Bill further rolling back Indiana wetland protections is first to land on governor’s desk

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18 thoughts on “Bill further rolling back Indiana wetland protections is first to land on governor’s desk

  1. Once the wetlands are gone, they are gone – period. We can figure out other ways to support and stimulate housing and industry, but once this resource is gone, it’s too late. If Holcomb signs this, he will be caving to business interests and not supporting what is best for Indiana in the long run.

    1. The wetlands are not quite gone. The poor sucker that ends up buying the “developed” property will still have to deal with the drainage and will most likely have a high probability of flooding. Or even worse, the water that’s no longer retained is now somebody else’s problem, so why would the developer care?

    2. I am all for protecting the environment. However, Indiana generally requires developers to preserve wetlands elsewhere or contribute to a wetland mitigation bank. This process usually requires developers to double the impact in a positive way for any wetlands they decide to build on. For example, if 1 acre is disturbed, then 2 acres need to be added elsewhere in the state, where it will have even more protections and less likelihood of development, given it is a larger designated wetland tract. It is not a perfect process, but to believe that once the wetlands are gone, they are gone – is somewhat misleading. On the site being developed, yes. But it’s not a use it and lose it process.

    3. JJ D, as a water resource scientist I can tell you mitigation banks only contribute a fraction of the benefit of natural (in place) wetlands. It’s not the same. Mix in future drainage issues like already mentioned and you see why total protection is important.

  2. “It was Thoreau who in writing of the destruction of the forests exclaimed, ‘Thank heaven they cannot cut down the clouds.’ Aye, but they can!…If men in their greed cut forests that preserve and distill moisture, clear fields, take the shelter of trees from creeks and rivers until they evaporate, and drain the water from swamps so that they can be cleared and cultivated, they prevent vapor from rising. And if it does not rise, it cannot fall. Man can change and is changing the forces of nature. Man can cut down the clouds.”
    Gene Stratton Porter one of our state’s early environmentalists and best selling author wrote this in the early 1900’s and nothing has changed.

    1. This is the entire Republican attitude to Indiana in one bill – use it up completely because there is no future worth investing or caring about.

  3. Laughable to think that if this produces cost savings in land development that it would be realized by the home buyer rather than a bigger profit line for the developer.

    1. That doesn’t matter. A Holcomb veto can and will be easily over-ridden by a simple majority of the same legislature that fast-tracked this bill through a short session.

  4. Hopefully everyone who has commented here does not vote Republican. This is what you get when you have a legislative super majority over the course of many years. They do what they want when they want and in the end the state suffers. In our case it is a super Republican majority but I would feel the same if it were a Democratic super majority. It hurts more than it helps.

  5. I can only assume no commenter above has read the bill, and neither have I. Sounds like the AP and I BJ have not read it either. Makes me wonder what is actually being changed, that way, I could actually have a real opinion as opposed to hyped up here-say.

  6. California paved over its wetlands, and look how well that’s gone for them. The impact of flooding is much worse when there’s no wetlands to absorb the water, only hard pavement.

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