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Thursday, December 29, 2005

Ind. Law - "IDEM had more or less kept their comment period a secret"

Bedford's WBIW is reporting this afternoon:

Cities like Los Angeles might require air-quality control, however for environmentalists to claim [outdoor] wood-burning furnaces are a health problem in Indiana is ridiculous. State regulators asked for comments from Hoosiers on the subject, and they are on the receiving end from citizens that don't want the IDEM meddling in what method they use to heat their homes. Until State Senator Brent Steele became aware of the public comment period that ends January 3rd, the IDEM had more or less kept their comment period a secret [emphasis added].
Now really! The ILB reported on the Bedford Times-Mail's story yesterday, but I didn't include this section, which I attributed to poor staff work on Senator Steele's behalf:
The proposal also lit up the concerns of state Sen. Brent Steele, R-Bedford, who said he had a hard time tracking down information on the proposal.

“I don't know, really, what's up,” Steele said. “I just noticed they were in a rule-making process, and I couldn't figure out what they were trying to do. ... It dawned on me if it was that hard for me as a senator to find out what was going on, the average person probably didn't know about it.”

So Steele fired off press releases throughout the state, asking Hoosiers to respond to IDEM's call for comments.

“I just thought it was my duty to notify people. ... Let the chips fall where they may,” said Steele, who uses wood to help heat his own home.

IDEM's first notice of rulemaking was published here in the December 1, 2005 Indiana Register, following the procedures the General Assembly has established by law to provide public notice of agency rulemakings.

Environmental rulemakings are lengthly processes, designed to provide many opportunities for public input in development of a proposed rule, involving as many as three or more opportunities for written public comment, plus at least two public hearings.

In addition, as noted in the Dec. 1, 2005 1st Notice, "An external workgroup will be established to discuss issues involved in this rulemaking." This will allow for even more public participation.

Normally an IDEM rulemaking takes 18 months to 2 years to complete. The other agencies in state government conduct rulemaking under a different law, with rulemakings normally taking 4 to 8 months.

Here is a chart comparing the rulemaking requirements for IDEM with those that apply to other state agencies. And here is a more detailed 2-page chart of the IDEM rulemaking requirements, including cites to the relevant statutes.

Yesterday's ILB entry ("Sparks fly over outdoor wood-burning furnaces") includes links to several earlier ILB entries on this rulemaking, including this one from Dec. 5th titled "Wood-burning outdoor boiler catching heat," quoting from a well-written story from the South Bend Tribune, and including this photo of an outdoor wood-fired boiler in action.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 29, 2005 02:24 PM
Posted to Indiana Law