Mirroring an earlier opinion by a federal district court, the Indiana Court of Appeals has struck down a state law that allowed regulators to offer special rate treatment and construction project preapproval to utilities that develop clean air compliance plans that would maximize the use of high-sulfur coal mined in the state. The court remanded the case to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and agreed with a prior finding by the U.S. District Court (S.D. Indiana) that the state law was "facially unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause."
The case involves an approved clean air compliance plan for Indianapolis Power & Light Co. In its remand order the state court implied that it would have upheld the plan if it best fit the "nonprotectionist" criteria in the statute. General Motors Corp. v. Indianapolis P&L Co., No. 93A02-EX-489, June 30, 1995 (Ind.App.).
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