INDIANAPOLIS (March 18, 2005) ? Increased energy production by Indiana companies is a major component of Governor Mitch Daniels? economic comeback package. Legislation to create ?Clean Indiana Energy? moved forward Thursday (March 17), when the House Ways and Means Committee took action to move Senate Bill 378 to the House floor for consideration. The legislation passed in the Senate earlier this month.

The measure would provide tax credits for production of environmentally clean energy from indigenous Indiana fuel sources such as coal, corn, soybeans and other renewable organic material. It is authored by Senator Tom Weatherwax, R-Logansport, and Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, and sponsored in the House by Rep. Troy Woodruff, R-Vincennes.

?Rep. Woodruff has been our champion in moving this important legislation forward,? said Governor Daniels. ?We need to become self-sufficient in electricity and use Indiana coal to do it. I see a chance to make Indiana a capital of biofuels, which has benefits for farmers and the environment.?

New Environmental Protection Agency air regulations announced earlier this week addressing sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury make these clean energy sources even more important to our future, Daniels said.

Passage of the Clean Indiana Energy bill has the potential to put more Hoosiers to work in the industry by encouraging development of several large energy production facilities, including coal gasification power plants as well as several ethanol and biodiesel plants.

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Media contact: Jane Jankowski, Office of the Governor, 317/232-1622, jjankowski@gov.in.gov