Environmental Issues for the 2012 Indiana General Assembly Session

Yesterday I attended, with fellow blogger Brianna Schroeder, the Indiana State Bar Association's 2012 Environmental Legislative Perspective. The panel of Vince Griffin (Vice President of Environmental & Energy Policy for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce); Jesse Kharbanda (Executive Director of the Hoosier Environmental Council); David Pippen (Chief Counsel to Governor Daniels); and Indiana State Senator Beverly Gard (Chair of the Senate's Energy and Environmental Affairs Committee) discussed what we can expect from the upcoming legislative session.

Perhaps most interesting was Senator Gard's list of environmental issues she anticipates the General Assembly addressing during her last year in the Senate:

- A mostly technical cleanup bill that will not dramatically change environmental policy

- A revised UST cleanup bill that will give IDEM authority to enforce the delivery/deposit rule

- Abolishing the four existing rulemaking boards in favor of a single enviromental rulemaking board of 12 members

- Tighter regulations for Solid Waste Management Districts

- Water withdrawal reporting

- Regional sewer districts

- Hydrofracing