Indiana GOP officials blast emissions cap

INDIANAPOLIS, May 25 (UPI) -- Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and the state's Republican lawmakers say utility emission caps will dearly cost Hoosier State residents in higher energy bills.

Daniels, a Republican, has said a proposal from U.S. President Barack Obama and backed by Democrats in Congress would more than double monthly electricity bills for the average Hoosier, which now stands at $67.96 per month, The Indianapolis Star reported Monday.

The newspaper said Daniels relied on an analysis conducted for the Indiana Municipal Power Agency and other Midwest utilities in asserting the Midwest will shoulder a disproportionate share of the costs because of its reliance on coal-fired generators.

"The Democrats' climate-change legislation amounts to an economic declaration of war on the Midwest by liberals in Washington, D.C.," added U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., one of the leaders of the House GOP effort to defeat the bill, which would cap electric utilities' emissions and mandate the use of more renewable electricity generation methods.

But Duke Energy, Indiana's largest consumer of coal, has a different take on capping emissions. Its CEO, Jim Rogers, reportedly told a House panel last week, "We must act now, because if we don't, the economic costs ... will be much greater."