wetlands

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) denied a permit application to turn wetlands in Marion County into a retail complex last week. Gershman Partners submitted a permit in February to transform wetlands in Franklin Township – on the northeast corner of East County Line Road and South Arlington Avenue – into an area with warehouses and a hotel. IDEM rejected the proposal stating the developers did not show “reasonable alternatives” to destroying the wetlands.

Republicans advance a bill eliminating local bans on selling dogs at pet stores. A Senate committee approves legislation requiring schools to develop armed intruder drills. And grassroots substance use recovery groups would get more funding opportunities under a bill heading to the Senate floor. Here's what you might have missed this week at the Statehouse.

Because of a state law passed three years ago and the result of a recent U.S. Supreme Court case, few wetlands in Indiana are protected today.

Lawmakers reach the halfway point of the 2024 session and send the first bill to the governor, the Senate advances a bill that could change tenure in higher ed, and legislation heads to the House to expand access to disaster relief.

It's been called a compromise, but the history of Indiana's wetlands law, as well as testimony from wetland experts and advocates, suggest it's anything but.

Indiana wetland advocates overwhelmingly support this bill and oppose the one in the House, which would seek to take away more wetland protections. They say that bill has been fast-tracked through the legislature and could get a vote in the Senate as early as Tuesday.

HB 1383 would lower the number of wetlands that could fall into Class 3, the only class that didn't lose significant protections when the state changed its wetlands law in 2021.

Religious chaplains would be allowed to serve as public school counselors in a bill approved by a Senate committee, wetlands protections are further eroded in legislation clearing the House, and debate begins on raising highway speed limits.

It would lower the number of wetlands that could fall into Class 3, Indiana's most protected group of wetlands, and the only class that didn't lose significant protections when the state changed its wetlands law in 2021. It would also provide incentives to developers to protect some wetlands, though it's unclear how exactly they would work.

Lawmakers removed most state protections for wetlands in 2021. Now that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling has removed many of the federal protections as well, that leaves Indiana's wetlands largely unprotected.