IURC chief and Duke exec were pals, e-mails show

Posted by Laura Arnold  /   November 29, 2010  /   Posted in Uncategorized  /   No Comments

Regulator, utility power player discussed a lot -- including Duke's hiring process

12:35 AM, Nov 28, 2010  |  

// 24Comments

 

Written by
John Russell

James L. Turner, the second-highest-paid executive at Duke Energy Corp., liked keeping in touch with Indiana regulators, even on a long holiday weekend when he was riding in a boat.

On July 2, Turner sent an e-mail to David Lott Hardy, then chairman of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, telling him he was heading out on a channel to Lake Michigan.

"Would the ethics police have a cow if you and the woman came up some weekend?" he wrote.

Hardy wrote back: "Probably -- we might 'be in the area' some afternoon, but I won't be doing this forever."

A few minutes later, he added that driving to the lake would be a fun outing in a high-performance BMW M5. "It would be a nice run in the M5 and a cheaper [Michigan] journey as usually we only go to [Michigan] so the woman can go to Nieman Marcus."

In dozens of e-mails, obtained by The Indianapolis Star under an open records request, the two men schmoozed and joked over all sorts of personal topics, sometimes trading messages eight or 10 times a day. At one point, Hardy offered advice on what kind of BMW Turner should buy. Another time, they talked about Butler University's basketball championship games. Several times, they had frank discussions on private personnel matters involving Duke officials and job candidates.

Taken together, the e-mails paint a picture of a cozy relationship that extended far beyond a professional association between a utility executive and a powerful state regulator.

They also show that the friendly relationship between Duke and Indiana regulators, which resulted in the firing of Duke's Indiana president, Mike Reed, in an ethics scandal earlier this month, extended all the way to Duke's headquarters in North Carolina.

Turner is one of Duke Energy's top executives, responsible for the company's regulated business segment, which is Duke's largest, and for legislative and regulatory strategy and rates. He oversees a vast portfolio, with responsibility for power delivery, gas distribution, customer service and several other functions.

Last year, Turner earned a salary of $650,000, plus stock awards, cash incentives and other compensation worth a total of $4.35 million. That made him second in total compensation only to Chairman and CEO James Rogers, whose package was valued at $6.93 million, according to the company's proxy filing.

That made him far better paid than Hardy, the man he spent hours cajoling by e-mail. Hardy made $109,000 as chairman of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. He was fired in October by Gov. Mitch Daniels in what has become a major ethics scandal for the state, after the IURC's general counsel, Scott Storms, accepted a job to work for Duke as a regulatory lawyer.

Daniels' office said at the time of the firing that an internal review showed Storms continued to preside over Duke Energy matters even as he was discussing taking a job with the company. Hardy, who was Storms' boss, knew of the situation but failed to do anything about it, Daniels said.

The FBI is investigating, according to the IURC, and Daniels has ordered an investigation into all Duke cases that might have been tainted by Storms' activities.

Earlier this month, Duke fired Storms and the president of the company's Indiana division but declined to say why.

Now, with the release of hundreds of new e-mails between the company and the IURC, questions are sure to arise about who else was involved in the deception and what relationship other Duke officials had with the ousted Hardy.

Turner, once Indiana's utility consumer counselor, did not return a call made to his cell phone Friday to discuss his e-mails or his close relationship with Hardy.

A spokeswoman for Duke Energy Indiana released a brief statement: "Our internal investigation is ongoing. We continue to take this issue very seriously."

The e-mails raise questions about whether Turner had special access to Hardy that was unavailable to utility customers, grass-roots groups and everyday citizens in matters of rate increases and electricity regulation.

"It adds up to a picture of a pretty cozy relationship between the regulator and the regulated," said Kerwin Olson, program director at the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, a watchdog group that long has been critical of Duke and the IURC. "There's a lot of schmoozing going on behind the scenes that most people would find distasteful."

Turner's relationship with Hardy appears to have been a deeply close one that gave him freedom to crack jokes that might have earned an ordinary citizen a rebuke from a state regulator.

One day in July, Hardy e-mailed Turner and several other people that he was relaxing by a pool and contemplating breakfast: "There is a blue, cloudless sky, punctuated with the brilliant color explosions of the hot air balloons arcing across my field of vision. In front of me is the reflecting pool bubbling away whilst I drink artisanally roasted coffee and try to decide when I should go in for breakfast. Thoughts appreciated. Oh, do any of you know a good breakfast wine."

Turner replied to Hardy and the group: "Does anyone know if a desire to 'bitch slap a chairman' violates any state's hate crime laws?"

In May, Hardy sent an e-mail to Turner, apparently declining a helicopter ride to an unmentioned place. "My purity cannot allow riding in the helicopter, unless, of course, I have a heart attack and you paint LIFEFLIGHT or some such on the side."

Turner joked back: "We could simply boot you out over Indy so no one would ever know how you got there."

During Butler University's basketball championship games last spring, Hardy wrote that Turner should come to Indiana to see one of the games. Turner, apparently still in North Carolina, agreed. "I know. Although the pressure of watching it on TV almost killed me. Wow. Hope they get a chance to stomp Duke."

Several times, they traded e-mails about getting together for dinner and drinks. One time, they quoted lines from Monty Python comedy skits. Another time, Turner joked that one of Hardy's written orders on a regulatory matter seemed "surprisingly lucid."

And the two frequently discussed Storms and Reed, as those two went through job interviews and were hired away from the IURC by Duke earlier this year. Hardy wanted constant reports on the hiring process.

"How real is the interest in Mike (Reed)," Hardy asked on March 13. "I think it's a marriage made in heaven. Is this decision yours and I don't need to sell Jim [Rogers, CEO of Duke], or is his buy-in pivotal?"

Reed and Hardy were friends, having worked together for several years at the IURC. Reed held the title of executive director for three years before leaving last year to become commissioner of the Indiana Department of Transportation. About a year into that job, he applied for a job as president of Duke's Indiana division, which had opened up.

Turner replied that Rogers had been in China during the past week, "so all he knows is that Mike's name is in the ring."

Turner added, "I'm supposed to talk with him tomorrow morning. At this point, he's probably leaning toward [another candidate], but I may work on that in the morning. I'll try to let you know before he gets out there whether a sell is necessary."

Whether it was proper for Turner to disclose to an outsider the decision-making process behind a high-level executive hiring remains unclear. But some human-relations experts said the whole discussion raises questions.

"This is an ethics question at its core," said Karl Ahlrichs, a human-relations consultant at Gregory & Appel in Indianapolis. "What do Duke's policies and handbooks say about a situation like this? What's appropriate conversation with outside parties? My feeling is that people in leadership posts are supposed to act professionally."

How far the cozy relationships with Duke executives extended into state government is unclear. But the subject of Storms' hiring by Duke was raised with Daniels' chief of staff, Earl Goode, nearly two months before Storms left the IURC.

The Star reported last week that Reed was concerned by comments Goode made to him about Storms during a golf game Aug. 1.

According to e-mails, Reed told Hardy he had run into Goode, who said he would be surprised if the state's ethics panel cleared Storms, because of his role in presiding over Duke's $2.9 billion coal-gasification plant in Edwardsport.

Goode said last week that his comments to Reed meant only that Storms would have to go before the state ethics panel, as would any state administrator considering a private sector job offer. He said he had no opinion on Storms at that time. Only later would Daniels' office issue findings that Storms had a conflict of interest.

Asked why he was golfing with Reed, Goode said they were playing together in an event for GTE workers. He and Reed previously worked for GTE.

Reed apparently was worried about Storms' possible difficulties with the ethics commission. Later that same day, he sent Hardy an e-mail suggesting a way to address those difficulties. He urged Hardy to have the IURC's ethics officer, Loraine Seyfried, "clearly spell out how [Storms] would be walled off from Edwardsport, and therefore meet the test."

A few weeks later, Seyfried sent a three-page memo to Storms, stating her opinion that his prospective employment with Duke would not violate the state ethics code. Storms presented that opinion to the ethics panel Sept. 9, when he asked for approval to take the Duke job. The ethics panel gave him the green light in a ruling that largely mirrored Seyfried's memo.

Storms and Hardy later joked by e-mail that they were impressed that no one laughed during the ethics hearing. Later, after Storms went to work for Duke, Hardy offered his old job as administrative law judge to Seyfried, presiding over Duke's Edwardsport project.

Daniels' office later found Storms had not walled himself off from Duke cases while discussing career options there.

E-mails between Duke and the IURC in recent months span hundreds of pages, many of them between Hardy and Turner.

In February, Turner asked Hardy to breakfast. The two had to juggle schedules to set a date. Hardy wrote: "Don't tell the utilities I'm being accommodating -- bad for my reputation."

"Don't worry," Turner wrote back. "Your reputation in this regard is unalterable."

Call Star reporter John Russell at (317) 444-6283.

NWI’s healthy future relies on economic development

Posted by Laura Arnold  /   November 24, 2010  /   Posted in Feed-in Tariffs (FiT)  /   No Comments

Original article: http://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/article_8510e12f-6056-5c34-ac6c-3cdd66b2ddb6.html
 
By Jeremy Gantz BusINess Contributor | Posted: Monday, November 22, 2010 12:00 am

"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes," Benjamin Franklin quipped at the end of the 18th century. But indefinite population growth and finite fossil fuel supplies point to a 21st-century certainty that business owners are especially aware of: rising energy prices.

Today, as gas prices creep back up after their rapid fall from historic highs in 2008, all kinds of Northwest Indiana enterprises are paying closer attention to their electricity, gas and oil bills, hunting for ways to cut fixed costs by using energy more efficiently. Increasingly, conserving energy is an economic (rather than just an environmental) decision.

"The reality is our demand for energy is going up continually," says Robert Kramer, director of Purdue University Calumet's Energy Efficiency and Reliability Center. That means it's crucial that businesses use all types of energy as efficiently as possible. "We'll have to optimize all the energy resources we have in the future. It's a problem the whole world is having right now, not just the United States."

Figuring out how to get to that more efficient future can be difficult for many small businesses in Northwest Indiana, Kramer notes, because they're struggling with more immediate problems. "A lot of businesses are focusing on their major activity, producing their product or whatever it is they do," he explains. "Sometime it's difficult to focus on optimizing energy."

But such focus usually yields significant payoffs. Most businesses can cut their energy costs by 15 to 20 percent without having to make major capital expenditures, Kramer says. He speaks from experience: Every year a handful of NWI businesses hire Kramer and a team of his students at the Energy Efficiency and Reliability Center to conduct "commercial energy audits." Each audit, which takes about a month, examines a business' consumption habits and how efficiently company machinery is operating. Even basic things like what time of day energy is used can directly impact cost, he says.

Asked whether most businesses in the region are aware of how cheap and achievable energy cost savings are, Kramer is blunt: "Probably not." But he has seen an uptick in businesses interested in energy audits. "It's not huge, but we're seeing an increase. I think it will tie directly into energy pricing and what's going to happen to manufacturing," he says. As factories ramp up production after the long recession, there'll be more pressure to re-examine energy utilization.

How to generate and sell your own power
In recent years the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), which distributes electricity and natural gas throughout the region, has re-examined and diversified its energy supply sources. At the start of 2007, nearly 100 percent of the utility's power came from coal-fired plants. Three years later, after NIPSCO purchased a natural gas-fired plant and invested in 100 megawatts of South Dakota wind power, coal accounts for about 75 percent. (But it's not NIPSCO's first foray into renewable energy; it has drawn hydroelectric power from two plants it owns in northern Indiana since 1944.) "We'll continue to review proposals and ideas for existing and future renewable projects," says Nick Meyer, NIPSCO communications manager.

It's not surprising that an energy utility would be ready to embrace the alternative energy future; by diversifying its energy sources, NIPSCO protects itself (and its customers) from price spikes and outages. But what is surprising are the company's moves to allow its customers—including commercial and industrial businesses—to generate their own power.

Early next year, the company plans to launch a "feed-in tariff" pilot program, which would encourage development of new alternative power generation by allowing customers generating power from hydro, wind or solar sources to sell it to NIPSCO at above-market prices. Since 2005, NIPSCO's "net metering" program has allowed customers to receive credits for generating their own power.

"We went from about five customers in 2008 to well over 30 customers in 2009," Meyer says. "The net metering program really allows customers to generate power for their own needs, to offset their own energy bills. What we wanted to do was make that more widely available and expand the limit of facility sizes that people could install."

Under the feed-in tariff program (which is pending Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approval), all classes of NIPSCO customers will have a new incentive to begin harvesting the sun and wind. "There's a growing interest among our customers and key stakeholders to offer these types of programs," Meyer says. "Energy wasn't necessarily top-of-mind like it is today for many companies." If they're able to invest in new equipment, they'll be able to assert some control over their operation's energy costs in the long run.

Renewable economic development
But alternative energy production in Northwest Indiana is about much more than helping existing businesses. The expansion of NIPSCO's customer energy generation programs could also spur new development. In the town of Schneider, a large-scale solar project is interested in the feed-in tariff program, Meyer says. "They're able to connect to our grid to put [the energy] on the open market. In a sense, they're an independent generator... These programs help provide a foundation for creating local jobs and investing in the local economy."

The manufacturing of renewable energy technologies could be big business for Northwest Indiana. An analysis from the Washington D.C.-based Renewable Energy Policy Project placed Indiana among the top 10 states for renewable energy investment and job-creation potential. The state ranks sixth in terms of the number of people working at companies that have the technical potential to manufacture wind turbine components, The Times reported in July.

"If wind turbine production were something that the region decided to move in, then you would have growth in that sector," says Dr. Ellen Szarleta-Yancy, an assistant professor at Indiana University Northwest's School of Public and Environmental Affairs who teaches courses on sustainable development and environmental law. Noting Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman's interest in building turbines on Lake Michigan's Indiana shoreline, Szarleta-Yancy says: "If that were the case, then you'd actually have jobs associated with the operation of wind turbines."

But there's another option beyond wind and solar power that both she and Kramer point to as holding out great potential: biomass fuel systems, which convert food, animal and human waste material into hydrogen, among other things. This is an attractive possibility for Indiana because biomass energy systems could utilize the state's agricultural waste. But there are drawbacks, Szarleta-Yancy says: the technology is not fully developed for all industries and where it is, "it can be quite expensive" to take advantage of. And some biomass facilities in the country have had to shut down for lack of demand.

This points to another obstacle to the adoption of renewable energy generation: "There's front-end investment that needs to be made in terms of educating the public," Szarleta-Yancy says. Public officials and educators need to do a better job of making renewable energy possibilities—or even smaller-scale efficiencies through existing equipment and facilities—visible and better understood.

Like Kramer, she doesn't think small business owners and operators are very aware of how they could be making smarter energy decisions. "They haven't been given the information to make the best decisions," Szarleta-Yancy says. But she praised NIPSCO for expanding its programs helping customers save, or even generate, energy, calling it "socially responsible for saying this is something that you can do."

The innovation middle ground
While Indiana may have installed the second-highest number of turbines among all states last year (Texas was number one, according to Renewable Energy World), alternative-sourced electricity is clearly not dominating Hoosier state power lines. Coal remains the cheapest way to generate electricity here, as elsewhere in the country. But there's a middle ground—between the status quo and widespread wind turbines, solar panels and biomass facilities—that some of Northwest Indiana's largest companies have been pursuing for years, says Kay Nelson, director of environmental affairs at the Northwest Indiana Forum.

"Many of our companies are looking at alternative fuels within their internal fleets," Nelson says. In 2007, U.S. Steel's Gary Works switched much of its fleet—including loaders, dump trucks, flatbeds and Bobcats—to biodiesel, significantly cutting emissions at the large site. "This has a direct benefit with regard to air quality. It's an energy conservation method," she says.

Other steel industry improvements include purchasing locomotives outfitted with highly efficient engines (which avoid wasteful idling by entering "shut-down" mode) and ArcelorMittal's $63 million blast furnace gas flare capture project at Indiana Harbor in East Chicago, which began in late October. By installing an efficient recovery boiler at the site, the project will save energy equivalent to that needed to power 30,000 households for a year. (Half of the project's price tag was paid for by federal stimulus dollars.)

"Most of these projects have been driven not by the [recession], but by existing environmental stewardship guidelines," says Nelson, calling them "exciting" energy improvements that deserve more recognition.

It's true: When most people think of energy innovation, they think of turbines and photovoltaic cells, not steel yard trucks running on biodiesel and successfully "audited" commercial business buildings. But as demand keeps rising, incremental improvements will likely be just as important for saving and producing energy as any paradigm shifts.

"The entire picture in the future will be a blend of all the energy options we have available," says Kramer of Purdue University Calumet.

In other words, the energy sources that power our future—and perhaps Northwest Indiana's economy—will be more familiar, but also more varied, than most people expect.

Few industry executives on list to join IURC; Many government officials vying for spot on utility commission

Posted by Laura Arnold  /   November 21, 2010  /   Posted in Uncategorized  /   1 Comments
Original article: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=201011200335
8:05 AM, Nov 20, 2010
Written by John Russell and Ted Evanoff

In the aftermath of an ethics scandal, the state commission that approves the utility rates paid by millions of Hoosiers will get a new member.

Twelve candidates -- including the chairman of the State Parole Board, the top lawyer at the State Lottery Commission and the top lawyer at the state Natural Resources Department -- have applied for what has become a bit of a hot seat.

Gov. Mitch Daniels' appointment to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission is sure to invite plenty of scrutiny.

The commission is still reeling from the ethics scandal, which came to light in September when the governor fired its chairman, David Lott Hardy, and ordered a review of dozens of decisions involving one of the state's largest utilities, Duke Energy.

At the heart of the controversy was the practice of state regulators going to work for the companies they regulate, sometimes known as the "revolving door" between government and industry.

The current crop of candidates for the open seat on the five-member commission is heavy with government officials and light on industry executives. Daniels will choose from among three finalists selected by a nominating committee and appoint that person to a four-year term.

Indiana is one of only a few states in which utility regulators are not elected by voters or appointed by a legislative body.

Commissioners are responsible for about $14 billion a year in utility rates paid by Indiana consumers. The commission makes decisions on a wide raft of projects, including new power plants, rate increases, financing, bonding, environmental compliance plans and service territories. It oversees electric, gas, steam, water and sewer utilities, as well as portions of the telecommunications and cable industries.

Current commissioners who have served several terms earn an annual salary of about $104,000.

Among the people who have submitted applications are Gregory Server, chairman of the Indiana State Parole Board, who served on the utility commission from 2005 to 2009; Kari Evans Bennett, chief legal counsel for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and former environmental policy director to Daniels; and Andrew Klinger, general counsel of the Indiana State Lottery Commission.

Server said his previous experience on the IURC would allow him to jump right into the job of regulating more than 300 utility companies without a long learning curve.

"There would be no training period for me," he said. "I could hit the ground running and relieve some of the workload for the other commissioners."

Other government workers include James Huston, district director for U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer; Michael Gallagher, the IURC's chief accountant; and Peter Bisbecos, former director of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration's Division of Disability and Rehabilitative Services.

The opening also has attracted some industry officials, which could raise the "revolving door" issue among some critics. The most prominent industry official is Buz Nesbit, who took a buyout in March as Indiana division president of Bright House Networks, an Indiana cable company.

Nesbit brushed aside concerns that he shouldn't apply for a seat on the commission because he previously worked for a company regulated by it.

"I believe the IURC deserves to have competent and knowledgeable commissioners," he said. "It is important that the commission understand the businesses they regulate."

Commissioners are not required to have any technical skills. Many have been utility lobbyists, lawyers and executives.

"The role has been pretty much dominated by lawyers," John Mutz, the retired Public Service Indiana president and former lieutenant governor, said of the commissioners. "But this is a very complex business. It is getting more complex as we handle questions about alternative energy sources. You don't need everybody on the commission to have a large degree of technical knowledge, but they shouldn't all be lawyers."

William Stephan, a vice president at Indiana University who is chairman of the nominating committee, said he hopes to present a list of finalists to Daniels by late December so the appointee could take office in January. He declined to say what skills or experience the committee planned to consider. But he said the discussion would be open to the public.

Controversial selection

Five years ago, consumer groups howled when Daniels, in his first year as Republican governor, chose Hardy as IURC chairman. Hardy, a Fort Wayne lawyer, once was an attorney for Public Service Indiana, a company later owned by Duke Energy.

Hardy found himself at the center of controversy a few months ago over the "revolving door" issue. The commission's top lawyer, Scott Storms, resigned to take a job with Duke, but a state investigation later revealed that Storms had failed to remove himself from IURC regulatory matters involving the company while he was talking to the utility about working there. Daniels fired Hardy, saying he was aware of the situation but took no action.

Duke, based in Charlotte, N.C., later fired Storms and the top executive in Indiana who hired him, Michael Reed.

At the IURC, Hardy had overseen Duke's planning for a coal gasification plant in Edwardsport, and Storms had served as an administrative judge who presided over much of the evidence gathered on the project for the commission. The plant, now priced at $2.9 billion, is designed to turn high-sulfur Indiana coal into a gas-producing steam for the turbines generating electric power. The plant has come under fire for cost overruns and raised a debate about whether it is even needed.

Ties that bind

Three of the four remaining commissioners have direct or indirect ties to industry:

James D. Atterholt, a commissioner since 2009 who succeeded Hardy as chairman in September, formerly worked as a lobbyist for AT&T Indiana, which is regulated by the IURC. He has a long political resume, having served as Indiana state insurance commissioner; a special assistant for U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind.; and an Indiana state representative seated on the committee overseeing utility legislation.

Larry S. Landis, a commissioner since 2002, once worked at the former marketing firm of Handley & Miller, whose clients included AT&T Indiana. He also had worked as a campaign aide in Richard Lugar's first Indianapolis mayoral race, and later as a vice president for advertising at American Fletcher Corp., now part of JP Morgan Chase.

Carolene R. Mays, a commissioner since February, comes from a family with utility ties. Her father, the late Theodore Clarence Mays Jr., served on the board of directors at Vectren, an Evansville gas and electric utility. Her uncle is a principal in BMHH Energy Services, which was awarded a recent bid by the Indianapolis International Airport board to build and run an airport electric plant. BMHH includes Citizens Energy Services, a subsidiary of Indianapolis-based Citizens Gas & Coke, a utility regulated by the IURC. Mays was previously the publisher and president of the Indianapolis Recorder newspaper and the Indiana Minority Business magazine.

David E. Ziegner, a commissioner since 1990, has made the IURC a career. He previously served as a staff attorney for the Legislative Services Agency and was general counsel for the IURC.

At a glance: The candidates

Here are the 12 people who have applied for the open seat on the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.
 

Kari Evans Bennett: Chief legal counsel, Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Peter Bisbecos: Former director, Division of Disability and Rehabilitative Services, Indiana Family and Social Services Administration.
Dwight Coats: Retired small-business owner.
Michael Gallagher: Chief accountant, Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.
James Huston: District director for U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer.
Walter Jessen: Retired senior manager, Northern Indiana Public Service Co.
Andrew Klinger: General counsel, Indiana State Lottery Commission.
Robert Marischen: Attorney and compliance adviser, BP North America.
Buz Nesbit: Took a buyout in March as Indiana division president, Bright House Networks.
Gregory Server: Chairman, Indiana State Parole Board.
James Wallace: TWG Capital.
David Yount: Self-employed investment manager.

Source: IURC nominating committee

Indiana House Speaker Bosma Announces Committee Chairs; Rep. Jack Lutz (R-Anderson) to Chair House Utilities and Energy

Posted by Laura Arnold  /   November 19, 2010  /   Posted in 2011 Indiana General Assembly, Uncategorized  /   No Comments

Original article: http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?id=44801

November 18, 2010

News Release

STATEHOUSE— House Republican Speaker Brian C. Bosma (R-Indianapolis) has announced committee chairmen and leadership positions for the Indiana House Republican caucus. Committee chairmen and caucus leaders are selected biennially by the majority party after each election year.

“I am confident in the abilities of each of these leaders and I know that they are each eager to begin their committee work and their leadership roles within our caucus,” said Speaker Bosma. “As I said on Organization Day, we need to reestablish the committee as the workhorse of the institution, and these committee chairs have pledged to do just that. I also look forward to watching each of our caucus leaders take an active role in the leadership of our state.”

Standing committees are an integral part of the legislative process. Committees with specific expertise receive public testimony and work out the details of proposed legislation before it is heard on the House floor.

As promised on Organization Day by Speaker Bosma, a new era of bipartisan cooperation is being ushered in with the appointment of minority party members to committee chairmanships for the first time in state history.

"I am serious about establishing a new era of bipartisan cooperation in state government, and I intend to do more than pay it lip service. I hope this extension of leadership positions to the minority party serves as an example of cooperation to other states and to our leaders in Washington D.C.” said Rep. Bosma. “Hoosiers expect us to work together, and I am going to assure that we will.”

Standing Committee
Chairman

Agriculture & Rural Development
Rep. Don Lehe (R-Brookston)

Commerce, Small Business and Economic Development
Rep. Steve Stemler (D-Jeffersonville)

Courts & Criminal Code
Rep. Greg Steuerwald (R-Danville)

Education
Rep. Bob Behning (R-Indianapolis)

Elections & Apportionment
Rep. Eric Koch (R-Bedford)

Employment, Labor & Pensions
Rep. Doug Gutwein (R-Francesville)

Environmental Affairs
Rep. Dave Wolkins (R-Winona Lake)

Family, Children & Human Affairs
Rep. Cindy Noe (R-Indianapolis)

Financial Institutions
Rep. Woody Burton (R-Whiteland)

Government & Regulatory Reform
Rep. Phil Hinkle (R-Indianapolis)

Insurance
Rep. Matt Lehman (R-Berne)

Interstate & International Cooperation
Rep. Tom Knollman (R-Liberty)

Judiciary
Rep. Ralph Foley (R-Martinsville)

Local Government
Rep. Tim Neese (R-Elkhart)

Natural Resources
Rep. Sean Eberhart (R-Shelbyville)

Public Health
Rep. Tim Brown (R-Crawfordsville)

Public Policy
Rep. Bill Davis (R-Portland)

Roads & Transportation
Rep. Ed Soliday (R-Valparaiso)

Rules & Legislative Procedures
Rep. Jerry Torr (R-Carmel)

Select Committee on Government Reduction
Rep. Chet Dobis (D-Merrillville)

Utilities & Energy
Rep. Jack Lutz (R-Anderson)

Veterans Affairs & Public Safety
Rep. Bruce Borders (R-Jasonville)

Ways & Means
Rep. Jeff Espich (R-Uniondale)

Statutory Committee
Chairman

Ethics Committee
Rep. Tim Brown (R-Crawfordsville)

Leadership Role
Member

Speaker of the House
Rep. Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis)

Majority Floor Leader
Rep. Bill Friend (R-Macy)

Majority Caucus Chair
Rep. Kathy Kreag Richardson (R-Noblesville)

Speaker Pro Tempore
Rep. Eric Turner (R-Cicero)

Deputy Speaker Pro Tempore
Rep. Tim Brown (R-Crawfordsville)

Majority Whip
Rep. David Frizzell (R-Indianapolis)

Assistant Majority Floor Leader
Rep. Tom Dermody (R-LaPorte)

Assistant Majority Floor Leader
Rep. Jerry Torr (R-Carmel)

Assistant Majority Caucus Chair
Rep. Tom Saunders (R-Lewisville)

Assistant Majority Caucus Chair
Rep. Eric Koch (R-Bedford)

Assistant Majority Whip
Rep. Mark Messmer (R-Jasper)

Assistant Majority Whip
Rep. Ed Soliday (R-Valparaiso)

Source: Indiana House Republican Caucus

Editor's Note: If you are interested in a little more background, please read the following story from the Indianapolis Star following Organizational Day on Tuesday, November 16th.

House leader makes offer of bipartisanship; Bosma names 2 Democrats as panel chairs

1:07 AM, Nov 17, 2010  Written by Mary Beth Schneider

Even as they celebrated their new dominance of the Indiana General Assembly, Republicans gave away a small piece of their power Tuesday, as the new House Speaker Brian Bosma said he's naming two Democrats to head committees.

Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said it was a first in Indiana, where the election victors usually get to claim all the spoils.

It's not, though, unprecedented nationwide. Karl Kurtz, a spokesman for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said at least two other states -- Texas and Louisiana -- have minority party members heading committees. It used to be more common, he said, "but as legislatures have become more partisan, it's not in as much practice as it used to be."

On a mostly ceremonial day, where the chambers were jammed with beaming family members snapping pictures as newly elected members took the oath of office, Bosma's announcement gave some of the spotlight to the outnumbered Democrats.

Bosma credited the Nov. 2 election -- a GOP landslide that gave them control of the Indiana House and padded their majority in the Indiana Senate. That, he said, was a message from the public to lawmakers: "You've got to do it better. You have to end the partisan bickering. You have to end the overreaching and work together."

That, he told the House, is why he's asked Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, to head a new committee that will look for ways to cut government regulations, boards and commissions, and asked Rep. Steve Stemler, D-Jeffersonville, to head the commerce, small business and economic development committee. As committee chairmen, they will have the power to decide which bills to consider and which to kill -- though Bosma, as speaker, can always move a bill to a more friendly committee chairman if he wants to ensure its survival.

"Kumbaya, right?" Senate President Pro Tempore David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said of the move. He called it "inspired," but with 33 Senate Republicans all wanting their own spheres of power, he wasn't going to give any chairmanships to the 17 Democrats.

House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer, the South Bend Democrat who lost the speaker's job to Bosma, wasn't joining in the love fest.

If this was an olive branch, Bauer said, it came with thorns. Bosma's announcement, he said, broke his commitment that he'd allow Bauer to make Democratic committee appointments.

It ought to bug Republicans, too, Bauer said, that Bosma apparently didn't think any of them were up to the job of handling economic development.

He figured Bosma was rewarding Dobis, who lost his leadership post last session when he broke ranks to give Republicans the vote they needed to pass a public-private partnership transportation bill.

And he speculated that one reason for the move is to give a bipartisan polish on what could be tough government-cutting decisions in that committee.

Dobis, not surprisingly, said Bosma had made a smart move.

"We've got to have an attitude change in this chamber. Everybody's called for bipartisanship over the years. Nobody's really been sincere about it," he said.

Lawmakers will return to the Statehouse on Jan. 5 to begin what will be a grueling session of trying to make ends meet in a new state budget without raising taxes; fixing a bankrupt unemployment benefits fund; and drawing new legislative maps for the House, Senate and Congress.

Gov. Mitch Daniels -- who today completes a trade mission to Asia -- has his own agenda, including education reforms and local government reforms.

And citizens already were pushing for their own wish-lists. Tuesday, dozens of high school students filled the third-floor hallways outside and cornered any legislator they could find to push for legislation to ban motorists from texting while driving.

They didn't even have to talk to deliver their message, as each wore blue T-shirts that read "Txtng klls" and "X the TXT."

It's already against the law for teenagers to do so, and ought to be barred for all motorists, said Bethany Alkire, a 17-year-old Eastern Hancock High School senior.

Also standing out in Tuesday's crowded hallways: Roger Madden, a 54-year-old Evansville man who came dressed as Paul Revere. He's a tea party activist who had worked to elect Republican Jim Tomes of Blairsville to the state Senate, and had come to witness him taking office.

While Madden and others were celebrating a new GOP ascendancy Tuesday, Democrats found the day's dismal weather more suited to their mood.

Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, told a reporter that any news article about the day's events should begin: "It was a cold, gray, dreary day."

Call Star reporter Mary Beth Schneider at (317) 444-2772

Abound Solar sale pushed back; Project on a Yo-yo string?

Posted by Laura Arnold  /   November 19, 2010  /   Posted in Uncategorized  /   2 Comments

The sale of an empty plant in Tipton to a solar panel manufacturer has been delayed. The Kokomo Tribune is reporting Abound Solar Inc. is waiting for the federal government to wrap up some paperwork before the deal can go through. The company says it still plans to close on the purchase of the former Getrag plant by the end of the year. Read More Energy Systems Network Chief Executive Officer Paul Mitchell discussed Abound Solar's plans, and what they mean for the state's clean tech sector earlier this year in a Studio(i) interview with Gerry Dick.

Watch Studio(i)

Kokomo Tribune; Kokomo, Indiana

November 16, 2010

Abound Solar sale pushed back

Incoming solar panel manufacturer waiting on federal funding

By Daniel Human
Tribune business writer

Tipton — The sale of the future Abound Solar Inc. plant in Tipton has moved back a month after it was originally supposed to close Tuesday.

But company and Tipton County officials assured Tuesday that the sale of the former Getrag-Chrysler plant would happen this year.

Mark Chen, marketing director for Abound, said the solar panel manufacturer is waiting on the federal government to finish some “paperwork and bureaucracy” before the Colorado-based company receives the loan it needs to move to Indiana.

The sale is tentatively set to close by Dec. 16, but it could happen sooner, said Tipton County Commissioner Jane Harper.

Chen said the delay should not affect the company’s timeline for beginning operations in Tipton.

Abound could start hiring locally for the expected 850 jobs in late 2011, at the earliest. Abound expects to reach substantial production in 2013, he said.

W.W. Reynolds Companies Inc., a real estate developer and property manager in Boulder, Co., plans to buy the approximately 800,000-square-foot building at the corner of U.S. 31 and Ind. 28, Chen said.

Abound plans to enter into a long-term lease with W.W. Reynolds, which is who the solar panel company rents its manufacturing plant from in Longmont, Co.

President Barack Obama announced in July the U.S. Department of Energy would award Abound a $400 million loan guarantee.

The loan requires Abound to first use $50 million to add a second manufacturing line in Longmont, then a third for another $50 million.

The company will use the remaining $300 million to begin eight lines in Tipton.

The majority of the loan will go toward machinery and other capital investments, Chen said.

Harper said the Department of Energy and other federal agencies involved with the loan know that the building’s sale needs to happen this year. The trust of contractors that owns the Tipton factory will dissolve at the end of 2010.

“These federal agencies are very well aware that it has to be done by the end of the year because of the stipulations,” Harper said. “They’ve given the company and county assurance that it will close.”

Along with the $400 million loan, she noted, Tipton County has also invested $13 million in bonds for the property that helped the owners reduce the selling cost, which is in the $40-million range.

“If this doesn’t happen,” Harper said, “then they are well aware that a lot of entities would lose on this.”

The company after the July announcement originally was quiet about when it would close on the former transmission plant. But in September, Abound said an increasing demand for its products led it to speed up its expansion so it could keep up with orders.

The building has sat empty at the northeast corner of U.S. 31 and Ind. 28 since 2008 when Getrag and Chrysler filed for bankruptcy. Both companies backed out of the nearly complete construction of a transmission plant, leaving unpaid contractor bills. A federal court last year turned over ownership to a trust of the contractors.

• Daniel Human is the Kokomo Tribune business reporter. He can be reached at 765-454-8570  or at daniel.human@kokomotribune.com .

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Kokomo Tribune; Kokomo, Indiana

September 23, 2010

Abound bumping up move to Tipton

Company will close on former Getrag plant in mid-November

By KEN de la BASTIDE and DANIEL HUMAN
Tribune staff writers

TIPTON — The Colorado solar panel manufacturer planning to move into the never-used transmission plant in Tipton County could come to Indiana about two years sooner than originally expected, company and county officials said Wednesday.

Abound Solar Inc. plans to close Nov. 16 on its purchase of the former Getrag Transmission LLC plant at the corner of U.S. 31 and Ind. 28, said company spokesman Mark Chen.

The company originally planned to have created 850 jobs by 2013, but hiring could now begin as soon as late 2011, Chen said.

The solar panel manufacturer is moving forward with its plans more quickly to keep up with the increasing number of orders it is receiving, Chen said.

Abound hasn’t finished mapping out how many of the 850 jobs it would initially create or when operations would begin in Tipton, he said.

President Barack Obama announced in July that Abound Solar would receive a $400 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand its operations in Colorado, then purchase the never-used, approximately 800,000-square-foot factory.

The company had one manufacturing line in place before the loan at its plant in Longmont, Colo.

The Department of Energy will give Abound $50 million to put in a second line and another $50 million for a third in Longmont. The company will then receive $300 million to install eight lines in Tipton.

Tipton County Commissioner Jane Harper said Abound exercised its option to purchase the building from a trust established in 2009 by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Michigan after Getrag filed for bankruptcy protection.

The company has entered into a binding agreement with the trust, Harper said.

Abound is purchasing the building from the trust for $25 million with Tipton County providing $13 million through Tax Increment Financing to lower the purchase price, she said.

The proceeds of the sale will go to contractors who were not paid for work done when Getrag filed for bankruptcy.

“This is the best deal for Tipton County,” Harper said of Abound purchasing the facility. “It fits best with the community and our green technology.

“With our predominant agricultural base, the establishment of Abound Solar at the crossroads of our community and three wind-energy companies with plans to place wind farms in our county, we can create a unique marketing opportunity in selling Tipton County and its products as the ‘green’ capital,” she said.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered Abound Solar Inc. up to $11.85 million in performance-based tax credits and $250,000 in training grants based on the company's job creation plans. The IEDC will also provide work force and ombudsperson assistance.

Tipton County has approved additional incentives, including tax abatements for the company along with TIF money to the trust that owns the building.

The Getrag plant was being constructed as a joint venture between Chrysler and Germany-based Getrag. The plant was expected to provide more than 1,000 jobs. But soon before construction ended in 2008, Chrysler pulled out of the agreement and filed a lawsuit against Getrag. Getrag then filed for bankruptcy and backed out of the project, leaving the plant empty since.

• Ken de la Bastide is the Kokomo Tribune enterprise editor. He can be reached at 765-454-8580 or at ken.delabastide@kokomotribune.com .  Daniel Human is the Kokomo Tribune business reporter. He can be reached at 765-454-8570 or at daniel.human@kokomotribune.com .

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