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Homegrown Hoosier Energy

Ringquist responds to the governor’s alternative energy plan

Expert perspective: “Governor Daniels’ Hoosier Homegrown Energy Plan is a long-overdue blueprint for energy policy planning in Indiana. Moreover, the plan hits most of the right notes when discussing the future of energy supply and demand in Indiana. Specifically, the justifications for the plan are sound—i.e., managing energy price volatility, reducing the national security implications of continued petroleum imports, and capturing the potential economic benefits for Indiana of using in-state sources of energy.

“In addition, the plan ought to receive high marks not only for identifying the most promising new sources of energy available in the Hoosier state—clean coal, biofuels, and energy efficiency—but for highlighting the importance of expanding and revitalizing the energy transport infrastructure in the state.

“While the Hoosier Homegrown Energy plan is short on policy specifics, this is understandable as the plan is intended to serve as a blueprint for future policy development. Devising appropriate policies to address the current energy crisis in Indiana, however, is much more difficult than identifying the sources of the crisis and potential solutions. Improperly designed policies can have catastrophic consequences, as California learned when it attempted to restructure the electric utility sector.

“In addition, at the federal level we can find many examples where the political and economic power wielded by the advocates of particular energy sources, rather than rational analysis, have driven public investments in energy policy. Many of Indiana’s Midwestern neighbors have long experience with energy policy in the areas biofuels, electricity, energy efficiency, and state energy planning in general. We would be well served by learning from the experiences of our neighbors when designing Indiana’s own innovations in these areas.”

The SPEA Toolkit: Evan Ringquist’s research and teaching focuses on public policy in relation to environmental, energy, natural resources, and regulation issues.

Click here to read more about Professor Ringquist.

Click to read Professor Ringquist's comments to the Indianapolis Star and the Louisville Courier-Journal about the governor’s energy plan.