The state wants the public and other stakeholders to help identify environmental rules they find “burdensome.” Gov. Mike Braun directed the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to review its rules in an executive order in March.
Among other things, Braun ordered IDEM to reconsider rules that significantly raise the cost of living for Hoosiers, overburden businesses or are stricter than federal ones.
Sam Carpenter is the executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council. He said environmental rules are there for a reason.
When the Cuyahoga River in Ohio repeatedly caught on fire in the late 1960s, it helped lead to federal water quality standards.
“We don't want to think about these just necessarily as overburdened regulation. But, in fact, these are protections in place so that we're not overburdened by issues of health, environmental health," Carpenter said.
He said the HEC is concerned the state could do away with what remains of its wetland rules. Most of Indiana’s wetlands have no federal protections. It’s possible Braun’s order could exempt Indiana’s wetland rules from scrutiny since they’re laid out in state law.
READ MORE: U.S. Supreme Court removes more protections for Indiana wetlands
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Carpenter said there are some ways wetland regulations could be more efficient — like choosing better locations for human-made wetlands where they’re more likely to thrive.
“We'd like to look at ways to how we can improve wetland protection, but our starting point is to not remove what we have in place," he said.
The HEC is also concerned the state could weaken regulations regarding hazardous waste disposal and stormwater permitting.
Kim Ferraro is a senior attorney with the Conservation Law Center. She said even trying to figure out if a state rule is more stringent than a federal one is a nearly impossible task.
“Because you're comparing broad federal guidelines and language that say all sorts of flowery things and then states are implementing that in specific regulations," Ferraro said.
She said many states craft rules different from federal ones because each state has different needs.
Ferraro said IDEM should use this opportunity to explain to Governor Braun that having clean air and water doesn’t have to stifle economic development. She said more employees want to live in a clean environment.
IDEM refused to provide anyone for an interview. The public has until Monday to comment. You can send comments via email to Efficiency@idem.in.gov.
Rebecca is our energy and environment reporter. Contact her at rthiele@iu.edu or on Signal at IPBenvironment.01. Follow her on Twitter at @beckythiele.