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Editorial: Indiana isn't ready for the energy revolution

Tim Swarens
IndyStar
In Indiana, we still burn coal to generate about 85 percent of our electricity. Only three states — West Virginia, Kentucky and Wyoming — are more dependent than Indiana on coal.

Revolutionary changes in how we generate and use energy are building in the United States and around the world. 

And it's not just government bureaucrats and environmental activists who are driving those changes. It's also business leaders.

Two examples: General Motors announced this week that by next year it will purchase enough wind-generated electricity to meet all of its needs at seven plants, including three in Indiana. By 2050, the giant automaker plans to rely completely on renewable energy.

As the cost of wind power continues to drop, Rob Threlkeld, GM's global manager of renewable energy, told the Detroit Free Press that through a "pragmatic strategy, companies can turn ambitious renewable energy goals into action and scale quickly.”

In Alabama, Mercedes-Benz announced that it plans to invest $1 billion and hire 600 more workers in its race with Tesla to capture a large share of the electric vehicle market, which analysts expect will expand rapidly in coming years. Mercedes, like GM, will be under pressure to show that it uses low-emission sources to meet its own energy needs.

But while such changes in energy use are brewing among manufacturers, there are big questions about whether Indiana, the nation's most manufacturing-dependent state, is ready.

GM, for instance, will import the electricity to operate those three Indiana plants from wind farms in Illinois and Ohio. Those states, not our own, will reap the economic benefits of supplying the huge amounts of power needed to run such large-scale manufacturing operations.

Although wind and solar generation have increased in Indiana in recent years, state leaders far too often have looked backward, championing the continued use of coal to generate power.

Former governor and now Vice President Mike Pence repeatedly blasted the Obama administration for waging a "war on coal." He declared in February that with President Donald Trump in office, the war is now over.

But the move away from coal and toward renewable energy continues, and increasingly, it's driven by the marketplace, not government.

That's true at least in most of the nation. In Indiana, however, we burned more coal in 2015 than 47 other states, according to the U.S. Energy Information Association.

Increasingly, that fact will hurt both our environment and our economy. Tech giants like Amazon won't look favorably at relying upon the energy sources of the past. And now manufacturers like General Motors are adopting future-oriented alternatives, as well.

Indiana would be wise to join them.