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Thursday, January 22, 2009

Environment - "U.S. EPA raises concerns about IDEM changes"

Gittle Laasby of the Gary Post-Tribune reports today:

Recent changes in enforcement at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management are not going over well with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA sent a letter to IDEM Tuesday, raising questions about the changes and requesting a meeting.

"It has come to our attention that the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) has made or is planning to make several changes to its enforcement program," EPA Acting Regional Administrator Bharat Mathur wrote in the Jan. 20 letter to IDEM Commissioner Tom Easterly.

"These changes include eliminating the Office of Enforcement, revising the Compliance and Enforcement Policy (CERP), and eliminating funding for local air authorities."

EPA Region 5 "would like to discuss the nature, extent and status of these changes with IDEM so that we can evaluate their impact on the State's federally authorized, delegated and/or approved environmental programs," Mathur said in the letter to IDEM, which was sent Tuesday.

For background, start with this ILB entry from Dec. 19, 2008.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 22, 2009 11:54 AM
Posted to Environment