Page 45 - Mark Messmer News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Efforts to send a message that Indiana is open for business to renewables came to an abrupt stop on Tuesday night. A bill that would have established some statewide standards for wind and solar projects — but was amended to grandfather in counties' more restrictive ordinances — died on the Senate floor.  Despite significant amendments that had House Bill 1381 doing a '180 degree turn' and handing more authority back to local governments, local control concerns still lingered, according to the bill's senate sponsor Sen. Mark Messmer, R-Jasper.  On the Senate floor Tuesday night, after...

1:05 The idea was to make it easier for renewable energy companies to invest in Indiana. Right now the state is a patchwork of different local ordinances — some counties have banned wind farms altogether. When county leaders opposed the bill, it was changed so that those who had more restrictive ordinances could keep them. Lawmakers also offered counties the option to have special renewable energy districts. One of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Mark Messmer (R-Jasper), expressed his frustration that lawmakers still couldn’t agree on the bill before withdrawing it. “It’s like having a ho...

Bill to ease approval of wind, solar farms flops, but debate rages on FREE NEWSLETTERS Wildcat Wind Farm in Tipton County. (IBJ photo/Eric Learned) A strong coalition of renewable energy developers, major businesses and manufacturers could not muster enough support in the Indiana Senate Tuesday to pass a bill that would have shifted some local control over the siting of wind and solar farms to the state. The Senate’s less comprehensive version of House Bill 1381 technically died after it wasn’t even called for a vote by Sen. Mark Messmer, R-Jasper, ...

Environmental News For The Week Ending 03 April 2019 This is a collection of interesting news articles about the environment and related topics published last week. This is usually a Tuesday evening regular post at GEI (but can be posted at other times). Please share this article - Go to very top of page, right hand side, for social media buttons. Note: Because of the high volume of news regarding the coronavirus outbreak, that news has been published separately: There hasn't been much change in the trajectory of either US Covid metric: new cases continue to increase at a modest pace, while...

Bill to eliminate wetlands law amended to cut regulation with scalpel, not 'meat cleaver' London Gibson, Indianapolis Star Replay Video UP NEXT A bill that would have eliminated the state’s law regulating wetlands was amended Wednesday morning to tackle the issue of wetlands regulation surgically, rather than with a “meat cleaver.” The bill, which has been the subject of heated debate, initially proposed repealing the state’s environmental program protecting wetlands, which would have left more than 80% of the state’s wetlands unprotected. Authors claimed the progr...