MARTINSVILLE – The Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC) has filed a lawsuit in Morgan County Court against the Indiana Office of Administrative Law Proceedings (OALP), challenging the OALP’s decision to uphold a 2023 water pollution permit issued by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM).
The permit in question allows the Eagle Valley Generating Station, an AES-owned power plant in Martinsville, to discharge untreated wastewater from its coal ash waste ponds into the West Fork of the White River. HEC argues that this wastewater contains neurotoxins, carcinogens, and other harmful substances, posing a significant threat to the river and the City of Martinsville’s drinking water supply, as the discharge point is upstream of the city’s municipal wells.
HEC had previously requested the OALP to revoke the permit, citing violations of federal and state clean water laws and the federal coal ash rule, which aims to protect human health and the environment from such toxic risks. However, the OALP upheld IDEM’s permit, a decision HEC is now challenging in court.
“We are bringing this legal action to stop AES’s contamination of the White River since it wasn’t stopped by our state agencies,” said Indra Frank, Coal Ash Advisor for HEC. “We need our state agencies to step in and protect Indiana’s land, air, and water now more than ever since the ability of federal EPA to do so is being severely undermined. The cuts to EPA’s authority include rollbacks of the federal coal ash rule and increasing reliance on the states to fix coal ash problems.”
In its lawsuit, HEC alleges that the OALP “ignored the law and evidence, disregarded procedural rules, and trampled on the rights of Hoosiers to obtain fair, impartial, and independent administrative review of IDEM’s decisions, which is the only legal recourse they have when those decisions adversely affect their interests.” The organization is seeking to have the Morgan County Court reverse the OALP’s ruling.
Additionally, HEC argues that the OALP wrongly denied them and their members, who live in Martinsville, standing to challenge the permit, contradicting established Indiana law.
HEC is represented by the Conservation Law Center (CLC), a public interest environmental law firm.
“Indiana courts are no longer required to give deference to state agencies that abuse their administrative power at the expense of everyday Hoosiers as IDEM and the OALP did in this case,” said Christian Freitag, Executive Director of CLC. “Last year, the Indiana legislature ended agency deference so that Indiana courts will provide a meaningful check on government agency decisions that affect the health and safety of Indiana citizens. We are asking the Morgan County Circuit Court to do that here.”
About Hoosier Environmental Council:
Founded in 1983, the Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC) is Indiana’s largest statewide environmental policy organization. HEC aims to advance solutions that are good for the environment and the economy. Visit hecweb.org for more information. You can also follow HEC on Twitter: @hec_ed, and on Facebook at facebook.com/hecweb.
About Conservation Law Center:
Conservation Law Center is Indiana’s only public interest environmental law firm. Established in 2005, the Center provides pro bono legal services to nonprofit organizations and community groups in Indiana and the Midwest region on water quality, land conservation, endangered species, environmental justice, and the public trust. Visit conservationlawcenter.org for more information. You can also follow Conservation Law Center’s work on Facebook and Instagram @conservlawcentr.
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