Environmental groups, Democrats blindsided by amendment further gutting wetland protection

Many environmental groups, business leaders and Democrats say they were blindsided last week by a last-minute amendment to a bill that further erodes protection for the dwindling wetlands that remain in Indiana.

The move comes after a controversial 2021 bill that gutted many safeguards for the important ecological features.  

The amendment to Senate Bill 414 was approved during a House Environmental Affairs Committee meeting on March 22. The bill, which had been approved by the Senate, was originally about residential sewage systems. The amendment adds language that also redefines how wetlands are classified.

The end result: If the bill passes and is signed by the governor, it will become even easier for developers to build on wetlands. 

These changes come just months after a report from a variety of stakeholders and water experts said the state needs to do more, not less, to protect Indiana's wetlands. That study followed the 2021 legislation that placed more than half of the state's 800,000 acres of wetlands in jeopardy.

Wetlands serve critical functions for the environment. They filter and purify water as it absorbs into the ground, they capture and store excess stormwater to reduce flooding and they provide essential habitat wildlife.

This year's amendment would benefit the building industry, critics say, and was authored by a builder: Rep. Doug Miller. The Elkhart Republican owns a construction and home building company and also serves on the board of directors for the Indiana Builders Association. 

For many opponents, those ties raises a concern about conflict of interest in connection to the amendment that was made public just two hours before the committee meeting. 

“It was really bizarre to have wetlands brought into a sewage and septic bill,” said Rep. Maureen Bauer, D-South Bend, who serves on the House environmental committee. “No one was expecting that, it feels like political games.” 

Several groups, including the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, Hoosier Environmental Council and White River Alliance, said they would have testified against the bill if they had been aware of the amendment. 

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Bauer and Rep Sue Errington, D-Muncie, asked for the bill to be held to allow for additional consideration and public testimony on the amendment. House Environmental Affairs Chairman Rep. Alan Morrison, R-Brazil, refused and said he wanted to move the bill that day. Morrison did not respond to IndyStar requests for comment.

“This subverts the democratic, publicly-understood participation process,” said Jill Hoffmann, executive director of the White River Alliance and a member of the group that convened the 2022 wetlands study. “It’s ‘citizen-be-aware’ law-making.”

Only one person testified on the amendment: Rick Wajda, CEO of the Indiana Builders Association, who spoke in support. 

Bauer said he seemed well-prepared to speak on the changes. Wajda did not respond to IndyStar questions, including if he knew about the amendment before it was released or helped in its drafting. 

Both Wajda and amendment author Miller — who also did not respond to IndyStar requests for comment — said during the hearing the amendment is needed to clear up some changes from the 2021 law. 

As introduced, the 2021 bill would have removed protections for all wetlands in Indiana. The state already had lost more than 85% of its historic wetlands over time through farming and development — the fourth-greatest loss in the U.S., according to Audubon Great Lakes. 

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After opposition in 2021, lawmakers kept some safeguards in place for class 2 and 3 wetlands, or those of higher quality. Still, the law made it easier to build on wetlands and removed some mitigation requirements to help make up for those lost to development. 

Now, the amendment makes it more difficult to classify a wetland as class 2 or 3 — thus making it harder to protect the high-quality resources. 

Under current law, a wetland only has to meet one of a few factors to be classified as protected. It must support minimal wildlife, serve as an aquatic habitat, have hydrologic function, or be a rare wetland type. But with the new amendment, a wetland would have to meet all criteria to merit protection. 

“This amendment would bring our wetlands regulations back to how SEA389 was originally introduced (in 2021), not how it passed,” said Greg Ellis, director of environmental and energy policy for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. 

Brian Vigue, Freshwater Policy director for Audubon Great Lakes, called it “a huge step backwards for Hoosiers, birds and other wildlife that depend on this vital natural resource.”

Before SEA 389, there were about 800,000 acres of wetlands across Indiana, according to the state. That’s just 4% of Indiana’s land. When the class 1 protections were removed in 2021, more than 400,000 acres were left unprotected, Ellis said. 

It’s unclear how many have been lost since then, he said, or how many more acres could be threatened as a result of the new amendment. 

The amendment is facing opposition from a variety of groups, similar to the 2021 law. More than 100 individuals and groups opposed the legislation two years ago, including several municipalities. 

Gov. Eric Holcomb and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management both opposed the original version of SEA 389, too, but Holcomb did not respond to requests for comment on this year’s amendment. IDEM said it would not comment on pending legislation or “speculate on potential impacts.” 

This amendment comes despite the report last year by the Wetlands Task Force, a group that was created as a concession to opponents of the 2021 law. It found Indiana needs further protections for wetlands. 

“In the simplest terms, the home builder’s industry and many of our legislators just don’t see the value in wetlands and have economic interests that are a higher concern,” said Will Ditzler, chair of the task force.

Sen. Shelli Yoder said she viewed the task force report as a “slow down” sign, but added the House majority is instead “stepping on the gas and taking their hands off the wheel.” 

The amended bill could come up for a vote on the House floor as early as Monday. The original SB 414, that focused on septic systems before amended, garnered bipartisan support in the Senate. The new version now faces opposition along party lines. Any changes made in the House must be approved by the Senate, where the bill originated.

Yoder, D-Bloomington, said she hopes the Senate as a whole will “do the right thing” and remove the controversial change. 

“Not only because it’s bad public policy,” she said, “but because it was done at the last minute and was largely insulated from public discussion and testimony.”

Call IndyStar reporter Sarah Bowman at 317-444-6129 or email at sarah.bowman@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook: @IndyStarSarah. Connect with IndyStar’s environmental reporters: Join The Scrub on Facebook.

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