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A good Environment and a good Economy fit together Well Lincolnland EDC January 22, 2009

A good Environment and a good Economy fit together Well Lincolnland EDC January 22, 2009. Thomas W. Easterly, P.E., BCEE, QEP Commissioner IN Department of Environmental Management. IDEM’s Mission and Environmental Goal.

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A good Environment and a good Economy fit together Well Lincolnland EDC January 22, 2009

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  1. A good Environment and a good Economy fit together WellLincolnland EDC January 22, 2009 Thomas W. Easterly, P.E., BCEE, QEP Commissioner IN Department of Environmental Management

  2. IDEM’s Mission and Environmental Goal IDEM is responsible for protecting human health and the environment while providing for safe industrial, agricultural, commercial and governmental operation vital to a prosperous economy. Our goal is to increase the personal income of all Hoosiers to the national average while maintaining and improving Indiana’s Environmental Quality.

  3. Pilot 2006 Environmental Performance Index • Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy Yale University • Center For International Earth Science Information Network (CFIESIN) Columbia University • http://www.yale.edu/epi/

  4. Maslow’s Pyramid reminds us that people meet their basic needs for food, shelter and security before addressing other needs. In most of Indiana, personal autos for transportation are a basic need. People with lower incomes can often only afford older more polluting automobiles which contribute more than their share to our transportation related air quality issues. Income and the Environment

  5. Auto Emissions grams/mile

  6. People with more income typically purchase newer cars that pollute less Similarly, newer industrial processes have less waste (more product per unit of input) Waste typically becomes pollution Financially successful industries typically are able to purchase these newer processes that pollute less Income and the Environment?

  7. Recent Indiana Projects with Environmental Benefits • Alcoa and Power Plant Emission Controls • Duke Edwardsport IGCC Power Plant • Ethanol Plants • Wind Farms for electricity generation • Honda and Toyota automotive facilities • BP Refinery upgrades

  8. We Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment Performance Metrics Jan 2009

  9. We Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment Performance Metrics June 2005

  10. We Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment New Drinking Water Metric • Percent of Hoosiers Drinking Safe Water • Percentage of Indiana population that receives drinking water from facilities that are in full compliance with safe drinking water regulations • Federal (EPA) Goal is 90%

  11. Measure the air, water and land to determine the existing state of the environment Compare the measured values to levels that protect human health and the environment Ambient Air Quality Standards Water Quality Standards Safe soil and ground water clean up levels Use modeling to determine how much of a substance can be added to the environment How Does IDEM Protect the Environment?

  12. Develop regulations and issue permits to restrict discharges to the environment to safe levels Inspect and monitor permitted facilities to ensure compliance with the permits Enforce against people who exceed their permit levels or violate regulations Educate people on their environmental responsibilities How Does IDEM Protect the Environment?

  13. When an entity applies for an IDEM permit, the decision to approve or deny the permit is based upon the question: “Does this project meet the requirements designed to protect the environment?” IDEM Makes Environmental Decisions, Not Land Use Decisions

  14. This is different than deciding: Is this the best use of this land? or Is this the best location for this project? In Indiana, these are local land use decisions, not State decisions IDEM Makes Environmental Decisions, Not Land Use Decisions

  15. We Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment Total Permit Calendar Days

  16. Air Permits Branch Rapid Improvement Activities Lean/Kaizen Methodology to improve efficiency Significant Source Modifications (Construction Approvals) 9/07 Event Process time reduced from 220 days to 121 days avg. Permit Renewals 12/07 Event Process time reduced from 678 day avg. to all those issued in ’08 within 270 days allowed (calendar days) Eliminate backlog of administratively extended permits 1/1/08 - 156 permits 1/7/09 only 9 remaining

  17. We Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment Agency Accomplishments • All 1,269 tons of VX Agent stored at the Newport Chemical Agent Facility since 1969 has been safely destroyed. VX destruction started in May of 2005 and was completed in August 2008 • Digital Inspector Tool is in use for solid waste inspections including CAFOs, Auto Salvage Yards and Landfills.

  18. We Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment Agency Accomplishments • All CSO Communities have entered legal agreements to address their CSO issues. • Increased permit speed and virtually eliminated permit and enforcement backlogs. • Entire State met the 0.08 ppm Ozone air quality standard for the period 2006-2008, all but Lake and Porter Counties designated attainment. PM2.5 Air Quality looks good.

  19. We Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment Agency Initiatives • Virtual File Cabinet—electronic filing system—over 30,000,000 pages now available electronically. Visits to IDEM file room down over 90% from 445/mo 1Q 2007 to 35/mo 2Q 2008. • TEMPO—Enterprise wide electronic integration of all IDEM information—part of the process to allow us to receive and process electronic permit applications and reports. • Applied for EPA approval for electronic submittals

  20. We Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment Agency Initiatives • Returned enforcement function to the air, water and land programs and eliminated the separate office of enforcement. • Provide consistent Statewide air quality permitting, monitoring and enforcement services by directly managing the air program functions previously contracted to: Anderson, Evansville, Gary, Hammond, Indianapolis, and Vigo County.

  21. We Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment Forbes “America’s Greenest States” Report • “So who’s at the bottom? Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Indiana and, at No. 50, West Virginia. All suffer from a mix of toxic waste, lots of pollution and consumption and no clear plans to do anything about it. Expect them to remain that way.”

  22. We Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment Forbes Report Conclusion • Does not rank States based upon government verified environmental quality data • Appears to be a ranking based upon adherence of States to a group of policies advocated by the NGO’s providing information used in the rankings • The data used in the report is as old as 2003 and goes up to 2005 • We are implementing improvements and have made great progress

  23. We Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment Questions? Tom Easterly Commissioner Indiana Department of Environmental Management 317-232-8611 teasterly@idem.in.gov

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