A Citizen's Guide to Indiana

Garret Matthews, writing for the Evansville Courier Press, has an article on a hearing about the coal gasification plant contemplated for Rockport that took place yesterday. Industry representatives gave rosy testimony: the endeavor will be economically successful, it will provide jobs, and there will be no environmental problems. Community leaders seem to be interested pretty much only in the 500 jobs the project is supposed to create.

The Citizens Action Coalition isn’t so sure. It says the only way the project is economically viable is if the ratepayers are locked in as collateral, an anti-capitalistic move. In other words, if gas from this project is more expensive than natural gas from other sources, ratepayers will still have to buy gas at the coal gasification rate.

John Blair of Valley Watch said coal gasification will never be viable.

“Not only will it be an economic disaster,” Blair said, “if the plant is built, the company wants zero risk. The taxpayers will have the liability for the CO2.”

The environmental concerns make me think a little of the NFL concussion issue that’s been in the news a little bit lately. Concussions have crippling, long term effects. But, in the short term, the impact is minimal. Meanwhile, the need is very great in the short term for players suffering concussions to take the field. So, the long term costs get shoved aside in pursuit of short term gain. Environmental impacts are frequently subtle and slow. So, communities go for the short term jobs and sacrifice their future.

John Blair, writing an opinion column in the Evansville Courier Press, adds an issue to the seemingly endless number about which I know too little to make an informed evaluation.

As I understand the allegations, the gas market has shifted. Where once making synthetic gas out of coal may have made some marginal economic sense, new developments in the natural gas market have made natural gas so much cheaper that manufacturing synthetic gas out of coal makes absolutely no economic sense and it emits more CO2 than natural gas. The Gasification lobby ran to the legislature and, per Mr. Blair:

Our pro-coal legislature readily agreed with a measure that puts the state in the business of buying all the syngas production and forces gas utilities to pass it along to Hoosier customers, who would then pay a premium for the privilege of using coal-derived gas instead of natural gas.

This would seem to merit further attention. Comments from those knowledgeable on the subject would certainly be welcome.

Thomas Langhorne of the Evansville Courier Press reports that Tom McKenna has entered the Indiana Secretary of State race. The position will be vacated as current Secretary Todd Rokita’s term expires. McKenna, former executive director of the Indiana Department of Commerce, will be seeking the Democratic nomination against Vop Osili, partner and founder of a prominent Indianapolis architectural firm. On the Republican side, so far Fishers Town Councilman Charlie White is the candidate. I don’t know if the Libertarians have fielded a candidate yet.

An added bit of trivia is that, should the election result in a 50/50 split in the House of Representatives, the Secretary of State race is the tie-breaker and determines which party controls the chamber. (That could get messy, I suppose, in the off chance the Libertarians catch fire in 2010).

Disgruntled citizens might suggest that *lots* of lawmakers are guilty of impersonating public servants; but, former representative Dennie Oxley plead guilty to the formal, legal crime of impersonating a public servant.

Specifically, he claimed to be a member of the General Assembly while the legislature was in session in order to prevent his arrest when he and a 21 year old female legal intern were found drunk at a gas station last July. In fact, he had resigned his seat in 2008 to run for Lieutenant Governor with Jill Long Thompson’s campaign. He was sentenced to three months probation in Crawford County.

Hoosierati has a brief review of a book with an interesting notion: “that the history of the world can be told using six signature beverages (beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and Coca-Cola).” The book is entitled A History of the World in Six Glasses.

Per Hoosierati:

Beer contributed to an increase in farming and decrease in hunting.
Wine divided classes and cultures, particularly in Greece and Rome.
Spirits influenced slavery, the American Revolution, and contributed to the British Navy’s strength.
Tea improved and sustained life, and it was the “lubricant” for the industrial revolution.
Coffee (and coffeehouses) served as fuel for the enlightenment.
Coca-Cola, love it or hate it, is symbolic of America’s rise in dominance.

Maureen Groppe has an article in the Indianapolis Star indicating that the selective deficit disorder in Washington is bipartisan. (h/t BrianK for the SDD turn of phrase. Update, per BrianK, turn of phrase came from David Sirota.) When asked if they would support a tax to pay for the additional cost of war in Afghanistan, Senator Bayh, Senator Lugar, and Representative Pence all indicated they would not.

This indicates their concern about the deficit is selective. They raise the specter of debt only when the issue is something they would prefer not to pay for. Because these politicians oppose health care reform, frequently on the basis of cost, the question they should be made to answer is how the additional cost of war in Afghanistan benefits Americans more than would reform of our health care system. They have indicated through their selective deficit concerns, that paying for war in Afghanistan is a higher priority to them. They should have to identify how, specifically, this makes the lives of Americans better than would spending the same money on health care (or some other policy for which they cite lack of money).

In my mind, these politicians are in a different boat than those whose concerns about the deficit are across the board. The latter group can pretty much just say, about whatever the policy, “we don’t have the money; we’re not going to do it.” In any case, I don’t think you can call yourself a “fiscal conservative” or a “deficit hawk” just because the money you borrow is spent on wars abroad rather than on domestic projects.

In a move that can’t help but make you start thinking of possible conspiracies, the Feds filed a motion to dismiss the asset forfeiture lawsuit against Timothy Durham.

The federal government on Monday morning filed papers to dismiss a high-profile civil lawsuit that sought to seize Tim Durham’s assets, including his 30,000-square-foot Geist mansion and his 2008 Bugatti sports car.

Tim Morrison, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said his office had filed the case Nov. 24 to ensure Durham’s assets would not disappear. “Having [received] appropriate assurance they are not being dissipated, that litigation stopped,” said Morrison, who declined to say who provided that assurance.

It obviously *looks* bad – lawsuit against well-connected defendant suddenly dropped – but, this was just a forfeiture case, and there is no telling what might be coming along in terms of a criminal case. I simply don’t know enough about forfeiture actions in this context to evaluate this development.

It seems to me that criminal activity is less disturbing when you understand it. Timothy Durham’s alleged Ponzi scheme isn’t laudable, but the motives are easy enough to identify. Shootings and assaults that are the product of domestic violence are serious, but they don’t make me as doubtful about the general well-being of my community as random assaults and shootings.

The Associated Press has an article about child molestations in Veedersburg that simply peg my “what the hell?” meter. Samantha Light, a twenty-four year old woman with an apparently good reputation was allegedly molesting very young children – like 3 year olds – along with her boyfriend, Steven Quick and video taping it. People were using Ms. Light as a babysitter and she was betraying their trust in horrific fashion. And, it happened in Fountain County where everybody seems to know just about everything about everyone.

It’s the kind of crime that I can’t begin to wrap my head around, and that is one of the things that makes it so troubling. If you understand a crime, you feel like the means of avoiding it are more within your control. Even the illusion of control helps you place the actual risks of becoming a victim of the crime in some sort of proper context. Without control, the perceived risk looms much larger than the actual risk — think of the difference between being harmed in a car crash versus being harmed in a terrorist attack. The car crash is a far greater risk. It’s not even close. And yet, fear of terrorism is much greater than fear of car accidents. I think it’s because the car is a known risk and one that is, to a great extent, under your control.