« Ind. Decisions - Upcoming oral arguments this week | Main | Courts - In Maine, push made to post court data on Web »
Monday, January 07, 2008
Environment - More on "BP permit blowup leads to IDEM changes"
Updating this ILB entry from Friday, Gitte Laasby of the Gary Post-Tribune reports today:
PORTAGE -- Permit renewals for four of Northwest Indiana's steel mills will be delayed as a result of the controversy over BP Whiting's wastewater permit.To avoid another firestorm, Indiana Department of Environmental Management Commissioner Tom Easterly wants the state to clarify its so-called anti-degradation regulation before proposing more permits.
He hopes to have permits for U.S. Steel's Midwest Division in East Chicago and Arcelor Mittal (Indiana Harbor East, West and Burns Harbor) renewed by the end of the year, but said the agency has to "fix the process" first.
"Until we have this anti-degradation rule description, anything we do here, people are going to question if it's the right thing," Easterly said after a NIRPC environmental management and policy committee meeting in Portage on Thursday morning.
He hopes to have the rule completed by the end of the year, but it typically takes 18 months from start until implementation. Staff is currently working on the wording of the rule and would seek a consensus from environmentalists and business leaders and comments from the public before making a final decision.
No matter what the final rule will be, Easterly said he expects it to be unpopular. Years ago, a committee of state officials, business and environmental leaders couldn't come to a consensus when they tried to formulate a definition of what it means that water quality can't "degrade."
IDEM has yet to issue six major backlogged wastewater permits, which IDEM has administratively extended for years after they expired. Easterly has aimed to work through the backlog and isn't happy to delay the renewals for the steel mills.
"From my understanding, this is harming the environment. They're not getting to the limits they should have had five to 10 years ago," Easterly said.
He promised attendees at the meeting that he and the agency would try to communicate better and with less jargon so regular residents can understand what's going on.
Another of his priorities for 2008, Easterly said he would support allowing electronic signatures on the monthly discharge monitoring reports that facilities with wastewater permits have to submit. That would allow them to submit reports electronically rather than manually as they do now.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 7, 2008 12:28 PM
Posted to Environment