Ricky Junquera, ricky.junquera@sierraclub.org, 617.599.7048
Evansville, IN -- Earlier today, Vectren customers and community organizations came together to call on Vectren, a CenterPoint Company, to scrap their plans to construct an 850 MW gas plant and go back to the drawing board in their 2019 20-Year Energy Plan (Also known as an Integrated Resource Plan). Attendees argued Vectren should issue an all-source request for proposals (RFP) that allows renewable energy sources like wind, solar, storage and energy efficiency to compete on an equal basis for powering SW Indiana’s energy future.
“I want future generations to have a beautiful planet.” - Sammy Roysdon, Signature School Conservation Club
Fracked gas plants are risky -- Vectren is about to sink hundreds of millions of dollars of customers’ money into a gas plant that will likely be underutilized or not used at all because of how quickly affordable clean energy is coming online. In Northern Indiana the utility, NIPSCO, issued an all-sources RFP and found that renewable energy is more affordable for customers than new investments in gas or continuing to burn coal. NIPSCO instead has committed to three wind farms totaling 800 MW of energy production but will eventually replace 1800 MW of fossil fuels with renewable energy, energy efficiency and storage, while saving their customers $4 billion.
"We believe that humanity is at a crucial crossroads and Evansville‘s part to play in that decision is now. We can passively accept the kind of hellish future that this gas plant represents or we can work together to build a future that will keep our earth healthy and ensure the wellbeing of the human family." - Tom Bogenschutz, Tristate Creation Care
"Any utility plan that fails to consider the impact of global warming and climate change is seriously deficient and not in the public interest." - Tom Ballard, Citizens Climate Lobby
Participating Organizations:
Citizens Climate Lobby, Signature School Conservation Club, League of Women Voters of Southwestern Indiana, Tri-State Creation Care, Ohio River Valley Beyond Coal, Indivisible Evansville, Unitarian Universalist Church of Evansville, USI Veg Club, USI Philosophy Club, Green Team of Bethlehem United Church of Christ
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.