The Council
The voice of the people for over 25 years. The eyes and ears of everyone in Indiana who is concerned about the environment. And everyone who should be. The Hoosier Environmental Council is Indiana’s leading educator and advocate for environmental issues and policies. We are passionate about our role in shaping the state’s environmental future and all who will be affected by it.

We have made significant progress in protecting forests, groundwater, and lakes throughout the state. Yet, as unbelievable as it sounds, Forbes magazine ranks Indiana the 49th greenest state. So there is a lot of work to do. A lot of teaching. A lot of talking. And a lot of listening.

We could spend our energy pointing fingers, and those who are responsible should certainly be held accountable. But that energy would be best utilized in finding new solutions and alternatives to the practices and misguided efforts that got us where we are today. Hoosiers are smart, hard-working, resourceful people. Exactly the kind of people we’re proud to represent and to help us get the job done.

Here are some of the Hoosier Environmental Council’s successes in just the last few months:

March 2010 - HEC led a coalition of businesses and clean energy advocates to advance a bill to significantly expand renewable energy investment in Indiana. This bill passed decisively out of both the Indiana House and Indiana Senate.

January 2010 – HEC and its partners were instrumental in securing $1.15 million in federal funding for land acquisition at the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge, preserving land for the rare river bottomland forest.

December 2009 – HEC secured a settlement for air quality violations by Duke, compelling Duke to retire two of its coal units, or convert them to natural gas. As a result, over 66,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, a dangerous pollutant, will be eliminated from Indiana’s skies each year.

December 2009 – HEC and partners called on the EPA to investigate serious and persistent concerns with Indiana’s water pollution program, which currently allows coal mines to dump pollutants into waterways without proper controls, and doesn’t allow for sufficient review of new pollution sources.

October 2009 – HEC petitioned the EPA to block an operating permit issued to BP Whiting for the expansion of its refinery in Whiting, Ind. We cited a failure to accurately account for the pollution increase that would be caused by the expansion. In October of last year, the EPA granted HEC’s petition, ordering IDEM to revise the permit.