Eco Report – May 26, 2023

According to NUVO, a news organization based in Indy, Indiana lawmakers passed more than three dozen bills in the just-concluded session. Most of the bills are intended to make operating in Indiana more profitable for electric and water utilities or their fuel suppliers. By the Indiana Environmental Reporter’s count, Indiana lawmakers passed 15 bills affecting utilities, including some that allow them to pass more of their costs directly to consumers, prolong the life of fossil fuels and place more hurdles in the way of large-scale renewable energy system adoption.

Indiana lawmakers also passed eight bills affecting various parts of state water issues in the state. Some of the bills target water infrastructure funding and make it easier for schools and childcare facilities to test for contaminants. Other bills focus on changing how the state regulates new types of septic tanks, water districts, and other issues.

This year, lawmakers also focused on establishing and funding economic development initiatives that would help develop brownfields and reclaim coal mines. However, they would tax drivers who use fossil fuel alternatives and punish financial institutions that choose to limit their investment in fossil fuels.

Bills regulating new technology in the state, like small modular nuclear reactors, carbon capture and sequestration, and advanced recycling, have also passed, as well as bills that authorized land use studies and PFAS blood monitoring for firefighters.

In regard to UTILITY BILLS:The Indiana General Assembly passed bills that establish a five-pillar guideline for making energy policy decisions;

1. Make it more difficult for utilities to retire coal-fired power plants,
2. Allow utilities to pass on the costs of coal ash pond cleanups and other expenditures to customers,
3. Eliminate competitive bidding for transmission lines,
4. Allow natural gas-fired power plants to qualify as a“clean energy project,”
5. Ensure that a planned state coal ash permitting program will be as lenient as federal law allows it to be. 

Lawmakers also passed a bill that would allow the Environmental Rules Board to update air permit fees, establish guidelines for communities to accept solar and wind energy systems and study the best practices for the disposal of solar panels and wind turbine blades. 

Other bills passed would authorize pay raises for water district board members, require state homeland security authorization for expanding battery energy storage systems, set the foundation for further taxing of utilities with wind energy systems and authorize a state program to pay for half of the costs of decommissioning or replacing underground petroleum tanks.

—Norm Holy

Continuing with the Indiana Legislative Environmental bills, there are also WATER POLICY BILLS:

Indiana lawmakers passed two bills authored by the same legislator that deal with flood plains in different ways. Senate Bill 242 repeals the requirement for local floodplain administrators to use the best available floodplain mapping data when reviewing permit applications to build in or near a floodplain, while Senate Bill 412, among other flooding issues, prohibits the same administrators from issuing building permits if those permits threaten eligibility in the National Flood Insurance Program.

The Indiana General Assembly also passed bills expanding the use of above-ground onsite residential sewage discharging disposal systems in place of repairing old septic tanks, changing the requirement for water system mercury permit changes when they are proven not to contribute to Ohio River mercury problems and requiring water systems not subject to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to require commission approval before building new wastewater treatment plants.

Other bills make it easier for communities to receive infrastructure loans and grants from the Indiana Finance Authority, require lead testing and mitigation at preschools and childcare facilities and ease the process for counties to join a watershed development commission.

Then there are the Omissions:

In addition to specific areas described above, there are a few other things that should be cited. The legislature still does not allow discussion of “climate change.” The rebuff of the climate initiative by 20,000 high school students represents incredible arrogance. The state has not chosen to improve its 48th rank in water and air quality. There was no plan to improve life expectancy in counties downwind of points of pollution such as coal-fired power plants. Finally, resolving that natural gas is not a fossil fuel is laughable.  

—Norm Holy

In this report the objective is to gain some idea of the effect of covid on life expectancy. The latest figures are available for 2021 from the National Statistics Report. The covid effect is, thus, not fully captured. It was anticipated that since many Hoosiers, especially in the southern part of the state, did not comply with the mask advisory, lower expectancies were anticipated. The Indiana life expectancy (male and female) was 76.8 years in 2018 (pre-covid) and 75.0 years in 2021. Covid is not the only cause of the drop, but seems likely to be the major contributor.

Ranking states by life expectancy reveals that Indiana ranked 40th in 2018 and 41st in 2021. Thus, our handling of the disease was typical with other states. Indiana is toward the bottom of states because we have a high percentage of smokers, obesity is an issue, and we have very high air and water pollution. The top 10 states with the longest life expectancy are all “blue” states. The bottom ten, including Indiana, are all “red” states.

—Norm Holy

(quote) What we are seeing here is likely an expanding population from the previous typical range of the species in the southeastern United States, (end quote) said Andrew Farnsworth, a researcher at the Cornell lab. He added that the anhinga is a strong flier and quite a migrant, so it’s not necessarily a surprise this is happening. So if you see a bird swimming with just its head and neck out of the water, it could be an anhinga living near you.

—Norm Holy