06-27-16 Utiliites - Laserfiche WebLink

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Bill No. 16 -57 — Reasonable Transition to Clean Energy Committeemember Oliver Davis, 1801 Nash Street South Bend 46613, spoke as the petitioner of the bill. We have received various resolutions which include one (1) from the Sierra Club which was modified slightly and filed and another later from I &M. Committeemember Oliver Davis invited representatives from I &M to talk about their proposed resolution. Mark Robinson, Community Affairs Manager for Indiana & Michigan Power, thanked everyone for showing up and allowing them to participate in this process. He invited all of the Councilmembers to speak with him regarding local issues they may have. He introduced Matthew Saterwhite. Mr. Saterwhite provided a handout on the energy breakdown from I &M, the handout is on file in the City Clerk's Office. I &M appreciates the interest the City of South Bend has in the interest of diversification of fuel sources that provide energy to the City. I &M is already transitioning its generational fleet towards carbon free sources. They are already 60% carbon free as far as emissions and just recently retired a coal - fueled plant. They proposed an alternative resolution which focuses more on the cooperative nature of what I &M has done and will do with the City of South Bend. Part of the process they go through is the Integrated Resource Plan which is done before the Utilities Commission. The City of South Bend participated in that process and a focus group was held here as well. The resolution they have proposed applauds the significant investments in wind, solar and natural gas and the partnership between the City and I &M. This resolution celebrates that partnership so that we can move forward together and diversify further. Committee Chair Dr. Varner stated he should have said at the beginning that the purpose of this meeting is purely informational and that there is no anticipated action for tonight nor will there be public input. Committeemember Davis stated instead of delaying the process any further they wanted to get the process going by starting to talk about the resolution as filed. In order to present their position on this bill, he invited Jodi Paraz to come and speak to the Committee as well. Jodi Paraz, working with the Sierra Club in the Beyond Coal Campaign as and Indiana representative, thanked the Council for taking on this very important topic. I &M could definitely have a better record on energy efficiency in low- income neighborhoods. We also know their analysis shows phasing out the Rockport Plant would be less costly than I &M's preferred plan going forward. She stated she is here on behalf of some 2,000 I &M customers throughout their territory who have sent petitioners to start that transition of retiring that coal plant. The amended resolution that the company has suggested would not encourage that transition away from coal. It would allow them to keep putting pollution controls on the coal fired power plant at the cost of billions of dollars and would not encourage the kind of energy efficiency investment we all want. She stated she is willing to work on the language and the City is a very important stakeholder in this process as I &M customers. It all comes down to what kind of future we want and if we want our low- income customers to have that clean energy or do we want to continue spending money on an outdated coal fired power plant that is harming people in Southern Indiana. C*