Jasper biomass case back in court in January 2014

Members of Healthy Dubois County and the City of Jasper and its Utility Service Board will be back in court in beginning on January 14  of 2014.

This time the trial will occur in Jasper and is scheduled for two days.

A hearing to determine the case management for the lawsuit filed by Dr. Norma Kreilein, Rock Emmert and Healthy Dubois County, Inc. against the City of Jasper was held on May 10 at 10 a.m.

Special Judge Sherry B. Gregg Gilmore was appointed to the second hearing regarding allegations the City of Jasper held private meetings during contract negotiations with Twisted Oak CEO Jay Catasien that should have been public.

Kreilein, Emmert, and Healthy Dubois County, Inc. filed the original lawsuit in August of 2011. Special Judge Lucy Goffinet ruled in favor of the City of Jasper in January of 2012, but a three judge panel of the Indiana State Appeals Court reversed Goffinet’s decision based on several factors, including questioning the volunteer group meetings that were essential in working out details on the contract.

In the ruling by the appellate court, HDC was allowed to depose members of this controversial volunteer group that met without public scrutiny about 12 to 15 times during negotiations with Twisted Oak CEO Jay Catasein.

The litigation has been ongoing for approximately 19 months now. According to HDC, this is due to the city’s continued refusal to grant discovery requests that have been ordered by the appellate court’s ruling.

Since that ruling by the Indiana Court of Appeals, HDC has made at least 400 requests for discovery. Claiming the requests are “improper, excessive, unduly burdensome, overly broad, abusive and an inefficient use of resources,” (Dr. Norma Kreilein, et al. v. Common Council for the City of Jasper, et al. Cause No. 19C01-1108-MI 0298), the City of Jasper has not complied with the court’s ruling to allow for discovery.

According to HDC, the 400 requests cited in the city’s filing include repeated requests from multiple individuals for the same information.

The city’s continued refusal to comply with discovery requests is one of the reasons the Indiana Court of Appeals cited for reversing Judge Lucy Goffinet’s decision.

Little has been done with the power plant since the lawsuit was filed in August of 2011. The city has complained that it has not received any of the quarterly lease payments from Catasein since the lease was approved and signed in December of 2011, but they approved a resolution in December of 2011 to relieve Catasein of the obligation of those lease option payments until the lawsuit was resolved.

According to Wayne Schuetter, chairman of the USB, these payments were placed in the lease to compel Twisted Oak, now Jasper Clean Energy, to quickly move through the commercial and regulatory issues in preparation of converting the power plant to burn a mixture of miscanthus gigantus (a genetically engineered biofuel crop) and natural gas.

It has been regularly reported at the monthly Jasper Utility Service Board meetings that Catasein has not been successful in acquiring power purchase agreements with any power supply companies.[hr]

Since the ruling by the Indiana Court of Appeals, a Notre Dame researcher, Dr. Shrader-Frechette, has authored three articles about biomass that cite the Jasper biomass proposal, One has been peer reviewed and published, the second has been peer reviewed and awaits publication, and the third is in the review process.

Dr. Shrader-Frechette is the director of the Center for Environmental Justice and Children’s Health and is a professor of both Biological Sciences and Philosophy. With undergraduate degrees in math and physics, and graduate degrees in biological science, philosophy, economics and hydrology (water science), she is an acclaimed authority and veteran consultant on risk assessment and environmental exposure, especially regarding children.

Most of Shrader-Frechette’s research analyzes mathematical, biological, or ethical problems in risk assessment, public health, or environmental justice—especially those related to radiological, ecological, and energy-related risks.

She has received Notre Dame recognition for outstanding teaching as well as national and international awards for her ethics research. She has authored 16 books and almost 400 articles, which have been translated into 13 languages.

She has served as an advisor to numerous governments and international organizations, as well as being widely requested as a lecturer by universities, governments, and industrial groups in the Americas, Europe, China, India, Africa and Russia.

Here is a link to the most recently published study. It appears in the inaugural issue of Global Health Perspectives.

[box type=”download”]Lessons on Drought and Pollution from the Forgotten Three Billion: An Indiana Case Study on Using Biomass Crops for Generating Electricity Short Communication Authors Kristin Shrader-Frechette (University of Notre Dame) B.N. Kunycky (University of Notre Dame)biomass case study[/box]

[box]

From their Journal Information Page: Global Health Perspectives (GHP) is a  multidisciplinary journal for publishing basic and  applied research articles on health problems that have global dimensions including:

• Impacts of globalization and health;
• Sustainability development and health;
• Global (climate) change and public health
• Preventing disease through healthy environment;
• Vulnerability and adaptation to natural and human-made disasters;
• Emerging/re-emerging infectious diseases;
• Chronic disease epidemiology and prevention;
• Ethics, human rights and global health;
• Global health systems, governance, institutions and policies;
• Cost-effectiveness analysis;
• Global health security;
• Innovations in techniques, methods and programs applicable to global health

According to the GHP, there purpose is to contribute to the dissemination of information and knowledge in disciplines which can be used to improve health internationally, especially among the vulnerable and disadvantaged populations.

[/box]