Daniels pitches new power plant for Indiana

EVANSVILLE -- Republican gubernatorial candidate Mitch Daniels proposed building a new power plant, perhaps in the southern part of the state.\nHe said the plant would create jobs and burn coal more cleanly than operations that are decades old.\n"A big part of Indiana's economic comeback will be fueled by home-grown energy," Daniels said at a news conference Monday in Evansville.\nDaniels cited a 2003 report from the State Utility Forecasting Group predicting a rising energy demand in Indiana will require an additional 2,400 megawatts of power capacity by 2008. The demand will rise more than 2 percent per year through 2021.\nBuilding a new plant would take five years, Daniels said.\nDaniels said he did not have a specific location in mind but it would likely be in southwestern Indiana, near a good supply of energy.\nA spokesman for Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan and a local environmental activist criticized Daniels' proposal.\nThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in December declared the southwestern counties of Vanderburgh and Warrick in violation of the latest regulations for ozone pollution.\nJohn Blair of the environmental group Valley Watch said a new plant would do more harm.\nHe said Indiana should not need to make more electricity because 30 percent of all the power it produces is exported.\nBlair added only Texas burns more coal than Indiana.\n"Those three things, to me, indicate that Mitch Daniels doesn't know what he's talking about," Blair said.\nKernan's campaign press secretary Scott Downes said Daniels offered no mechanism to fund the plan.\n"These issues related to energy are certainly things that need attention and consideration into the future, but the way he's laying this out isn't very responsible."\nDaniels' GOP opponent Eric Miller also responded.\n"It is important that Indiana look toward new and cleaner ways to create power," Miller said. "Lessening our dependency on other states' power will enable Indiana to save money and become more energy self-dependent"