A funny thing happened on the way to better transit in central Indiana.  HB 1073, championed by a wide range of business and public interest groups along with many local elected officials, stumbled in the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday, January 26, failing by a narrow one vote margin.  The obstacle to passage [...]

By Kim Ferraro
Animals raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) generate five times more raw waste than humans in the United States. This animal waste contains substantial amounts of nutrients, pathogens, heavy metals, and other contaminants that is commonly applied, untreated, to cropland associated with CAFO operations, stored in open manure lagoons, or transferred off [...]

By Kim Ferraro
Eric and Lisa Stickdorn own a small farm in Wayne County, Indiana, where they have raised raise grass fed cattle since 1993. Unfortunately, for the last eight years, they have been unable to live in their own home because owners of a confined dairy operation, built next door, has refused to properly contain [...]

By Tim Maloney
The Central Indiana Transit Task Force announced the latest version of their regional transit system plan Tuesday, and urged the Indiana General Assembly to act on enabling legislation in the upcoming 2012 session. Mayors Greg Ballard of Indianapolis, Jim Brainard of Carmel, John Ditslear of Noblesville and Andy Cook of Westfield declared their [...]

By Falon French, Outreach Associate and Policy Researcher
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) has adopted new rules for factory farms – confined feeding operations (CFOs) and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).  IDEM’s rules are now final, but there are separate rules under development by the Indiana State Chemist that will also impact how and [...]

By Tim Maloney, HEC Senior Policy Director
A new documentary film about the life and work of Aldo Leopold has been playing at venues around Indiana recently. A graduate of Yale Forestry School, Leopold is the visionary author of “A Sand County Almanac”, a landmark series of essays about the need for a land ethic [...]

By Jesse Kharbanda, HEC Executive Director
HEC was recently on Capitol Hill, representing our supporters on the grossly unaddressed problem of coal ash.  The absence of any federal safeguards on coal ash – laden with metals that can be carcinogenic in high doses – is one of the most serious environmental health issues unaddressed by our [...]

By Falon French
Numerous bills have been introduced that will stop the EPA from strengthening safeguards from toxins in our air and water, including mercury and smog travelling across our state lines. Without sufficient political support, the EPA will soon lose the ability to enforce large portions of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water [...]

By Steven Meyer
Recent newspaper accounts describe Bloomington as being obstructionist when it comes to I-69. What they fail to report is that Bloomington officials are the only ones bravely raising reasonable questions about this project in the face of anti-democratic tactics on behalf of the state. Here is a recap of the events from the [...]

By Jesse Kharbanda, HEC Executive Director
Indiana’s air may not be thick with black dust anymore, but air pollution continues to be a challenge in our state.   Many of our coal plants, providing the vast majority of our electricity, continue to spew particulates, and our paltry alternatives to automobile travel compound that problem.   So Indiana is [...]