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Energy Secretary Issues Emergency Orders to Ensure Indiana Coal-fired Facilities Remain Open to Prevent Midwest Blackouts

LCG, December 24, 2025--The U.S. Secretary of Energy today issued emergency orders to keep two Indiana coal plants operational, with the stated goal to ensure Americans in the Midwest region of the United States have access to affordable, reliable, and secure electricity heading into the winter months. The orders direct CenterPoint Energy, the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (MISO) to take all measures necessary to ensure specified generation units at both the F.B. Culley and R.M. Schahfer generating stations in Indiana are available to operate.

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RWE and Indiana Michigan Power Company Sign Long-term PPA for 200 MW Wind Project

LCG, December 18, 2025--RWE and Indiana Michigan Power Company (I&M), an American Electric Power (AEP) company, today announced their partnering to provide new wind power generation capacity online to meet Indiana’s growing electricity demand. The companies signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the total output from RWE’s 200 MW Prairie Creek wind project in Blackford County, Indiana. I&M will purchase electricity from the wind project, which will further diversify its portfolio and be consistent with its all-of-the-above strategy to secure generation for its rapidly growing electricity demand.

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Industry News

Yakama Tribe Bills Bonneville for Rain-Making

LCG, May 23, 2001The Yakama Indian Nation of Washington state has sent the Bonneville Power Administration a bill for $32,000, seeking payment for two ritual rain-making ceremonies the tribe claims will help the federal operator of hydroelectric facilities produce more power this summer.

The Pacific Northwest has suffered through a persistent drought that has severely curtailed power production at Bonneville's 29 hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers, forcing large aluminum smelters to curtail production or shut down operations and eliminating power available for export to California.

The drought also has the states of Washington and Oregon scrambling to find sufficient electricity production to meet their own needs. Large diesel generators are being installed near Wenatchee, within view of the Columbia, and in Tacoma.

With the water shortage threatening to continue, the Yakima tribe talked to Bonneville about producing some rain. Mike Hansen, a Bonneville spokesman, said the agency's acting administrator, Steve Wright, talked in March to representatives of the Indian Nation about "traditional" methods of encouraging rainfall.

Hansen said Wright was willing to listen but apparently Randy Settler, a tribal council member, thought the conversation was a go-ahead. The tribe went ahead with two ceremonies in the central Washington mountains in March, bringing traditional foods such as roots and berries, and thinks the ritual did some good.

At the Yakima airport, 1.86 inches of rain has been recorded since the first of the year, withmore than half of that -- 0.98 inches, occurring since March 1, the Associated Press reported. The year-to-date total is 1.47 inches below normal, while the amount since March 1 is 0.40 inches less than normal.

"We've had more rain since those events," Settler said. "We've had a lot of rain."

So, the Yakama Indian Nation sent Bonneville a $32,000 bill for the rain-making. Hansen said the invoice was "pretty vague" about the details, adding that Bonneville would not pay the bill.

"It was pretty much a blow to me to hear from the (Bonneville) administrator that he couldn't find the funds ... to assist in this," Settler said.

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