The BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has awakened many Americans to the dangers of our addiction to oil. The latest polls show that most Americans want to find cleaner and safer ways to power their cars and heat their homes. The good news is that a shift to more fuel efficient cars and trucks will both improve the environment and boost our economy.

Under the new federal greenhouse gas reduction and fuel economy standards that were finalized in Spring, the average fuel economy for passenger cars will increase from 27.5 mpg in 2009 to 37.8 mpg by 2016 – an improvement of almost 40 percent. Building cleaner cars will reduce lifetime greenhouse gas pollution from vehicles produced between 2012 and 2016 by more than 655 million tons. That’s a big step forward.

The shift toward cleaner cars provides an opportunity for new manufacturing centers and product lines in Indiana, as automakers develop more efficient technologies and better pollution controls. In Elkhart, for example, former RV builders will now be manufacturing electric vehicles for Think motors.  Think is planning to produce about 20,000 vehicles annually in Elkhart by 2013.  Likewise, just outside of Indianapolis, EnerDel will soon employ up to 1,400 people manufacturing batteries for electric vehicle.

Indiana’s pool of highly trained autoworkers will be building the cars – and the economy – of the future.  These good manufacturing jobs are “green jobs” for our future.

The new federal technology-forcing and innovation-encouraging standards for the cars of the future are expected to save as much as 11.6 billion gallons of gasoline per year by 2016. That’s equivalent to half the oil that the U.S. imports from Saudi Arabia each year. That reduction in gasoline purchases will save consumers around $35 billion annually at the pump if gas costs $3 per gallon.

The transition to cleaner cars should be accompanied by deploying modern technologies to clean up and diversify our electricity generating sources. Driving an electric car doesn’t help clean up the environment as much if it’s charged by electricity generated by older, highly-polluting coal plants.  We can and should use clean power to charge plug-in hybrids and other electric vehicles.  Let’s build charging stations powered mostly by wind and solar energy

Solar energy is most available on the hot, sunny afternoons when power market prices are highest and the power is needed most. If electric vehicle charging stations are powered by solar, the pollution equation works well. Let’s try to locate charging stations in places where there is good solar access. The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and the Legislature should also adopt robust “net metering” rates and standards for the charging stations to sell valuable solar-generated power back into the grid when it is not fully used for charging cars.

Indiana can and should be a leader in gaining the jobs of the future from building new, cleaner cars that increase our energy independence, reduce pollution and save us money at the pump. Getting cleaner, more efficient cars on the roads is a key step forward for reducing our oil dependence. As the BP oil spill disaster unfortunately reminds us daily, business as usual is not the right path for our economy and environment.  Let’s be smarter and do better.

• Building citizen and local capacity to more effectively participate in the policy process
• Advancing the state’s under-developed “anti-degradation” rules
• Improving, upgrading and adding new use designations and water quality criteria, and
• Implementing and enforcing existing state clean water regulations.

ELPC attorneys are working with our partners at the Hoosier Environmental Council, Save the Dunes, the Sierra Club and other Indiana organizations to develop new “anti-degradation” rules that would correct future problems like the one involving the BP-Whiting refinery that generated so much controversy a few years ago. We also are following issues related to nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the Hoosier State.

Fighting global warming pollution from oil refinery expansion

Eight oil refinery expansions have recently been proposed across the Midwest due in large part to the newly commercially viable tar sands in Alberta, Canada. Alberta tar sands or Canadian crude is sandy, petroleum rich deposits which can be harvested, then transported to oil refineries to be processed and converted into workable fuel for our cars and trucks, among other things. The potential increase in global warming from the oil refinery expansions is huge. One proposed new oil refinery in Hyperion, SD would add 19 million tons of pollutants – the equivalent of 4 to 6 new coal-fired power plants to the state. The proposed expansion by BP in northwest Indiana is reported to increase global warming pollution by 40%.

I-69 boondoggle

The Environmental Law and Policy Center is working with local environmental, farm, business and taxpayers’ organizations to prevent one of the nation’s great boondoggles: the controversial proposed “new terrain” Interstate 69 highway from Indianapolis to Evansville, in Southwestern Indiana. NBC Nightly News called this billion-dollar highway a “Fleecing of America.” We are fighting for a plan to upgrade existing highways would create a travel time between Indianapolis and Evansville only ten minutes longer than the same trip made on the proposed new highway. This alternative, using Interstate 70 and an upgraded US 41, would save $600 million of taxpayers’ money. It would be far less damaging to farmland, to the environment, and to Indianapolis, Bloomington, and other communities.

The decision is a victory for ELPC and the other citizens and environmental groups who petitioned EPA to object to the permit in August 2008 on the grounds that it did not accurately account for the large increases in dangerous air pollution that would be caused by BP’s expansion of the refinery. ELPC filed the petition with a coalition that included Hoosier Environmental Council, Natural Resources Defense Council, Save the Dunes Council, Sierra Club, Susan Eleuterio and Tom Tsourlis.

BP began a major expansion of the Whiting Refinery in 2008 in order to process dirty Canadian tar sands crude oil at the facility. The expansion would make the refinery the largest refiner of tar sands oil in the U.S. and would increase numerous traditional air pollutants like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter. In addition, the expansion would create approximately as much new global warming pollution as a new 300-400 megawatt coal plant, about a forty percent increase from current refinery levels.

“BP needs to come clean about what this expansion really will mean for clean air and public health.” said ELPC Staff Attorney Meleah Geertsma.

Read the Press Release Here

ELPC Executive Director Howard Learner told the Indianapolis Star that the report shows progress, but that moving forward, the city should commit to firm goals for important areas such as reducing waste and improving air quality. “The city needs to step up and lead by example,” Learner said.

Read the article in the Indianapolis Star

ELPC is concerned, in particular, that the proposed rules don’t address nitrogen and phosphorus – pollutants that have created a huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico and could have similar effects on Indiana waters.  As ELPC Senior Attorney Albert Ettinger told the Post Tribune, “I don’t think these rules are acceptable because they’re going to exempt very important pollutants that will have a demonstrable effect on waters in Indiana.”

 Read the full article in the Post Tribune

The state’s current anti-degradation rules could allow BP  or another company to increase the amount of ammonia and silty materials it dumps into the lake without examining cleaner alternatives. ELPC Senior Attorney Albert Ettinger and Staff Attorney Brad Klein told the Indiana press about their concerns that another pollution controversy could emerge if the state doesn’t improve its clean water rules.

Read the full story in the Post-Tribune.

The backdrop to the event was a training class on building insulation, part of the weatherization job training program at the Indianapolis Community Action Association (INCAA). Energy efficiency funding in the federal economic stimulus has grown the training program at INCAA and created opportunities for unemployed workers in Indianapolis.

Read ELPC’s press release.

read the full article here

There is a better alternative that does not raise the numerous concerns about the I-69 highway project. Some of these concerns are that the “new terrain” highway is:

Economically unjustified: There is no current or projected transportation need for this highway. Every $1 spent on the highway would bring only 81 cents in benefits, according to a study by an impartial Indiana University economist. Costs would exceed benefits by $115 million.

Agriculturally destructive: The project would require construction of 141 miles of new highway, most of it through Indiana farmland. The right-of-way alone would destroy over 3,000 acres of farms, devastating farm families’ livelihoods and Southwest Indiana’s rural economy. Thousands more acres of farms would be lost to gas stations, fast food restaurants and other suburban sprawl.

Environmentally harmful: I-69 would destroy over 1,000 acres of forest, roar through a National Wetlands Project, and cut through geologically sensitive “karst” terrain, threatening to pollute underground water systems and harm the rare species that live there.

Fiscally irresponsible: To pay for a new I-69, Governor Frank O’Bannon would have to use up enormous amounts of Indiana’s discretionary highway dollars. Not enough would be left over to maintain roads and fund vital projects elsewhere in the state.

A Better Alternative

A plan to upgrade existing highways would create a travel time between Indianapolis and Evansville only ten minutes longer than the same trip made on the proposed new highway. This alternative, using Interstate 70 and an upgraded US 41, would save $600 million of taxpayers’ money. It would be far less damaging to farmland, to the environment, and to Indianapolis, Bloomington, and other communities.

Growing Opposition to I-69

Momentum against I-69 and in favor of the fiscally and environmentally responsible I-70/ US 41 alternative is growing among an unusual coalition of businesspeople, farmers, conservationists and taxpayers. The Indianapolis Star, Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, Gary Post-Tribune, South Bend Tribune, and Terre Haute Tribune-Star have all editorialized against the proposed new highway and in favor of the I-70/US 41 alternative.

And now Bloomington, the biggest city along the route, has made clear it wants no part of the proposed new I-69. The Bloomington City Council has voted to oppose routing I-69 through Bloomington.

Those who care about Indiana’s agricultural, environmental and economic vitality, about our communities, and about the responsible use of taxpayers’ money should sound their opposition and take action. If they do, the highway can be defeated.

Please visit Commonsense I-69 to learn more.