“AquAdvantage” salmon, engineered by biotech company AquaBounty Technologies, most recently drew criticism from environmental advocates at the 2023 Farm Aid event.
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A group of elected officials, business leaders and community members in the Lafayette area are drafting a letter to the Indiana Economic Development Corp. seeking details about the state’s plans to draw water from the Wabash River aquifer.
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Indiana Secretary of Energy and Natural Resources Suzanne Jaworowski told attendees at the annual Indiana Water Summit on Thursday that a pending statewide water plan must be “transparent, data-driven and developed collaboratively.”
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the changes will “protect Americans from PFOA and PFOS in their drinking water” while providing “common-sense flexibility in the form of additional time for compliance.”
The measure would require a utility or large private-sector project leader to obtain an approval permit before carrying out a project where significant amounts of water are moved from one water basin in the state to another.
The move comes nearly 40 years after Congress determined that lead pipes posed a serious risk to public health and banned them in new construction.
Citizens Energy Group is focusing on the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood in the utility’s next phase of a plan—predicted to cost $500 million—to replace all remaining lead service lines that connect Indianapolis homes and businesses to water.
Abandoned by the Senate Environmental Affairs Committee earlier this session, language that would change the definition of toxic PFAS chemicals could be inserted into another bill.
For decades, federal and state officials have struggled to control farm runoff, the biggest source of nutrient pollution that is not typically federally regulated.
The $43 million investment, by far the largest in 120Water’s eight-year history, will help the water management software company pursue some of the big opportunities that lie ahead, CEO Megan Glover says.
It is the strongest proposed overhaul of lead rules in more than three decades, and will cost billions of dollars.
The move comes as the Indiana Economic Development Corp. faces pushback for its exploration of a plan to pump massive sums of water from Wabash River aquifers for a high-tech manufacturing district in Boone County.
The move comes as the Indiana Economic Development Corp. faces questions about its plan to tap the Wabash River aquifer and withdraw as much as 100 million gallons per day for an advanced manufacturing district in central Indiana.
The agency’s decision to grant the petition last week is the start of a long regulatory process that could see the chemical banned. Tire manufacturers are already looking for an alternative that still meets federal safety requirements.
The group, “Stop the Water Steal,” plans to lead a letter-writing campaign to local and state officials, urging them to stop the pipeline, slow its progress or minimize its impact on community water resources.
West Lafayette City Council members expressed a desire for more research from third parties and greater transparency from Indiana Economic Development Corp. officials, who they said have not approached them about the proposed pipeline.
The Indiana Builders Association said the Supreme Court ruling provides builders and developers “more certainty in the federal permitting process,” and called the decision “a win for common-sense regulations and housing affordability.”
The deal would compensate water providers for pollution with per- and polyfluorinated substances, known collectively as PFAS—a broad class of chemicals used in nonstick, water- and grease-resistant products such as clothing and cookware.
The outcome almost certainly will affect ongoing court battles over new wetlands regulations that the Biden administration put in place in December. Two federal judges have temporarily blocked those rules from being enforced in 26 states.
Opponents of the regulations,including Indiana, have called the rules an example of federal overreach and argued they would unfairly burden farmers and ranchers.
The plan marks the first time the EPA has proposed regulating the toxic group of compounds, which are widespread, dangerous and expensive to remove from water.
But experts say removing them will cost billions, a burden that will fall hardest on small communities with few resources.
