The Hoosier Environmental Council plans to use public opinion to halt House Bill 1082, which passed the Indiana House 64-33 last week.
HB 1082 would, if passed, stop environmental organizations in Indiana from passing stricter regulations than the federal government requires for all states.
The bill was referred to the Senate on Wednesday.
The Hoosier Environmental Council is looking to Indiana residents to contact members of the Senate about the bill, dubbed “No More Stringent Than,” said Kim Ferraro, a senior staff attorney for the HEC, in an email.
“Right now we’re focused on convincing Senator Ed Charbonneau, who chairs the environmental affairs committee, to not hear the bill so that it will die in committee,” Ferraro said. “In that regard, we’re urging our supporters to contact Senator Charbonneau and members of the committee ... and to contact their own senator in the event the bill passes committee and goes to a floor vote.”
Rep. David Wolkins, R-Winona Lake, who authored the bill, did not respond to interview requests by the IDS by Sunday.
Sen. Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, was added as a sponsor to the bill Tuesday, according to the Indiana General Assembly website.
In February of 2014, Charbonneau heard House Bill 1143, authored by Wolkins, which also prohibited environmental boards from “adopting a rule or standard that is more stringent than the corresponding regulation or standard established under federal law.”
HB 1143 did not pass the Senate’s Environmental Affairs Committee.
According to the HEC’s BillWatch 2014, Charbonneau refused to call a vote on the prior bill, and it died in committee.
The HEC’s BillWatch 2016 expresses concern about HB 1082’s effect on boards like the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, which responds to environmental emergencies and regulates pollution.
“Some people have the view that EPA is too aggressive and tries to tackle every environmental problem out there,” the HEC’s website reads. “While the EPA has acted decisively to protect our air quality, there are many areas where the EPA has been, candidly, weak.”
Some of these areas include clean-up programs and regulation of pollution hazards, according to the HEC website.
If the bill passes, IDEM could be unable to respond properly in the event of an environmental crisis, according to the HEC website.
The Indiana Department of Enivronmental Management is not commenting on HB 1082 as it moves through the legislative process, said Amy Smith, from IDEM’s Office of Media Relations, in an email.
If HB 1082 passes, it will come into effect July 2016.
