Gibson County

Gibson County is CenterPoint electric territory, and the second phase of a roughly 20 percent increase took effect in March 2026. In July 2026 a grassroots group delivered a petition with more than 300 signatures asking the governor to push for a rehearing of the 2025 rate case. People choosing between medicine and air conditioning is not a talking point. It is happening here.

Duke's own resource plan keeps Indiana's largest coal plant running years longer than previously planned and adds a new gas plant at the site, citing demand growth that includes data centers. Whatever you think about coal, the pattern deserves attention: enormous new customers show up, and the costs and the smoke stay local. Growth that comes here should pay its own way and answer to the people who live with it.

When a 2,250 acre solar project moved in southeast of Princeton, residents petitioned the commissioners for bigger setbacks and tighter rules, pointing out that about two thirds of the county is farmland and roughly a tenth of its acres are already in energy production. I am not against solar, and I am not against a farmer's right to lease their own ground. I am for neighbors having a real voice in the rules before the bulldozers arrive.

East Gibson schools project losing more than $400,000 over three years under the 2025 property tax law, and the superintendent has said out loud that outsourcing custodians is on the table. The county itself moved about $210,000 from its levy excess fund because projected revenue could not cover the adopted budget. Relief that quietly defunds Wood Memorial is not relief.

Toyota announced a 1.4 billion dollar investment in the Princeton plant in April 2024 for a new electric SUV and battery assembly, with hiring that began in early 2026, and added roughly 200 million dollars more for Grand Highlander capacity in March 2026. That is good news, and it also raises real questions the county has to plan for: housing for new workers, roads, childcare, and the power to run it all. Growth this big should come with a seat at the table for the people who live around it.

The Patoka near Princeton reached moderate flood stage in July 2026, and the White River at Hazleton carried flood warnings in March 2026. Some of the county's best ground sits in those bottoms. Levees, drainage, and honest flood planning are old fashioned government work, and they are exactly the kind of thing I will show up for.