Sometimes when we at The Republic publish editorials that point out the bullheadedness in Indiana’s state government, we hope to be proven wrong. But we also have realistic expectations from bitter experience that suggest it’s too much to hope that state agencies will consider public input in decision-making.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) recently approved a permit for a biosolids (a nicer term for treated sewage) facility permit in Bartholomew County. IDEM has a well-earned reputation for ignoring public input, and they did so again in this case. After a while, you almost get the troubling sense that bureaucrats in Indianapolis delight in it.
The regulatory agency has permitted Indiana to have the most polluted waters of any state in the nation and rank among the most polluted otherwise. On July 16, IDEM approved “a permit to Evan Daily of Biocycle LLC to accept biosolids and industrial waste products at their storage structure … southeast of Columbus for blending and applying biosolids and industrial waste products to agricultural land in Bartholomew County and the surrounding area,” The Republic’s Andy East reported recently.
This was done, East reported, “despite acknowledging that (IDEM) received ‘many comments’ asking to deny or delay the application.”
Many local landowners and residents who live nearby — those most affected — publicly opposed the project to be located at 3788 E. County Road 300S.
“Of the approximately 110 individuals who attended (April 17’s) public hearing on a proposed sewage sludge-holding facility, nobody spoke in favor of it,” The Republic’s Mark Webber reported back in April. “The vast majority of the 80 written comments received prior to the hearing were also negative.”
Turns out this didn’t matter to IDEM. We had indications that this public hearing required by law before IDEM could decide on a permit was all for show, and that IDEM doesn’t consider public input in permit decisions. An IDEM official at that hearing pretty much said that. In an editorial earlier this year, we asked, as members of the audience did during that April hearing, why bother?
This is what we wrote then:
“Why indeed does IDEM go through the motions of public hearings, merely frustrating hardworking taxpayers on their own dime, if the fix is already in? That’s a question for the agency and for our state’s elected leaders.”
Lawmakers and elected state officials owe those who opposed this project answers. The people who must live with IDEM’s decisions are being ignored. That is not in the public’s interest. Ignoring overwhelming local opposition to undesirable projects erodes public confidence.
Public hearings are supposed to guarantee the voices of those most affected by projects that pose environmental hazards will be heard. And considered.
But here we have a state agency whose officials believe they must ignore public views regarding projects such as Biocycle if they determine other conditions are met. If that’s true, our elected leaders need to intervene, investigate and insist that public concerns will factor into permit decisions.
