhere once a month to try something that she has never tried before.”

Daniels said she was pleased with the opportunity to learn about grooming a horse.

“I actually learned a lot,” she said. “I never thought that I would be grooming a horse or using a pick on a horse’s hoof. That was kind of interesting to learn how to go about it.”

However, she credits her partner for her success — not Gov. Mitch Daniels, but rather Joker, the horse she was paired with.

“Of course, Joker was a very good horse,” Daniels said. “I owe my success to him.”

Marie said the event should allow the ranch to get some publicity.

“I think that it’s exciting for us,” she said. “I think that it will get the word out. Wank and O’Brien are going to post it on their website. It should be a four-minute spot.”

The lesson that Daniels took is also available to the public at the ranch.

“What Cheri did today was take a one-hour lesson,” Marie said. “We offer private lessons. We really started with public trail riding. We are open year-round, which is a big draw. We have about 50 acres of trails and about 72 acres all together.”

For three days a week, the ranch offers customers the chance to lease and ride any of their horses. The ranch has 28 horses of all sizes.

“What’s good for us is we are so close to Indianapolis,” Marie said. “So you don’t have to go to Brown County to get the experience.”

The ranch is just off of County Road 350 North in Brownsburg. For more information about Natural Valley Ranch, visit the website at http://www.naturalvalleyranch.com/.