ANDERSON — State lawmakers have stressed that the upcoming legislative session will be shorter and quieter than last year’s, when the biennial budget was created and passed.
That likely means issues championed by many environmental advocacy groups will receive limited attention and few, if any, bills pertaining to the environment will emerge from committee hearings.
Of those topics, managing the state’s water supply — in the form of wetland mitigation and addressing several unanswered questions connected with the proposed pipeline for the LEAP Innovation District in Boone County — is at the top of many groups’ legislative priority lists. It is also appears to be the most likely environmental issue to be addressed in the form of legislation.
“Certainly water is on a lot of people’s radar for different reasons,” said Sam Carpenter, executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council. “It’s an important issue, and we need development that’s smart, that’s intelligent, that’s able to be supported by the resources that are available.”
In an effort to “set up guardrails,” according to state Rep. Sharon Negele, legislation is expected to be introduced that would provide standards for monitoring water volume in the Wabash River — the primary source for a pipeline that could eventually transport up to 100 million gallons of water a day from Tippecanoe County to the LEAP Lebanon Innovation District — as well as other bodies of water.
“There should be a regulatory process that protects our citizens in that area and has a monitoring component to it,” said Negele, a Republican whose House District 13 includes portions of Tippecanoe County near Lafayette, where the pipeline would begin.
“From the beginning, we’ve said we’re not against economic development and growth, but we want to ensure our precious resources are managed properly.”
Carpenter sees the issues of wetland protection and moving large volumes of water as interconnected. Discussing one, he said, necessarily means paying attention to the other.
“One of the things that wetlands do is they allow the water to sit — an acre of wetlands can store up to a million gallons of water,” Carpenter said. “That water seeps back down into the aquifer and helps refill the aquifer.
“As wetlands are being taken away, what’s happened is, more water is rushing downstream into our rivers and ultimately ends up in the gulf, and that actually has a negative impact on our water supply.”
Other environmental advocates noted that addressing wetland protection in the Legislature is vital to public health.
“Wetlands provide shelter for half of species with small or declining populations in Indiana,” Andrea Huntington, executive director of the Indiana Land Protection Alliance, said in a release. “Passing strong policies that conserve wetlands is critical to the health and future of our state.”
Other legislators have expressed concern about a perceived lack of transparency from state economic development officials regarding studies done on the Wabash. Specific information from those studies, they say, would shed light on what such a project would mean for the river’s ecosystem and would inform legislation focusing on water policy and regulations.
“I think there’s been a noticeable lack of transparency in the process,” said state Rep. Sue Errington (Muncie), the ranking Democrat on the House Environmental Affairs Committee. “If I represented part of Tippecanoe County, I would be up in arms as they are. It seems like it doesn’t matter which party they’re from, they are all worried and angry about what’s been going on behind people’s backs.”
COMMUNITY SOLAR
Another issue environmental advocates are hoping to see meaningful action on is the availability of renewable energy in local markets. Solar and wind farm prospects continue to attract developers’ attention in several counties. But a patchwork of local ordinances largely reflect concerns of rural landowners with vested interests in property values and other factors.
“Indiana has many barriers to solar going on people’s rooftops and in people’s communities,” Carpenter said.
He pointed out that community solar programs would move clean energy closer to demand spots, which would lower costs of transmitting that power across long distances.
“We’ve seen a lot of increases in the rates of utility bills, and the price of natural gas really fluctuates wildly at times,” Carpenter said. “When you have community solar, you get some savings and you’re not a victim to those fluctuations in price, because the sun is always free.”
Errington said she has proposed legislation in each of the last two General Assembly sessions that would have established community solar facilities, but neither bill received a hearing.
Community solar facilities are small solar fields owned by entrepreneurs who sell subscriptions to residents and businesses who rent homes or offices. Subscribers receive credits on their utility bills for their share of the power produced by such facilities.
“Community solar is something that Indiana really needs,” Errington said. “It opens up that type of energy renewal for people who can’t have rooftop solar. Maybe their homes are too shaded, they live in an apartment, they rent their home, or they can’t afford it.”
Errington and Rep. Edmond Soliday, R-Valparaiso, plan to try again in the 2024 session. Errington said, “We haven’t quite gotten settled on how we’re going to introduce it, but we’re working on something that hopefully will have better chances.”
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