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Sunday, April 10, 2005

Ind. Law - Dispute awaits environmental bill

More today in several Indiana papers about SB 298, via an AP story by Rick Callahan, headlined by the Louisville Courier Journal -- "Dispute awaits environmental bill: Plan restricts rules stricter than EPA's." Some quotes:

Legislation that would prohibit state agencies from enacting environmental rules tougher than federal standards is headed for a face-off in the General Assembly, with a senator calling it "absolutely horrible public policy."

Supporters contend it is needed to prevent excessive industrial regulation that can hamper economic development, but environmentalists strongly oppose it, as does Sen. Beverly Gard, chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Environmental Affairs Committee.

Gard said the bill poses a threat to public health because it would bar the state's air pollution and water pollution control boards from adopting rules or standards more stringent than U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards.

"We don't often do things that are more strict than the federal law, but to say that absolutely under no circumstances you can't do it is absolutely horrible public policy," said Gard, R-Greenfield. * * *

Wolkins said similar legislation has passed the House in three separate sessions, but died because Gard -- who calls the move by Wolkins an "end run" around her committee -- would not give it a hearing.

He contends that Indiana has paid a price in the past by adopting standards tougher than federal regulations. He said the state's water quality standards have contributed to a backlog of outdated water permits at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

"I think the EPA standards are strong enough and I don't think we need to be reinventing the wheel and going through the process of adopting standards that are stricter than the federal standards," Wolkins said.

Gard said state law now requires state environmental regulators to conduct scientific and fiscal impact studies in cases where it wants the state's environmental rules to be stricter than federal mandates. * * *

Sen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, is the sponsor [sic.] of the bill, which is now in a conference committee where compromises will be considered. He said it could receive a public hearing -- its first in the Senate -- as early as this week.

For background, see this April 7th ILB entry. Who are the Senate conferees on the bill? From the Action List: Senator Garton has appointed Senators M. Young and Hume. He has also appointed as "advisors" Senators Gard and R. Young.

Who were the authors of the original version of SB 298? Senators Senators M. Young and Kenley. It was coauthored by Senators R. Young and Hume. Recall that the Senate version of the bill simply proposed some tweaks to the administrative rulemaking statute requiring an agency to submit a rule with an estimated economic impact greater than $500,000 to the legislative services agency (LSA) for a fiscal impact statement. The changes to the Senate bill -- dealing with small business and "no more stringent" -- were all added in the House. The House conferees apparently have not yet been named.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 10, 2005 05:34 PM
Posted to Administrative Law | Environment | Indiana Law