Suzanne Jaworowski, Indiana’s secretary of energy and natural resources, speaks at the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute’s annual luncheon at Newfields in Indianapolis on Tuesday, Sept. 16. Photo by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

By Leslie Bonilla Muñiz
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANAPOLIS — Local bans on wind, solar and other energy projects are giving Indiana a bad reputation, Indiana’s top energy official said Tuesday, Sept. 16. She plans to reward those open for business.

“These local moratoriums are setting our energy policy,” said Energy and Natural Resources Secretary Suzanne Jaworowski said. “And not only that, it’s creating a reputation … where industry doesn’t want to come.”

She spoke at the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute’s annual luncheon.

Jaworowski knocked communities that “string” companies along for months or years, costing them significant sums of money for development work, before rejecting their projects.

“That’s disgraceful. Personally, I think that those companies should start suing those communities and get serious about it,” she said.

Indiana lacks a statewide siting statute. Jaworowski said she’s taking action “until the Legislature can do something about it.”

She described collaborating with the Indiana Economic Development Corp. on a map of local governments that have signed resolutions proclaiming their willingness to host energy or industrial developments. Communities can still include specific installation types they don’t want, Jaworowski said.

“We’ll court all these industries,” she told the room.

“We’re putting out a carrot and saying, … sites that want to be open to what the federal government (and) what the president is saying — that we need AI data centers, and we need energy development — we’re creating our own little group and incentivizing that,” she said.

“We feel like this is part of America250,” Jaworowski continued, referring to Pres. Donald Trump’s semiquincentennial initiative. “If you’re a patriotic community, and you want to stand up and show some unity, show some support for what the country needs to do right now, this is Indiana’s way of showing that.”

She said the state will include a “siting center” at its Global Nuclear Energy Economic Summit in November, held with Purdue University. It’ll promote the local governments that have signed resolutions and been pre-evaluated for hosting small modular nuclear reactors.

Jaworowski further dismissed “misinformation” about Indiana’s supply of energy and natural resources.

“Indiana has plenty of energy now. We will have plenty of energy in the future, and the same is true for water,” she said. “… Our utilities are poised to serve. They are working together with all these large load demands. They will grow together.”

To “anti-folks” blaming rising electricity costs on data centers and nuclear reactor projects, Jaworowski noted that the state doesn’t “have any mega data centers” or active nuclear.

She pointed instead to coal-powered plant closures, inflation, and a resurgence in manufacturing.