Since a supreme court ruling last summer, the federal government no longer has much power to regulate isolated wetlands. Indiana state law is the sole protection that remains.
(FILE PHOTO: WFIU/WTIU News)
A bill in the statehouse could redefine which Indiana wetlands deserve protection. Representatives from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the Indiana Builder’s Association say it’s a compromise to prevent permitting delays. Environmental groups worry it does more than clarify existing law.
Indra Frank, Director of Environmental Health and Water Policy for the Hoosier Environmental Council, said the results have been a disaster for wetlands.
“During that two-year period, we lost at least 261 million gallons of water storage from the state because of the wetlands that were destroyed during that time,” she said.
IDEM permitting data obtained by Indra Frank and the Hoosier Environmental Council showed that 75 percent of wetland acres that are destroyed in Indiana currently are lost without any mitigation for that function. (Ethan Sandweiss / WFIU-WTIU)
A supreme court ruling last summer in Sackett versus EPA removed most federal protections for isolated wetlands, meaning only Indiana’s Class III habitats are protected by the law.
“The problem is that in the process of clarifying, they're also shrinking the number of Class III wetlands,” Frank said. “That shrinks the number of wetlands that get protected.”
Last month, the bill passed House and Senate committees on party line votes. Builders, environmental consultants and IDEM staff helped draft the legislation last summer.
Representing the Associated Builders and Contractors of Indiana and Kentucky, former Republican lawmaker Matt Bell celebrated their collaboration at the statehouse.
“I want to begin by crediting the commissioner at the Department of Environmental Management,” he said. “Those aren’t words that I woke up in January ever believing that I’d say.”
Developers say the changes would clarify existing laws with minimal impact to protected ecosystems.
Environmental consultant Will Ditzler explained their perspective.
“It was putting lower quality wetlands into a classification that they shouldn't be in scientifically,” he said. “When that happens, the builders are like, ‘This is untenable to us.’”
Rick Wajda is CEO of the Indiana Builders Association. He said opening more land to development could help reduce Indiana’s rising home prices.
“Our estimates from our national association show that about 24 percent of the cost of a house is directly tied to regulations at the local, state and federal level,” he said. “I like to say, that's no sticks, and that's no bricks, but that's just pure government red tape.”
Rick Wajda of the Indiana Builders Association said the bill as it stands represents a compromise between IDEM and the industry. (Ethan Sandweiss / WFIU-WTIU)
Many environmentalists say clarification will be necessary, but this bill goes beyond that. Two IDEM water regulators told the IndyStar that experts in the wetlands program were not included in drafting the legislation.
“Unfortunately, the negotiation process for this bill was between the agency and the Builders Association,” Frank said. “They did not invite any of the conservation or environmental organizations to that process.”
The bill includes protections for ecosystems that are “undisturbed or minimally disturbed by human activity.” Rachele Baker of the Indiana Wetlands Association said that leaves a lot of room for interpretation.
“This is Indiana,” she said. “The chances of you running into one of those wetland types that has not already been more than minimally impacted is pretty slim.”
Floods devastated Tipton, Ind. in 2013 after 95 percent of wetlands were removed from the Cicero Creek watershed upstream. (Courtesy of Tipton County)
Less pristine wetlands still contain hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per acre. That water is filtered, retained during droughts and diverted during floods.
For example, the town of Tipton, Indiana is just downstream from the Cicero Creek watershed, where 95 percent of isolated wetlands were removed. Since then, Tipton was devastated by flooding in 2013 and 2023. The town is now attempting to restore those wetlands.
Representative Sue Errington tried to introduce an amendment that she said would clarify the law for builders without removing protections – what the Indiana Builders Association says it wants.
“There's no other state in the country that uses this system, so the alternative would have done away with the classification system,” Errington said.
Committee chair Alan Morrison, who authored the bill, decided against taking testimony on her amendment. Wajda suggested the current bill is as far as builders are willing to go.
“If my membership had their druthers, they’d look to the state of North Carolina,” he said during the House committee meeting. “North Carolina just passed a bill – late summer, early fall – that eliminated their state’s isolated wetlands program.”
“You could represent that it's weakening the wetland laws, but I think the important thing to know is that without these clarifications and modifications, the other option is they just pull it all,” Ditzler said.
Rachele Baker testified against HB 1383 in front of the Senate Committee of Environmental Affairs on Jan. 31. Twenty others provided testimony: several developers, but mainly wetlands consultants and representatives of environmental organizations. (Ethan Sandweiss / WFIU-WTIU)
The bill went to a senate committee where 21 people gave testimony, most of them against HB 1383.
Environmental consultant Summer Elmore asked lawmakers whether the benefits of this bill outweighed the steep costs.
“I’d just like those who support this bill to tell me why my job isn’t important, she said. “So far I haven’t heard any argument yet for why HB 1383 is good for Indiana.”
It still passed as written, seven to two. The bill now heads to the senate where lawmakers may reintroduce their amendments.
