Higher Court Rules In Favor Of Environmental Activists: City Officials Silenced Coal Fired Energy Plant Opponents

A judge who ruled against opponents of the conversion of a former coal-fired energy plant in Jasper abused her discretion on a series of matters, the Indiana Court of Appeals held Monday in reversing a bench trial that found for the city.

Activist extraordinaire, Rock Emmert (R) from Ferdinand, IN, sounds off to Jasper Municipal Utility Executive Director, Bud Hauersperger, during a hearing held October 11, 2010 where more than forty Jasper area citizens spoke against the proposal to turn the mothballed Jasper Municipal 15 megawatt coal plant into a 75 megawatt biomass and natural gas plant. People across Jasper objected to the facility but in the ned the out going mayor signed a contract with a company who’s corporate address was in the middle of a fairway on a golf course in Georgia according to Google Earth. File Photos: John Blair.

The appellate panel stopped short of saying that there were clear violations of the Indiana Open Door Law by the city or its “volunteer” board dominated by city official that met frequently with representatives of a company that won the city’s endorsement of a proposal to convert a dormant coal-fired plant to a biomass-burning plant.

A citizens group called Healthy Dubois County formed to oppose the project because of concern that burning miscanthus grass to produce electricity could carry public health risks. It sued in an attempt to block the signing of any agreements on the plant conversion, claiming among other things that officials had violated the Open Door Law with meetings that led to approval of the proposal. Continue reading →