02/18/2009 - Enviros say IDEM overstepped authority (Gary Post-Tribune)

Enviros say IDEM overstepped authority

By Gitte Laasby
Post-Tribune staff writer

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management might have overstepped its authority when it recently made changes that make it tougher to crack down on polluters.

So say Indiana's three largest environmental groups. The coalition sent a strongly worded letter Tuesday to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5. They hope the EPA will become involved and make the process of changes more transparent to the public.

"We believe IDEM's changes are, at worst, a violation of Indiana's federally authorized, delegated and/or approved environmental programs. At best, they reflect an opaque, imprudent process of state environmental agency decision-making," said the letter from the Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter, Save the Dunes Council and the Hoosier Environmental Council.

The EPA will meet with IDEM in Indianapolis on Thursday to discuss the changes. They include a proposed new enforcement policy and eliminating contracts with local agencies in Gary, Hammond, Indianapolis and elsewhere. The cities inspect businesses and monitor their compliance with air permits.

IDEM has proposed doing the work in-house, saying it will increase efficiency and eliminate duplicate services while saving $2 million. The coalition proposes that EPA require the work be carried out by local agencies this year while the Air Pollution Control Board prepares a report with feasible ways to improve efficiency without losing effectiveness.

IDEM's proposed enforcement policy would make IDEM less likely to enforce against a facility for permit violations -- unless the violation causes actual harm to someone's health or the environment.

"We wanted to contact EPA and express our concerns about some of the things being proposed," said Tom Anderson, executive director of Save the Dunes Council. "(Find out) whether what they are proposing is legal or not."

The coalition said IDEM's cancellation of the air contracts would hurt public health and economic development and impair citizens' ability to have any complaints addressed fairly and quickly.

"The City (of Indianapolis) has used the Clean Air Act as the baseline/floor and then aimed for higher standards of air quality protection in its actions," the letter states. "IDEM, on the other hand, routinely stops at the minimum levels, maintaining that such levels are good enough."

Anderson said the coalition hopes to attend EPA's meeting with IDEM Thursday. But so far, IDEM has refused to open the meeting.

"This meeting will not be open to reporters or the public because the discussion will likely include deliberative content (the discussion of the enforcement program could involve unresolved cases) and the meeting is not an executive session (no official action is being taken)," IDEM spokesman Rob Elstro told the Post-Tribune in an e-mail Feb. 10. "The meeting is not subject to Indiana's open door law."

Anderson said it's in the interest of open government to open the meeting to the public. He said IDEM should be proud to tell the public how it intends to save money and be more efficient.

"A citizens' watchdog role is important in society. It doesn't sound like there's any proposed litigation. It doesn't sound like there's any personnel things it involves. It sounds like it's whether the state is conducting business according to state and federal law," he said. "As taxpayers funding both of the agencies, I think there's a public right to know."