Ricky Junquera: ricky.junquera@sierraclub.org, 617.599.7048
FORT WAYNE, IN – The Sierra Club launched an advertising campaign this week questioning Indiana Michigan Power’s request to spend $274 million on the AEP-Rockport coal-burning power plant. I&M’s request is pending before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) and a public hearing is scheduled in Fort Wayne on Feb. 21.
I&M customers can visit RockportRipoff.com to learn more about I&M and the wealthy corporate owners of AEP-Rockport, and join the grassroots campaign to move Indiana beyond coal to clean energy. Customers can leave comments at the website to be forwarded to the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor.
The radio and online ad campaign-running in Fort Wayne, Muncie, and South Bend, which represents a five-figure investment, is not the first paid media effort by the Sierra Club in I&M territory. Last year, Sierra Club launched billboard ads questioning I&M’s continued investment in the plant, which is one of 22 “Super Polluters” in the nation, according to the Center for Public Integrity.
The IURC has scheduled two public hearings in the case:
Feb. 2 6-9 pm South Spencer High School
1142 N. County Rd. 275 W
Rockport, IN 47635
Feb. 21 6-9 pm Homestead High School (Community Room)
4310 Homestead Rd.
Fort Wayne, IN 46814
The full audio of the radio ad can be found here.
“I&M’s request is only the beginning,” said Steve Francis of South Bend, an I&M customer and member of Sierra Club’s Hoosier Chapter executive committee. “By 2028, the AEP-Rockport plant is facing $3 billion in additional pollution control costs, unless the plant stops burning coal. Customers also will continue seeing millions of dollars go out of their communities to buy coal from distant states -- mostly from Wyoming. I&M must commit now to growing clean, renewable energy in our communities that will generate local jobs and local investments.”
The AEP-Rockport power plant provides electricity to Fort Wayne, South Bend, Elkhart, Muncie and other cities. In 2014, it was the nation's sixth largest greenhouse gas polluter and Indiana's second most toxic power plant. Rockport 2, one of two units at the plant, is owned by five wealthy out-of-state corporations and big banks: General Electric, Verizon, JP Morgan, Citigroup and tobacco giant Philip Morris. I&M operates Unit 2 under a lease that expires in December 2022.
RADIO AD SCRIPT
WIFE: You seem upset. What are you reading?
HUSBAND: [newspaper shuffling sound] AEP-Indiana Michigan Power wants to raise our electric bill again.
WIFE: What? (Upset)
HUSBAND: Our utility is trying to force Hoosier families to pay more on our electric bills to pay for that old Rockport coal plant in southern Indiana.
WIFE: I heard that plant is a Super Polluter -- one of the worst in the country!
HUSBAND: That’s right -- and we’re paying to support it.
WIFE: Let me see that. It says here that Indiana Michigan Power wants us to pay to update an old coal plant, even though it’s owned by five wealthy corporations -- JP Morgan, Citigroup, GE, Verizon and even tobacco giant Philip Morris! Why shouldn’t they pay for the plant, instead of people like us?
HUSBAND: We can hardly afford our light bill now. Why are we being asked to pay for an outdated coal plant instead of investing in newer, cleaner forms of energy?
ANNOUNCER: Let’s put a stop to the Rockport Rip-off. Go to Rockportripoff.com to say NO to Rockport, and YES to clean energy.
DISCLAIMER: Paid for by Sierra Club.
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 2.4 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, 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.