Gov. Mike Braun issued executive orders seeking to reduce “excessive environmental regulations.”

Manufacturing groups say this will lead to a more efficient permitting process.

Environmental groups say allowing more pollution to gain economic growth is misguided.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is asking the public to provide input on how the agency can meet Gov. Mike Braun’s orders to reduce potentially stifling regulations typically meant to give Hoosiers clean air and water.

Braun earlier this year signed an executive order directing state agencies to review environmental rules and regulations so they may provide “a stable, predictable, and fair environment for businesses and industries” in the state.

The governor’s order says the state’s environmental rules and regulations should not be more stringent than federal requirements and agencies should not “impose unnecessary burdens on business, communities, agencies, or industries … “

State departments have until the end of 2025 to submit a report to Braun. Citizen comments are due by June 30.

Groups like the Indiana Manufacturers Association find these orders favorable, but environmental advocates say Indiana policy doesn’t go far enough.

Indiana manufacturing welcomes regulatory efficiency

Ashton Eller, vice president of governmental affairs with the Indiana Manufacturer’s Association, said Braun’s orders and the steps IDEM is taking is a clear strategy that prioritizes economic development in the state. Eller said one of the top priorities for the association is the speed of permitting.

“Sometimes the speed of government doesn’t move at the speed of business,” Eller said, “and those permits need to be done quickly and efficiently in order to get them issued to the manufacturing facilities as quickly as possible.”

The IMA represents the interests of about 1,000 manufacturers and adjacent services in the state. That membership base employs around 350,000 Hoosiers, Eller said.

Waiting for months on end for permits to come through can be frustrating for manufacturers because they are not able to launch a new product or expand a facility to bring in new employees, Eller said.

“If they are not able to do those processes, they are not able to bring in the revenue that they would need to without that permit,” Eller said. “The (permitting) delay would delay higher outputs that could bring in more revenue not just to the manufacturer, but also that community.”

Advocates worry deregulation will further degrade Indiana environment

Sam Carpenter, executive director at Hoosier Environmental Council, said environmental regulations are usually put into place as a response to some event.

He pointed to the 1999 White River fish kill resulting in protections for the river and other local issues like the lead exposure in Martindale-Brightwood and the recent Marion County Health Department report on the health impacts of living near a Superfund site.

“These are real impacts on people’s health and quality of life,” Carpenter said. “I think it is important that we think about why we have these protections in place, and if there are ways to make them more efficient and smarter, then absolutely we would like to have that conversation but to just eliminate them really overlooks a bigger problem.”

While efficiency and smart regulation can be supported from Carpenter’s perspective, he said it’s not right to think about environmental regulations as overburdensome for business that “historically has not voluntarily regulated itself on a collective basis enough to not need laws.”

“We have health impacts and destruction of natural resources that cause a significant financial burden on individuals as well,” Carpenter said.

Rob Michaels, senior attorney at the Environmental Law and Policy Center, said now is not the time to roll back environmental regulations when the federal government is defunding the U.S. EPA and pulling back on environmental enforcement across the board.

Michaels also said that allowing more pollution for the sake of economic growth is a misguided priority.

“We are a far richer country than we were in the ‘70s and there is way less air pollution and water pollution,” Michaels said. “We can have economic development and protections for clean air and water. It is a false trade off that is really the premise of these orders.”

Hoosiers can submit comments to IDEM by sending an email to efficiency@idem.in.gov.

IndyStar’s environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.

Karl Schneider is an IndyStar environment reporter. You can reach him at karl.schneider@indystar.com. Follow him on BlueSky @karlstartswithk.bsky.social or X @karlstartswithk.