The pictures of sun-drenched homes and neatly trimmed lawns in East Chicago showcase what is perhaps the best outcome. However, the images belie the nightmare many residents are still living. The homes along with the neighboring West Calumet Housing Project and Carrie Gosch Elementary School were all built on the USS Lead Superfund site.
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A controversial bill that would do away with state regulation of Indiana’s wetlands is on the fast track to becoming law, throwing environmental agencies and conservation advocates into a frenzy. Farmers and land developers support the legislation, arguing wetland regulations are burdensome.
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Hendricks County families who live with the odor from a nearby 8,000-hog farm for years have lost their nuisance, negligence and trespass claims against the concentrated animal feeding operation. After unsuccessfully seeking relief from the Indiana Court of Appeals and a divided Indiana Supreme Court, they are now turning to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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A Taft Stettinius & Hollister attorney who successfully took on one of the world’s most powerful chemical manufacturers in a major toxic contamination case is being featured on the big screen as he continues to bring awareness to an issue he says is a global heath threat.
Read MoreDozens of amendments to bills affecting Indiana environmental policy have sparked debate among lawmakers as the Legislature enters its final stretch of the session. The proposed changes arrive as members of the General Assembly decide whether the state should adopt greener initiatives or scale back current policy protecting water, energy and other resources.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously for Georgia on Thursday in its long-running dispute with Florida over water. The Sunshine State had alleged overconsumption of water in the Peach State led to collapse of the Florida Gulf Coast oyster industry.
Indiana University Bloomington claimed a victory in the legal fight over mold infestation in dorms, convincing the Indiana Court of Appeals to overturn the denial of the school’s summary judgment motion on all tort claims brought by the affected students.
The Biden administration on Monday reversed a policy imposed under former President Donald Trump that drastically weakened the government’s power to enforce a century-old law that protects most U.S. bird species.
State environmental officials are warning the public to avoid a northwestern Indiana lake while authorities investigate the deaths of dozens of ducks and other waterfowl in the area.
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett has delivered her first opinion, writing a 7-2 decision released Thursday in a case about the federal Freedom of Information Act, which Barrett explains makes “records available to the public upon request, unless those records fall within one of nine exemptions.”
On April 20, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Christian, No. 17-1498, 140 S.Ct. 1335. The Court’s holding was relatively simple: plaintiffs (Montana landowners) could bring state court claims pursuing cleanup of additional contamination from the “Anaconda Smelter,” but they were first required under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to seek the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) approval for additional cleanup. While on its face this decision addresses the interplay between CERCLA and Montana state law claims, the ramifications of Atlantic Richfield may be felt in Indiana.
A little more than four years ago, Hoosier Janet McCabe ended her service as assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. Since then, the most significant aspects of the Obama-era climate change regulations, namely the Clean Power Plan, have been unwound. Biden’s selection of McCabe signals a doubling down on regulating greenhouse gas emissions.
It has been just over one month since President Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States, and he is delivering on his promise to move quickly. Biden has signed more executive orders in his first 30 days than any president in U.S. history. Perhaps another record-breaking instance is the proportion of these actions that relate to energy and environmental policies.
As Indiana lawmakers prepare for the second half of the session, several key issues are awaiting further review.
The Indiana Senate has passed controversial legislation that would repeal state oversight of wetlands. Some lawmakers in both parties, however, said the law goes too far and would interfere with regulatory or judicial review of multiple pending cases.
President Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of transportation, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, is pledging to carry out the administration’s ambitious agenda to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, calling it a “generational opportunity” to create new jobs, fight economic inequality and stem climate change.
In his first hours as president, Joe Biden will aim to strike at the heart of President Donald Trump’s policy legacy, signing a series of executive actions that will reverse his predecessor’s orders on immigration, climate change and handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
President-elect Joe Biden on Friday tapped Janet McCabe, an environmental law and policy expert and Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law professor, to return to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as deputy administrator.
Farmers and neighbors who battled over an 8,000-hog confined animal feeding operation in Hendricks County are starting a second round of fighting with the farmers filing a counterclaim, arguing the lawsuit brought by their neighbors and litigated for multiple years through four courts was “frivolous.”
The Trump administration has used many tools to weaken environmental protection. For example, Trump issued an executive order in June 2020 to waive environmental review for infrastructure projects such as pipelines and highways. I expect the Biden administration will quickly signal to the nation that effectively applying the nation’s environmental laws matters to everyone – especially to communities that bear an unfair share of the public health burden of pollution.
A group of state lawmakers and energy experts has approved a new state energy report outlining how Indiana should proceed at a time when electric utilities are seeing a big shift from coal to renewable energy sources.
Down to its final weeks, the Trump administration is working to push through dozens of environmental rollbacks that could weaken century-old protections for migratory birds, expand Arctic drilling and hamstring future regulation of public health threats.
A federal court judge ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday to conduct an environmental assessment of genetically modified salmon that he said was required for the agency’s approval of the fish.
The Indiana Court of Appeals in granting a petition for rehearing upheld its former decision for a family-owned trash company seeking to build a solid waste transfer station in Owen County.