Lawsuit Protects 2,600 Megawatts of State’s Interests 

By Savannah Kerstiens

Most Hoosiers have never heard of a consent decree. But one issued by a federal court almost two decades ago and modified in 2019 as a result of a settlement between the EPA, eight northeastern states, environmental groups, and American Electric Power (AEP) is directing the early closure of a prime electrical power source, shutting off 2,600 megawatts of electricity that Indiana families and businesses depend on every single day. Hoosiers had no seat at the table when this decision was made about Indiana’s electricity.

Attorney General Todd Rokita wants to change that. Last month, he filed a motion to intervene in federal court to stop it. Every Hoosier, regardless of party, should want him to succeed.

The Rockport Generating Station in Spencer County, operated by AEP-owned Indiana Michigan Power, is one of the largest power plants in the state. The 2019 modification required Unit 1 to retire by the end of 2028. Indiana Michigan Power then agreed to close Unit 2 on the same timeline. Combined, that’s 2,600 megawatts, enough to power roughly 2 million homes, gone within three years with no guaranteed replacement in place.

The agreement was made for a world that no longer exists. In the years leading up to the 2019 modification, demand for electricity was relatively flat. Today, Indiana Michigan Power projects that power demand in its service territory will more than double by the early 2030s, driven by data centers, manufacturing growth, and continued electrification. PJM, the regional grid operator serving over 65 million people including a portion of Indiana, has warned that tens of gigawatts of generation could retire across its territory by 2030 without adequate replacement. As Rokita’s filing put it: “Indiana and PJM are facing a reliability and cost crisis. None of these conditions existed in 2019.” That’s not a talking point. It’s a fact.

The utility has announced plans to build a 1,520-megawatt natural gas plant at the Rockport site. That sounds like a solution, but the math is simple: 1,520 megawatts does not replace 2,600 megawatts. The new plant won’t receive regulatory approval until early 2027, just one year before the coal units go dark, and wouldn’t operate until after they’ve already gone offline. There’s another difference worth understanding: coal can be stockpiled on-site. Natural gas depends on pipelines, which can be constrained during extreme weather, exactly when demand is highest, and failures become most dangerous.

The Rockport plant directly employs over 170 people in Spencer County. The property taxes it generates fund local schools, roads, and emergency services. Indiana ratepayers already paid for the pollution controls on these units over decades. If the units close early, those investments become stranded, and the bill lands on Indiana families.

Rokita went to Rockport, met with local leaders, and spent months building the legal case. That kind of accountability matters.

This isn’t an argument against other energy sources. Rokita supports plans to add natural gas and explore nuclear at the Rockport site. The argument is narrower and more important: a legal agreement made under different conditions shouldn’t be allowed to remove 2,600 megawatts of reliable power right when Indiana needs it most. Lawmakers should be asking hard questions about whether the state has any real say when out-of-state consent decrees dictate Indiana energy policy. For everyday Hoosiers, those aren’t abstract questions. Fewer power plants mean higher bills and thinner margins on the coldest nights and hottest afternoons, exactly when the system is most likely to fail. The consent decree can be modified. A reliability gap cannot be wished away.