Residents of Gary, Ind. were left without power for 14 days. From Aug. 11 to Aug. 25, Gary residents had to live their lives without power, internet, and utilities.
The outages started after the historic flooding that took place throughout Indiana as the result of severe thunderstorms. The storms knocked out power for approximately 375,000 customers, according to the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO). The amount of individual people impacted by these outages is unclear.
The people of Northern Indiana took issue with NIPSCO. More specifically, many were upset with the speed they had restored power to the community, reported by Fox 32 Chicago. Indiana Governor Mike Braun took to Facebook to voice his own displeasure with the situation. “It’s unacceptable that so many Hoosiers are still without power,” posted Braun. “… I deeply appreciate the linemen and crews who are putting in the legwork and long hours to address these outages. It’s on NIPSCO management to step up, take this seriously and restore power now.”
Many residents felt the blame should be placed on NIPSCO for their lack of preventative work. Prevention entails routine inspections, replacements and maintenance which allows NIPSCO to continue reliable service to customers, according to NIPSCO. Citizens of Porter County have even filed a class action lawsuit against NIPSCO for their lack of attention to the area, according to the Indiana Capitol Chronicle.
The lawsuit available on the Indiana Capitol Chronicle describes allegations against NIPSCO, claiming they neglected the Porter County area by failing to trim down vegetation surrounding electrical wires and other utilities. The plaintiffs allege that this neglect is what caused the severity and duration of the outages in the area. The lawsuit aims to right the physical and financial damages faced by the residents of Porter County.
But what can a lawsuit do for the people who faced this damage first hand? Associate professor of sociology and department chair Colleen Wynn said what was experienced can never be taken away.
“We certainly can’t undo any of the past harms,” says Wynn. “But I think that we can think of them as sort of like a form of reparations.”
The lawsuit may be preventative as well as reparative, too. Wynn suggests that being forced to pay the fine this suit requests, NIPSCO and other entities may be more inclined to serve communities equitably and keep this event from happening again.
With approximately one third of the Gary population living below the poverty line, according to the United States Census Bureau, NIPSCO likely does not receive significant funding from the area. This could be the reason behind the lack of maintenance observed by residents.
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NDRC), systematic placement of hazards or neglect in areas populated primarily by people of color or low-income families, also known as environmental injustice, is an issue that has affected the U.S. for decades. Privatized companies and corporations are typically the greatest culprits of this form of injustice, according to the NDRC.
Cities like Gary, that have many people experiencing poverty, will tend to have a difficult time gathering information and bringing this to the attention of officials while also caring for their families and maintaining their livelihood, according to the University of Pittsburgh Climate and Global Change Center. This, along with Gary’s lower financial contributions to the state of Indiana and the service providers assisting the area, make the city a leading target.
The multidimensional nature of environmental injustice could make it hard to fully understand where the issue began. The plaintiffs in the Porter County v. NIPSCO lawsuit allege that NIPSCO allegedly neglected the area. However, according to the New York Times, the state failed to invest in the area and federal funding did not properly support each Hoosier community or initiative proportionately, according to the Indiana Capitol Chronicle.
“Gary has not seen some of the kind of investment that other communities across the state have, and so I think certainly there’s blame on NIPSCO, but I think there’s also blame on the state,” said Wynn. “…There’s also probably some blame at a federal level as well, right? In terms of maybe lack of investment there, I’m sure there were opportunities where the state and or local officials in Gary sought federal funds that maybe were or were not awarded or were not awarded robustly.”
After the storms and the following outages, Gary is offering financial assistance for those impacted through both CoAction and Legacy Foundation with aid amounts varying from $350 to $1000, as reported by the City of Gary. In addition, financial assistance from the State Disaster Relief Fund and Federal Emergency Management Agency for homeowners in Gary has been approved for households impacted by the storms.
Beyond the anger directed towards NIPSCO, the state and the federal government by those affected, we also saw the strength of community and care through this event. The City of Gary Facebook page supported many endeavors to minimize the impact of the outages and thunderstorms. Posts were made advertising community drives, places to stay and safety information for those who needed it.
“I hope that people will think about how we can structure our systems so that we don’t have this happen in the future,” said Wynn.
