IN-05: Lawmaker wants to deregulate wetlands. Her family once was cited for bulldozing them.

nvironmental advocates are worried a bill that would prevent the state from protecting certain wetlands will lead to more flooding, less clean water and the loss of wildlife.

But it’s not just what the bill would do that has drawn criticism. Good government experts are also expressing concern over the appropriateness of who is authoring the legislation.

Sen. Victoria Spartz, R-Noblesville, wrote Senate Bill 229, which removes state oversight of certain wetlands near what are called regulated drains, which are thousands of miles of man-made ditches, streams, sewers and drainage pipes constructed throughout Indiana in the past century to alleviate flooding.

Hamilton County Surveyor Kent Ward says he brought the idea to Spartz, who is his local senator. He thinks the state overreached when it made the county pay more than $140,000 in taxpayer money to restore a wetlands the county cut down while repairing such a drainage system.

Spartz has her own complicated history with IDEM's regulation of wetlands, one she did not disclose as the bill has moved through the legislature.

In 2007, her family planned a multi-million project to develop a Super Target in Noblesville. IDEM halted the project after the family bulldozed and filled in wetlands near a county-regulated drain on the property, because they had failed to obtain state and federal permissions.


https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/17/indiana-sen-victoria-spartz-bill-deregulate-wetlands-raises-eyebrows/4564178002/