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Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Environment - "Looking for policy assistance, legislature turns to IU student"
IU News Room sent out this release this morning. Some quotes:
Indiana University student Liz Baldwin likes to use what she has learned in the classroom for real-world projects. She found an opportunity to do so recently, and the result could be a change in state law that saves money and streamlines the cleanup of polluted industrial and commercial properties."I really love getting to do things in real life, and I think there are a lot of students who feel the same way," said Baldwin, who this spring is completing a joint law and public-affairs graduate program in the Maurer School of Law and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
Her project dealt with Indiana's Environmental Legal Actions statute, a simple, pragmatic law adopted in the 1990s that encourages property owners to clean up "brownfield" properties by giving them the authority to recover damages from the parties that were responsible for past pollution.
There's just one problem with the law: It doesn't include a statute-of-limitations provision that spells out the deadline for taking legal action. Indiana courts have handed down conflicting rulings about whether actions under the law have been filed on time.
As a result, money that could be spent on environmental cleanups instead goes to court fights over who's responsible. And property owners are reluctant to remediate and redevelop contaminated properties, because they don't know if they can recover costs through the courts. * * *
Baldwin's work resulted from a request by Sen. Beverly Gard, R-Greenfield, who authored the environmental legislation. Looking for a way to fix the statute-of-limitations problem, Gard turned to A. James Barnes, a professor in the Maurer School of Law and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Barnes recommended Baldwin for the job.
Baldwin researched the law and court rulings, talked to attorneys who handle environmental cases, and produced a 14-page report that examined several options and recommended steps for improving the statute. Her conclusions went into the drafting of Senate Bill 346, which gives plaintiffs 10 years to sue from the time they start spending money on a cleanup. * * *
Baldwin testified before the Indiana Senate Committee on Energy and Environmental Affairs, explaining the issues when it considered the legislation. The committee approved SB 346 unanimously, and the Senate passed it by a vote of 48-0. It is now before the House and is expected to be considered Wednesday in a hearing by the Environmental Affairs Committee.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 12, 2011 11:05 AM
Posted to Environment