Healthy Dubois County, Inc., awarded grant by Indiana Utility Rate Payers Trust

Healthy Dubois County, Inc., (HDC) a not-for-profit public benefit organization advocating for the health and well-being of the area residents, has recently been notified that it has received a significant grant from the Indiana Utility Rate Payers Trust (IURPT).

In a press release HDC stated they will apply the award to expenses incurred in the ongoing litigation alleging violations of Indiana’s Open Door Law against the City of Jasper Utility Service Board and Common Council on behalf of concerned citizens and Jasper ratepayers.

In its application, HDC—supported by its strong, successful November 2012 ruling from the Indiana Court of Appeals—contended that the local ratepayers have a right to transparency in government and a right to full disclosure specifically with regard to substantiated, long-term public health consequences from the 20 to 30-year incineration of biomass near a residential neighborhood, at 1163 E. 15th Street in Jasper.

In August of 2011, the City voted to enter into a lease agreement with Twisted Oak Corporation of Atlanta to burn 300 tons of miscanthus grass daily. According to independent, peer-reviewed scientific reports, Jasper ratepayers’ projected annual medical and funeral expenses directly attributable to this incinerator will exponentially exceed any perceived profits to the ratepayers.

HDC’s advocacy to protect the ratepayers—both physically and financially—from the high cost of breathing toxic air from biomass incineration provided the basis for the grant application and the subsequent award.

The well-documented, severe health hazards of breathing ultrafine particulate emissions pose the greatest harm to the children and the elderly who live in the vicinity of the proposed incinerator. Ultrafine particulates, invisible to the eye, are known to pass the protective blood-brain barrier, which therefore greatly increases risk. Cancers and various forms of cardio-pulmonary-vascular diseases are the byproducts of biomass incinerators.

World-renowned, award-winning Notre Dame scholar Dr. Kristin Shrader-Frechette’s second of three recent peer-reviewed, published articles about Jasper’s biomass incinerator predicts conservatively 40 deaths annually (compared to two from coal), 75 heart attacks annually, 730 asthma attacks annually, and more than 4,000 lost work days annually for area residents. Her first article revealed that ultrafine particulates—unregulated by IDEM—are 65 times more toxic than equivalent mass coal particulates. In her first abstract released in December of 2012, she states that the particulates released would “cause undeserved family tragedies and cause annual losses of $110 and $220 million” for the ratepayers.

Accordingly, the Massachusetts Medical Society, consisting of 22,000 doctors and publisher of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, categorically opposes this so-called renewable energy, stating that “biomass combustion poses an unacceptable risk to public health.”

The IURPT website is http://www.in.gov/oucc/2385.htm. The Trust was established to assist individuals and organizations wanting to participate in matters affecting utility regulation in Indiana. A five-member Executive Committee of the Trust, after reviewing applications from those seeking assistance, makes the funding decisions.

The Trust was established in 1997 for the following purpose: “Providing funding to cover reasonable costs, expenses and efforts that may be incurred either by the Office of Utility Consumer Counselor for the State of Indiana, or by a group, entity or individual who desires to participate on behalf of ratepayer(s) in a rulemaking, an adjudication, or appeal or any other type of proceeding affecting the regulation (including rates charged and services rendered) of an Indiana utility or its affiliates, including, but not limited to proceedings before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or their successors, but either lacks the wherewithal to participate or cannot cost effectively participate under the then existing circumstances.”

HDC appreciates this support from the Executive Committee of the IURPT and the ongoing generous contributions of local and regional citizens.

Concerned citizens may send additional donations to Healthy Dubois County, Inc., P. O. Box 222, Jasper, IN 47547. To become better informed, visit http://healthyduboiscounty.org/home/ and https://www.facebook.com/HealthyDuboisCounty.