In a somewhat surprising move, House Bill 1381 was never called for a Senate vote Tuesday.

Without the necessary support, the bill is “essentially” dead but language in the bill that would set statewide standards for wind and solar projects, essentially overriding “home rule” for local government, could be added to another bill.

Renewable energy companies are frustrated with local governments making entry for large-scale projects extremely difficult. House Bill 1381 was created to set standards to be used statewide at the expense of local governmental control.

The bill passed on early Tuesday which gave the impression it was dead. After a caucus and long discussion about another bill, House Bill 1381 came back up.

Without enough support, though, Sen. Mark Messmer (R-Jasper) withdrew the bill.

“There wasn’t enough support to pass the bill,” said Messmer in a story for Indiana Business Journal. “There’s no sense talking about a bill that’s not going anywhere.”

There is statewide support to increase Indiana’s renewable energy footprint. The opposition is not with renewable energy but with where it is being located – in many cases on prime farm land in a state that heavily relies on the agriculture industry.