Our President and CEO Kevin Brinegar comments on Gov. Eric Holcomb recently signing House Bill 389, repealing the state’s wetlands law:
“It’s surprising and very disappointing that the Governor signed a bill that is likely to have negative impacts on Indiana’s water quality, flood control and quality of place factors that the state needs to attract and retain a skilled workforce. Two state agencies – the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management – were even quite vocal in their opposition.
“It’s unfortunate that legislators chose to rush to action on this matter and not take the proper time to study something that will have such signification ramifications for citizens and businesses, with more than half of the state’s 800,000 acres of wetlands now being eliminated from protection.
“According to the DNR, one acre of wetlands provides $248 in purification services for fresh drinking water, $2,270 in water storage services and $1,055 in erosion prevention services. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has indicated that an acre of wetland can store 1-1.5 million gallons of floodwater. All of these things will have impacts on Indiana businesses that use water in their processes, not to mention our drinking water utilities. Also, there will be an increased need for infrastructure funding to deal with increased stormwater runoff and flood control as wetlands are eliminated.
“We readily admit Indiana’s longstanding wetlands regulations needed to be improved, but not without proper considerations of the potentially devastating consequences.”
