ICV Legislative Update: Week of February 7, 2025
The Indianapolis Star and other media outlets shined a light this week on the prospect of small nuclear reactors or SMRs in Indiana—and who’s going to wind up footing the bill for the technology, which doesn’t exist yet.
Delaney Barber Kwon with Indiana Conservation Voters said the legislation in Indiana is concerning because it mirrors the legislation passed in South Carolina in 2008 that allowed a utility there to charge its customers for a failed full-scale nuclear project.
Those South Carolina residents are still paying for a reactor the utility provider never built. The bills homeowners pay there were increased by 5.6% to pay for the failed project, according to the South Caroline Daily Gazette. This fee is meant to pay off the utility’s $2.3 billion debt from the project.
That plan was for a full-scale nuclear plant, but Barber Kwon said a small module nuclear reactor project in Utah also was abandoned last year after cost estimates tripled. It was going to be the first SMR built in the U.S., but the project was abandoned after costs grew too high.
“SMRs as a whole is not something that Indiana Conservation Voters is opposed to, but this is still experimental technology and it’s going to take a long time to actually implement and get it to a place where it could really work in Indiana,” Barber Kwon said.
We’re now in Week Five of the legislative session, which means we’re getting close to crossover! Crossover will happen the week of Feb. 24, after which legislators will take some time off for one week and return on March 3.
Any bills that do not receive a hearing next week will be dead. After crossover, the process will begin again in each chamber. That means we only have one more week of committees before the committee report deadline on Feb. 17.
Finally this week, Desi and Delaney presented to Northwest Indiana Green Drinks on how to be an environmental champion!
They went through the legislative process, finding and talking to your lawmakers, and finding your niche in the advocacy space. Thanks to NWI Green Drinks and Save the Dunes for having us! Watch the recording here.
BILLS WE ARE WATCHING
😐 NEUTRAL: House Bill 1628 includes language that limits local control of siting for energy generation facilities, water and gas pipelines, and transmission projects to streamline the siting and zoning process. HB 1628 was held by the Chairman on Tuesday. We expect testimony to continue Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 10:30 am. Stay tuned for any changes on HB 1628 that may require swift action over the next two weeks!
BILL UPDATES
✅ SUPPORT: House Bill 1371 and House Bill 1581/Senate Bill 541 legislation to enable community solar in Indiana. Contact your legislator and urge them to give these community solar bills a hearing in committee.
✅ SUPPORT: House Bill 1553: implements a reporting requirement for polluters of PFAS, and a testing and reporting requirement for landowners who would apply biosolids to their land.
😐 NEUTRAL: Senate Bill 4: establishing a permitting structure for significant water withdrawals, currently excluding most groundwater withdrawals and absent any water quality measures. Senator Deery was able to drop the utilities’ water withdrawal trigger for permitting by 20 million gallons a day! That is a huge win but we still have more changes we would like to see. SB 4 passed out of the Senate and will now move to the House.
😐 NEUTRAL: Senate Bill 425 Energy Production Zones. This bill includes language to incentivize land re-use for new energy projects by limiting local control of project siting. We would like to see the bill include a community benefits agreement informed by the public input collected. This bill was heard on Thursday and held by the Chairman. We expect more work to be done before it appears on the committee schedule again. Contact your Senator, especially if they serve on the Senate Utilities Committee, and urge them to support adding community benefits to SB 425.
😐 NEUTRAL: Senate Bill 423 Small modular nuclear reactor pilot program. We are encouraged by SB 423’s pilot project model, which allows multiple stakeholders to bear the financial risk and advance this new technology in Indiana. However, it contains identical language from SB 424 allowing utilities to bill ratepayers upfront for project development costs.
🛑 OPPOSE: Senate Bill 424 creates a pathway for utilities to bill ratepayers up front for SMR project development costs before anything is built.
SB 423 and SB 424 passed the Senate on Feb. 3. They now move to the House Chamber with Representative Soliday as the House sponsor. View the vote sheets for SB 423 and SB 424. Please thank your Senator if they voted NO on SB 424.
🛑 OPPOSE: House Bill 1007 shifts costs of small modular nuclear reactors (SMR) and outdated coal generation costs on to ratepayers. As amended and passed out of the Utilities Committee: the SMR manufacturing tax credit of 20% means an estimated $280 million minimum of taxpayer money will be spent per SMR manufactured in the state and the bill allows utilities to charge ratepayers for utility losses if the state forces utilities to keep burning dirty, expensive coal.
HB 1007 passed out of the Ways and Means Committee on Feb. 6, it will now head to the House floor as soon as Monday, Feb. 10. Take action by contacting your Representative using our form below or by calling their office to oppose HB 1007.
🛑 OPPOSE: House Bill 538: creates a definition of PFAS that excludes a lot of the most commonly used PFAS chemicals.
🛑 OPPOSE: House Bill 1037: Storm water management. This bill could remove the ability for localities to establish stormwater permits for constructions projects under an acre. This could also result in significantly increased flooding and pollution and reduce water quality across the state, costing taxpayers money. HB 1037 passed out of the House and will now move to the Senate. Please thank your Representative if they voted no on this bill.
CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS
🚨 Tell Indiana lawmakers consumers can’t afford to bankroll utilities + big business! 🚨
Indiana lawmakers currently are considering multiple bills that would shift the enormous potential costs of development and deployment of untested energy production onto ratepayers. One bill would even allow utilities to charge ratepayers for losses if the state forces them to keep burning dirty, expensive coal.
Contact your representative today and tell them you want utilities and big businesses to pay for their own research and development of experimental technologies. Hard-working Hoosiers can’t afford any more charges on their monthly bills!
Say no to paying for developers’ messes!
Developers are asking lawmakers to sign off on shifting cleanup costs from their messes to taxpayers. Without proper measures in place, these messes send dirt and sediment into our waterways and sewers, backing them up and causing flooding and poor water quality that end up costing YOU more money to fix. Tell your senator today that you don’t want to pay for developers’ messes!
We need your voice in the fight against PFAS!
Share your concern about the risks of PFAS and voice your support for Representative Cash’s polluter accountability and transparency bill Senate Bill 1286 with one click!
GOOD NEWS SATURDAY
SB 422 passed out of the Senate on Wednesday! This bill, pushing Indiana to implement advanced transmission technology, moves to the House with Rep. Ed Soliday as the sponsor.
We were ready to voice our opposition to a late addition amendment to SB 426, but after working with Chairman Koch and other stakeholders in the Senate Utilities Committee, we were able to amend the offending language out of the bill! We are proud to have been a part of this conversation to protect our water quality and maintain accountability for utilities. Please thank Chairman Koch for being open to working with us to protect ratepayers.
NEW FACEBOOK GROUP!
¡Únete a Indiana Conservation Voters en Español, un espacio para defensores del medio ambiente que hablan español y quieren hacer una diferencia en Indiana! Aquí podrás conectarte con otros activistas, recibir información sobre políticas ambientales y aprender cómo tomar acción para proteger nuestro aire, agua y comunidades. No importa si eres nuevo en el activismo o ya tienes experiencia, tu voz es importante. Para más información, comunícate con Daniela Castellanos, organizadora comunitaria de Indiana Conservation Voters, al daniela@inconservationvoters.org. ¡Te esperamos!
UPCOMING EVENTS
February 12: Democracy Day (Common Cause Indiana)
February 12: Virtual Debunking Solar Myths – Community Solar for Indiana (Faith in Place & Solar United Neighbors)
February 19: Conservation Day at the Statehouse 2025 (Indiana Conservation Alliance)
February 24: Indiana RSS REAP/Non-Profit Solar 101: Crawfordsville
February 24: Virtual Mid-Session Legislative Briefing on the 2025 Indiana General Assembly (Citizens Action Coalition)
February 26: Virtual Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia Solar Action Team Meeting (Solar United Neighbors)
February 28: 2025 Indiana Sustainability and Resilience Conference
March 10: 2025 Audubon Great Lakes: Advocacy Day at the Indiana Statehouse
