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Monday, September 20, 2004

Environment - Stories Today

Medical Waste. The lead to a story today in the Gary Post Tribune reads:

Gov. Joe Kernan gave his word Sunday to a large group of Northwest Indiana residents that he will have the state review the legality of a proposed medical-waste dump slated to be built in Gary.
[Recall the 9/14/04 ILB entry that quoted this lead from a Chicago Tribune story: "Prompted by neighborhood activists pushing to close Evanston Hospital's medical-waste incinerator, Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Monday urged the state's last remaining hospital-trash burners to shut down."]

Private sewage treatment plants. The Louisville Courier-Journal reports today:

Two Floyd County citizens' groups have been instrumental in getting a state agency to consider a rule that could sharply limit the use of new or expanded private sewage-treatment plants by developers.

The proposed rule says such plants could be built or expanded only on streams that always have water in them — and much more water than sewage.

It would prohibit the now-common practice of building subdivision sewage plants — or package-treatment plants — on small streams that are dry part of the year. The rule was proposed by the Greenville Concerned Citizens and Save Our Knobs. Brian Zipperle, a vice president of the Greenville group, said the proposal would create a major change in the way sewage plants are regulated in the state. * * *

But Greg Fifer, a Floyd County lawyer who often represents developers and once was an official of a company that built and managed sewage plants, said the proposal is unreasonable. "If you require that," he said, "you would shut down development. In Floyd County there are no streams that run year round."

Fifer said he believes that's also true elsewhere in the state. Major rivers, he said, wouldn't support the state's development needs if they were the only places new sewage plants could be built.

It happens that I have a several documents relating to this proposal. I've posted them; access them here: (1) the original citizens' petition; (2) an addendum (large file, contains color maps, etc. - Sorry, I can't get this to work. If you want it, you will need to download it as a MS Word doc from IDEM - check here); (3) an IDEM press release.

Note that this involves a citizens petition, much like the proposal before the Air Board concerning mercury emissions, discussed at length in this Sept. 16th Indiana Law Blog entry titled "Confusion about citizen rulemaking petitions." In the case of the Water Board petition, the IDEM press release does make it clear that all that is to be considered at the hearings is whether or not the public thinks a rulemaking should be initiated:

The Indiana Water Pollution Control Board (WPCB) wants to hear what Hoosiers think about a request that the state amend its rule regarding into which streams wastewater treatment plants can discharge treated water.
However, there is still confusion, as the the LCJ story quoted above implies that the Water Board is considering a rule, when in fact all it is doing is considering whether to direct IDEM to initiate a formal rulemaking. If and when a formal rulemaking is underway, there are a number of official notice and comment periods, public hearings on the content of the proposed rule, etc. The entire formal process can take several years or may entirely bog down at any point along the way.

Buyout of river homes to start. That is the headline of an AP story today reporting:

FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- More than a year after floodwaters swamped dozens of homes along the St. Marys River, officials are ready to buy and raze several of the houses.

Mayor Graham Richard said Friday that city officials expected to begin closing this week on the purchase of several homes damaged by the July 2003 floods. * * *

John Perlich, public works spokesman, said in determining values for the homes, the city used the average of two professional appraisals. He said homeowners uncomfortable with the average could pay for a third appraisal.

Regional Sewer Districts. The South Bend Tribune reports today that "Group's petition asks IDEM to drop Koontz Lake project." Some quotes:
Opponents of a sewer system for Koontz Lake say they have collected 363 petition signatures and will present them today to the Marshall and Starke county commissioners. * * * Another group of residents, the Koontz Lake Sewer Advisory Committee, has asked IDEM to form a sewer district in their community because they fear that septic tanks are polluting the lake or will eventually do so. IDEM plans to hold a public hearing in the spring. * * *

About 900 properties are in the Koontz Lake area. The Sewer Advisory Committee has claimed its survey found a majority of residents in favor of sewers.

However, Newlon in late June told The Tribune that whether a sewer district is formed is "not a matter of a popularity vote," and sewer proponents and IDEM do not have to prove that household septic systems have polluted the lake.

Sewer supporter David Stanley, a 49-year-old lifelong resident of the lake, said he is not sure what effect the opponents' petition will have.

"IDEM from what I understand has said this is not up for popular vote," said Stanley, a second-generation owner of Stanley's Marine. "They're saying, 'You have a pollution problem that the state is going to come in and require you to fix.' "

Smillie has said there might be failing septics on the lake, but it's up to their owners to fix them. But Stanley said a polluting septic system becomes everyone's problem.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 20, 2004 12:49 PM
Posted to Environmental Issues