Greater Jasper Schools to Close This Week Due to Emergency Gas Shortage

BY: DAVID SHEPHERD, NEWS DIRECTOR

JASPER -- Officials in Jasper and Huntingburg released statements Tuesday urging residents and businesses to reduce natural gas consumption.

Gas company officials said in a statement Tuesday, "The natural gas grid is deteriorating as we speak and it’s NOT getting better any time soon.  This is impacting the entire Midwest and with blizzard like conditions in multiple states we will continue to see power loss and production loss. Please do EVERYTHING you can to reduce natural gas consumption immediately.  We just have to make it through the next few days. This is an unprecedented event NEVER seen before in the natural gas business."

Those officials ask you to turn your thermostat to 68 degrees and cut back on the use of large, natural gas-consuming equipment.

Greater Jasper Schools will be on eLearning the rest of the week to help comply with the call for a reduction.

There have not been any rolling blackouts in Indiana like they are having in other parts of the Midwest, but, officials warn, that could be a possibility if the emergency gas shortage does not improve quickly.