Environmental groups want federal government to act on Ind.’s water regulatory authority

Groups want feds to act on Indiana water rules

INDIANAPOLIS — Environmental activists who are upset about Indiana’s water pollution rules say they’ll ask the federal government to take action against the state.

The Hoosier Environmental Council, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Law and Policy Center have scheduled a Thursday teleconference to discuss their plans to ask the federal government to act against Indiana’s authority over its water control program.

The groups have opposed Indiana’s proposed “anti-degradation” rules that define the circumstances under which industries can increase pollution to lakes and streams.

They say the revised rules are fraught with loopholes and would allow industrial plants to increase pollution.

Indiana’s current water rules played a role in a 2007 uproar over a state permit allowing BP’s oil refinery along Lake Michigan to increase its pollution discharges.