Scott Pruitt, former director of the EPA charged with defending the taxpayers of Indiana

Denver, April 20, 2019 / PRNewswire / – (Nasdaq: HNRG) – Scott Pruitt, a former director of the EPA, has registered on behalf of Rail Point Solutions LLC, a subsidiary of Hallador Energy Company, as a lobbyist in an attempt to protect taxpayers of the company. Indiana Vectren and NIPSCO rate increases. These two Indiana utilities are proposing policies that will increase their customers' electricity bills. The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) will ultimately decide the outcome of these policies, but Vectren and NIPSCO argue that the UIC should close factories on the basis of the rules of the Obama period, that Trump and his EPA are in solve. Their argument is that no one knows what the new rules will look like, so we should hurry up and make permanent decisions today. Who better than Scott Pruitt to help the Indiana legislator on Trump's energy policy?

If the URC votes in favor of Vectren and NIPSCO, both companies will likely benefit from accelerated payments for the factories they close, as well as a guaranteed return on their investment in new ones. facilities. Such a decision would bring big profits to the shareholders of the electricity companies at the expense of their customers. In the case of Vectren, a study shows that average rates for Vectren customers will increase by 27%, if their project remains in the budget.

In the last 10 years, Indiana coal consumption decreased by 26%, at the same time Indiana electricity rates increased by 26%. Is there a correlation? At the same time, Indiana slid 6^th most competitive state based on 30 electricity tariffs^th. Will this affect the creation of jobs?

In the end, Governor Holcomb does not have the right to give instructions to the URCR on energy policy, it belongs to the Indiana legislature to create an energy plan that the RCU will follow. We ask the legislature to add to the budget bill two sentences that prevent the IURC from making rule-based decisions that the EPA is reviewing and which, in some cases, have already reversed. We ask the Indiana legislator to act and to prevent rates from increasing unnecessarily. Inaction will certainly result in higher rates on Indiana consumers and businesses. We reach out to our friends in the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers Association of Indiana to ask them to help us in this effort.

SOURCE Hallador Energy Company