Editorial: Indiana needs to reduce its dependency on coal

It was a reprieve, not a pardon.

That's how Indiana leaders should view the U.S. Supreme Court's rebuke of the Environmental Protection Agency's stringent new regulations on coal-fired power plants.

The court this past week sided with the argument, presented by Indiana and 20 other states, that the EPA failed to adequately consider how much ratepayers would be hurt by regulations that went into effect this year.

The ruling ostensibly is good news for anyone who uses electricity in Indiana, which, of course, is all of us. That's because Indiana still relies on burning coal to generate more than 80 percent of our electricity. In fact, only three states — West Virginia, Kentucky and Wyoming — are more dependent than Indiana on coal to keep the lights on.

And that's a problem.

Because while the court's ruling gives Indiana more time to develop a better energy mix, the overall trend is clear: Most industrialized Western nations, including the United States, are moving away from coal because of the environmental problems associated with extracting it, transporting it and burning it.

Indiana has been slow to adjust to that trend. In part that's because we have an abundance of still cheap-to-consume coal available and because the manufacturing sector, a huge consumer of electricity, makes up such a large part of our economy. (Indiana remains the most manufacturing intensive state in the nation.)

But, court ruling or no, the reign of King Coal seems to be waning, a fact driven by concerns about air and water pollution as well as the need to confront climate change. Although the new regulations on power plant emissions have been put on hold for now, the national push to better care for the environment won't go away. Nor should it.

So it would be prudent for state leaders to work more aggressively to create a better energy mix, including further development of renewable energy sources as well as a fresh push for heightened energy efficiency.

The high court's ruling has given Indiana more time to reduce its dependency on coal. We need to take advantage of the reprieve.