If they follow through, NIPSCO might rise in our opinion

Sunrise over the Indiana Dunes

Over the last week, the news has been flooded with some unique news from NIPSCO. It's become such a well told story you don't have to just be reading local sources to find it.. it's national news.
As the story is being told far and wide, a utility from the Midwest, one of likely 200 such utilities that fill the grid on that scale in America, made a pretty beautiful audacious decision to drop coal for renewables in every way possible by 2028.. that's a 10 year plan.. not a 40 year plan of the type that says kick the can down the road a little longer. For a utility this size, it means a lot of work. That Utility is NIPSCO, the one I have been so disgusted with for years that I started this blog to vent my spleen.
If NIPSCO goes through with this, it doesn't erase the damage they have done, not in terms of customer service, nor in terms of carbon added to the atmosphere which will take time to absorb, decades perhaps, nor in term of the health effects already inflicted by their decades of dependence upon coal, which, a bit like smoking, you had to be willfully ignorant, or not using your own powers of observation, to not realize was wrong even decades ago. But it will be an act of courage and positive decision making that one can't help but be excited about. It will be an act of not only financial sense, but of grace, sensibility, and above all, kindness, to Hoosiers, to the people beyond our borders and around the world, and to all life on this ball floating through space and time. Every inch they travel in that direction is a step to recover the world from a very bad place we have gotten ourselves into.
It's the duty of a critic to not be so consumed by hate that they can't recognize when their subject of their criticism, if they haven't recognized what they are doing wrong, as I suspect they knew for years, act upon it in a finally noble way. If NIPSCO follows through with this plan, I might not only get off of their case, I might even buy some property in Michigan City which is going to be a nice as heck town again when the cooling tower finally comes back down.
So let me say that I might someday consider myself honored to have been a critic of an institution that might in fact demonstrate courage to the dozens or hundreds of utilities who have not so far made such a bold direction their public aim. Someday I might have to eat crow for thinking these guys were the worst of the worst when what is happening here requires some amount of corporate courage.. although I have ten years to work up an appetite, something tells me they are serious.
I can make the joke that one of the cloudiest places in America might not be the place to groudbreak such an experiment, but I don't know that this is an experiment.. Them guys in Merrilville, they might be close to Chicago, but they are also close to Hebron, they think like farmers, they don't make rash decisions.. I think they know what they want to do can work.. they aren't being Elon Musk, they are just being reasonable..
and for that I thank them.. and trust me, I want this to work as much as they do..even if it means I don't get to make fun of them anymore...
https://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/nipsco-submits-blueprint-for-shift-from-coal-to-renewables/article_86a9b000-5bc0-5d7f-8883-b4d8022d916d.html
https://www.powermag.com/indiana-utility-will-close-coal-units-transition-to-renewables/
https://solarindustrymag.com/indianas-nipsco-lays-out-coal-to-renewables-plan/
May they be Merry again in Merrilville....

https://solarindustrymag.com/state-state-view-u-s-renewable-energy-2017/

Whose palms did NiSource, NIPSCO's parent company, grease in the 2016 elections?

While there might be promising news that NIPSCO is closing one of it's Coal Plants, this one on Lake Michigan in the bio-diverse hot spot of the Indiana Dunes ( literally a National Park, about the only one in this part of the country for hundreds of miles.. the smoke stacks are visible almost everywhere in the park a dune isn't in the way, so this is a big deal!)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailly_Generating_Station
https://www3.epa.gov/region5/cleanup/rcra/nipsco/pdfs/nipsco_fs_final25feb10.pdf
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bailly_Generating_Station
It's being closed under duress, as you might imagine, under an agreement with the EPA that has the muscle of Legislation, Federal Courts and a presidential administration that worked for 8 years to slow the coal industry from it's endless pollution, and literally, killing. If that Plant has a turban on it would've been dead a long time ago, but greed makes for strange bedfellows, but finally we had a president willing to take on silent killers and not just politically popular ones..
Of note to this blog is that a closeup of Bailley is the image that is the background for this blog.. this is symbolically a big deal, if it happens.. President Trump will have plenty of time to reverse some of the conditions leading to this decision if he sadly chooses to do so. to quote an old professor of mine, elections have consequences, and politics ain't beanbag!

Anyhow, back to the topic at hand.. it's time to peek at who NIPSCO's parent NISource greased with legal, public contributions in our beautiful system of democracy, to maintain it's way of doing business one might assume. We know they miss ol' John Boehner, but who is getting the benefit of their Largess these days:
Well, here are the facts..
their PAC, NISOURCE INC. PAC, gave about 1 million over the course of the 2016 election year ( ending with a painful bang, perhaps a relief to many, in early November). Who benefited? according to political watchdog database OpenSecrets.org
Contributions from this PAC to federal candidates (list recipients)
(18% to Democrats, 82% to Republicans)
and here is that list of recipients:

Spoiler alert. at the bottom it's revealed they backed Ohio Gov. John Kasich for president! hey, I'm for plain spoken, but that's the last time I lend these guys money before they go to the track! no worries, they'll get it by jacking up my rates.. that's how it works!

Banks, Jim (R-IN)	$1,000
Barletta, Lou (R-PA)	$3,000
Barr, Andy (R-KY)	$8,000
Beatty, Joyce (D-OH)	$7,500
Blackburn, Marsha (R-TN)	$5,500
Boehner, John (R-OH)	$5,000
Boyle, Brendan (D-PA)	$1,000
Brat, Dave (R-VA)	$1,000
Brooks, Susan (R-IN)	$2,000
Bucshon, Larry (R-IN)	$4,000
Cantor, Eric (R-VA)	($300)
Cardenas, Tony (D-CA)	$1,000
Chabot, Steve (R-OH)	$1,000
Comstock, Barbara (R-VA)	$5,000
Costello, Ryan (R-PA)	$3,000
Delaney, John K (D-MD)	$1,000
Denham, Jeff (R-CA)	$1,000
Dent, Charlie (R-PA)	$4,000
Doyle, Mike (D-PA)	$8,500
Farenthold, Blake (R-TX)	$1,000
Fudge, Marcia L (D-OH)	$3,000
Gibbs, Bob (R-OH)	$4,500
Goodlatte, Bob (R-VA)	$2,000
Graves, Garret (R-LA)	$1,000
Griffith, Morgan (R-VA)	$3,000
Guthrie, Brett (R-KY)	$5,000
Jenkins, Evan (R-WV)	$3,000
Johnson, Bill (R-OH)	$10,000
Joyce, David P (R-OH)	$1,000
Kaptur, Marcy (D-OH)	$3,500
Kennedy, Joe III (D-MA)	$1,000
Larsen, Rick (D-WA)	$1,000
Latta, Robert E (R-OH)	$4,500
Loebsack, David (D-IA)	$1,000
Long, Billy (R-MO)	$1,000
Marino, Tom (R-PA)	$1,000
McKinley, David (R-WV)	$7,000
Meehan, Patrick (R-PA)	$4,000
Messer, Luke (R-IN)	$9,000
Murphy, Tim (R-PA)	$9,500
Neal, Richard E (D-MA)	$5,000
Norcross, Don (D-NJ)	$1,000
Paulsen, Erik (R-MN)	$2,000
Perry, Scott (R-PA)	$5,000
Pitts, Joe (R-PA)	$1,000
Renacci, Jim (R-OH)	$9,000
Rogers, Hal (R-KY)	$3,000
Rokita, Todd (R-IN)	$8,000
Rothfus, Keith J (R-PA)	$6,000
Shimkus, John M (R-IL)	$4,000
Shuster, Bill (R-PA)	$7,500
Smith, Jason (R-MO)	$1,000
Stivers, Steve (R-OH)	$7,000
Thompson, Glenn (R-PA)	$4,000
Thornberry, Mac (R-TX)	$500
Tiberi, Patrick J (R-OH)	$8,800
Turner, Michael R (R-OH)	$2,000
Visclosky, Pete (D-IN)	$10,000
Walorski, Jackie (R-IN)	$6,000
Wenstrup, Brad (R-OH)	$2,000
Wittman, Rob (R-VA)	$3,000

Senate
Total to Democrats: $7,500
Total to Republicans: $31,700

Recipient	Total
Boustany, Charles Jr (R-LA)	$1,000
Burr, Richard (R-NC)	$2,000
Casey, Bob (D-PA)	$3,500
Coats, Dan (R-IN)	($1,500)
Donnelly, Joe (D-IN)	$1,000
Gray, Jim (D-KY)	$1,000
Hoeven, John (R-ND)	$5,000
Kaine, Tim (D-VA)	$1,000
Manchin, Joe (D-WV)	$1,000
Murkowski, Lisa (R-AK)	$3,500
Paul, Rand (R-KY)	$2,000
Portman, Rob (R-OH)	$7,500
Stutzman, Marlin (R-IN)	$0
Thune, John (R-SD)	$1,500
Toomey, Pat (R-PA)	$6,000
Vitter, David (R-LA)	$1,000
Young, Todd (R-IN)	$3,700

Presidential
Total to Democrats: $0
Total to Republicans: $15,000

Recipient	Total
Kasich, John (R)	$15,000

So who did they give to?
well, it seems like anyone whose district their infrastructure goes through, like their pipelines or power lines or districts where their power plants are located. The exceptions seem to be important members of the House and Senate Energy Committees. IF you are going to get on your knees when the Navy comes to port, you might as well take care of them all!
interesting.. now these are the donors for NIPSCO.. the way this usually works is that the senior executives at a company like this are given a wink and a nudge and it's suggested to them that some of their significant pay that comes from not having lifted much a finger to stop coal pollution, global warming, and acid rain, should likely be passed onto the legislators who allow such recalcitrant behavior to still occur. wink wink, nudge nudge.. here's a summer bonus..stick it where it matters:
https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgave2.php?cmte=C00051979&cycle=2016
something like 888 NIPSCO, NISource and fellow execs from associated companies like Colombia Pipeline Group, Colombia Gas Transmission etc. dipped into their pockets, told the kids that community college was good enough, and plopped down to the PAC.  The Devil get's his due, don't he..
the other 2/3 of a million seems to have gone to some administration costs, about 10% ( well done.. wish all charities could be so lean!) and a lot of State Sen. State, Legislature, and gubernatorial Candidates in their covered areas of the Industrial Midwest and East as well...They didn't necessarily only pick losers.. Mike Pence got 5k for being an aw shucks heck of a guy.. I bet they really love his courageous stance on Abortion. same as Donald Trump.. it comes from the heart with these guys!
Remember, it ain't a crime unless you can prove quid pro quo.. I bet it's just an accident if any of these people vote to reverse 8 years of progress on global warming, acid rain and heart stopping, lung filling pollution to things like Lake Michigan and Indiana Dunes in the 115th congress. Funny how that works..