A bill limiting Indiana’s environmental regulations has passed in committee and will move on to the House of Representatives for consideration.
If the bill, authored by Rep. David Wolkins, R-Winona Lake, passes in the House and Senate, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management will not be able to hold Indiana businesses to stricter eco-friendly ordinances than the federal government does.
The Indiana House of Representatives’ Environment Affairs Committee passed the bill 7-6.
House Bill 1082, also dubbed the “No More Stringent Than” bill, would stop the environmental rules board from adopting any standard or law that is more stringent than a similar regulation or standard under federal law.
Given the vague federal guidelines for states, this legislation could tie the hands of environmental agencies, said Kim Ferraro, a senior staff attorney for the Hoosier Environmental Council.
“The law has really ambiguous language,” Ferraro said. “How would you determine whether a broad federal law is more stringent than a ... state law?”
According to the HEC’s website, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not yet created enough regulations for environmental problems like pollution from fracking, factory farm manure pits and outdoor wood boilers.
“Since the EPA has not adequately acted to address those problems above, HB 1082 would bar IDEM, from doing anything stronger to protect the public health,” the HEC’s website reads.
Ferraro said she’s concerned about possible repercussions for Indiana’s drinking water, given the recent discovery of iron and lead pollution in Flint, Michigan. However, she said, the spate of issues that the bill could affect is broad.
Ferraro argued Indiana businesses are already well-protected under existing legislation, which allows the state government to review and strike down restrictive regulations to protect business.
“We should leave well enough alone,” Ferraro said. “It is well-protected already.”
In 2015, WalletHub ranked Indiana 47th in its list of the least eco-friendly states. The Hoosier state tied for second-lowest air quality, according to the same study.
Ferraro added that young people who have worked with the HEC often conflate an area’s environment and the quality of life within that area.
In the interest of keeping young people in Indiana, she said, the bill should not be passed.
In the coming weeks, she said the HEC will meet with environmental affairs chair Ed Charbonneau to discuss the bill.
“It is obviously a full-on effort to educate state senators about how dangerous this is,” Ferraro said.
