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Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Environment - A number of environmental stories today

Hazardous release. "Settlements in styrene leak top $2 million: Claims continue to be negotiated as trial looms" is the headline to a story in the Cincinnati Enquirer,about a leaking rairoad car last year in Cincinnati's East End "that spewed styrene into the air for several days in August, prompting the evacuation of about 800 properties."

Great Lakes. "Lakeshore key to economic future" is the headline to a story today in the Munster (NW Indiana) Times that begins:

GARY | A Lake Michigan shoreline studded with hotels, shops and dwellings could position the city, and its airport, as a travel destination, Mayor Scott King told Chamber of Commerce members Monday.
The Gary Post-Tribune reports that "Groups link to protect water in Great Lakes." A quote from the lengthy story:
Kay Nelson, the environmental director of the Northwest Indiana Forum, was one of more than 1,500 representatives of government and nongovernment agencies who worked together during the past year to draft a comprehensive strategy for the Great Lakes. At a time when desert dwellers salivate over the thought of buying Great Lakes water, and polluted fish poison pregnant women, the issue becomes a personal one for people in Lake and Porter counties, local environmentalists say.
Ethanol. Another story today on a rural county tieing its economic future to ethanol. The Muncie Star-Press reports:
WINCHESTER -- County commissioners and county council members tentatively agreed Monday night to do everything that was asked of them to land a $150 million ethanol plant in Randolph County.

The three commissioners and six council members (one was absent) voted unanimously to sign a non-binding letter of commitment fully granting all of the incentives requested by Cardinal Ethanol, a corporation represented at the meeting by local farmer Troy Prescott.

The incentives are a $10 million, unsecured loan, $250,000 in cash from the economic development income tax fund, and the maximum amount of tax increment financing and/or tax abatement allowed by state law.

Four other counties vying for the project also have been invited to offer incentives: Jay, Delaware, and Wayne counties in Indiana and Darke County, Ohio.

"This may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Noel Carpenter, Randolph County assessor, who said agriculture remained the backbone of the local economy. * * *

If the ethanol plant defaulted on the loan, it would be repaid by county property taxpayers and/or income taxpayers, or both.

"We need to gamble on it and do it," council President Gerald Stephen said. "I know it's a gamble."

Jay and Darke county officials also were meeting Monday to consider incentive packages, said Greg Beumer, director of economic development in Randolph County.

County council member Bill Terrell expressed concern that so many ethanol plants are being built -- more than 90 nation-wide -- that some could go out of business, "and the county will get stuck with a $10 million debt that the taxpayers will have to pick up."

Council member Carlton Clevenger said Randolph County needed to attract the ethanol plant to show that it's "on the ball," which could help lure more business.

Drinking Water. "Clark County, state agency clash in well dispute" is the headline to this a lengthy story by Alex Davis in the Louisville Courier Journal. Some quotes:
Seven high-volume water wells near the Ohio River in Clark County have become the focus of a political tug of war between the county's elected leaders and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

The wells, which the state owns, haven't been fully operational for decades, but in recent months debate has been growing over where the water will flow in the future, and who will control any revenue from it.

On one side, the county commissioners claim that the state Department of Natural Resources and its director, Kyle Hupfer, refuse to approve a written plan for how the wells will be managed. They also say Hupfer wants to sell the water, which comes from an underground aquifer, to Louisville in a "direct deal" that wouldn't involve Clark County.

Hupfer said the county's claims are false. "We're not looking to gain anything," he said in a telephone interview yesterday. "Nobody should be making money off these wells." * * *

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources owns all seven wells, but a private company, Aqua Indiana, holds the rights to the water that comes from them. The company has expressed an interest in selling its rights, and Hupfer wants the state to buy them.

That would ensure that the wells are available for economic development, he said, and for future growth in communities as far away as Salem, Scottsburg and North Vernon. Hupfer said officials in Clark County are trying to control the wells themselves so they can make money by charging customers a fee.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 10, 2006 09:27 AM
Posted to Environment