02/25/2009 - Groups worried about IDEM plan (Gary Post-Tribune)

Groups worried about IDEM plan

By Gitte Laasby
Post-Tribune staff writer

A proposed enforcement policy would require proof of harm before the Indiana Department of Environmental Management will enforce for permit violations. That means the state can't protect public health and the environment, according to the Valparaiso-based Legal Environmental Aid Foundation.

"We are deeply concerned," LEAF and the Hoosier Environmental Council wrote to EPA Region 5 in a Feb. 18 letter. "The pending (policy) thwarts the Congressional purpose and intent of federal laws in Indiana and, to date, has not been subject to public comment as required" by Indiana law.

IDEM proposed the new policy on Oct. 30 because the old one "didn't reflect our organization" and "wasn't clear," IDEM Commissioner Tom Easterly said.

"We're trying to make it clearer," he said.

Easterly denied that the new policy is a relaxation. Environmental groups contend that it "dramatically cripples IDEM's ability to protect public health and the environment ... by requiring actual proof of harm ... before IDEM will take enforcement action."

They say permit limits are set to protect the environment and that there's a presumption of harm if limits are exceeded.

With the letter, the Valparaiso foundation joined a choir of Indiana's three largest environmental groups in speaking up against the policy to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA is reviewing the policy and met with IDEM?last week to discuss it.

The old policy referred to serious violations as negligent ones that result "in actual or potential threat to human health or safety or which results in a serious actual or potential impact to the environment." The new policy deletes the "potential" part, but Easterly denied that harm must have occurred for IDEM to enforce.

"A threat still does not have to have happened. It's not like ... you have to prove that something bad happened to a person. We know that emitting substances outside of the permit limits ... is a threat and those immediately go to enforcement," he said.

He said less serious violations "still likely will go to enforcement, but we want somebody to look at them because it's not as clear cut."

Under the old policy from 2003, the most serious violations were "immediately referred" to the Office of Enforcement. The new policy states the violations are "immediately reviewed ... for referral" to enforcement.

EPA?plans to meet with concerned citizens before reporting back to IDEM on its stance.

Easterly said there was a comment period but it closed Dec. 15. He said IDEM?plans to put a revised version of the policy on its Web site for 45 days before the policy is presented to state pollution control boards and takes effect.