Republican Sen. Mike Braun is asking Indiana regulators to block a coal plant’s conversion to natural gas, drawing criticism from environmentalists who say the move was inappropriate given Braun’s run for governor.
Braun would have power over the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) if he wins the race for Indiana governor, in which he is favored to win against Democrat Jennifer McCormick. His letter on Oct. 10 asks the five-member panel to deny a request by utility AES to make investments that would allow the Petersburg Generating Station — one of the state’s largest coal-fired power plants — to switch to natural gas.
The letter is “absolutely and completely inappropriate,” said Kerwin Olson, executive director of the Citizens Action Coalition, an Indiana environmental and consumer advocacy group. If elected, Braun would have the power to appoint or remove IURC commissioners.
Braun is “interfering with a process in which he is likely [the commissioners’] next boss,” Olson said. “It’s sort of using the bully pulpit, if you will, to threaten the IURC, and it was just bad form.”
