Post-Tribune - On the Environment, Clear Differences Exist between Candidates
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Post-Tribune - On the Environment, Clear Differences Exist between Candidates
Gitte Laasby
Hoosiers who consider the environment a priority will find some clear distinctions between Indiana's two leading candidates for governor.
On one hand, there's Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who does not mention the environment on his list of priorities for 2009, but offers a list of his accomplishments.
On the other, there's Democrat Jill Long Thompson, who has proposed a "green jobs" plan with tax credits for companies that create "green jobs;" supports a renewable energy standard; wants to join the climate registry -- a voluntary registry of greenhouse gas emissions; and wants to end what she calls "inappropriate relations" between the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and industries.
"It is widely believed that on Daniels' watch, the fox has been watching the hen house at the Department of Environmental Management," states Long Thompson's plan on the environment, which also points out that IDEM Commissioner Tom Easterly "hails from industry and has shown time and time again that the Daniels administration's industry connections inappropriately compromise the integrity of the monitoring the agency is charged to perform."
Daniels points out that IDEM reduced the backlog of wastewater permits, some of which expired over a decade ago and hadn't been updated to reflect newer and stricter standards. Daniels also takes credit for record growth in the biofuels industry, which has made Indiana a top-five producer of biofuels in the nation; and for the 750-megawatt wind farm in Benton County.
Jesse Kharbanda, executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council, said the wind farm was a result of changes in the private sector rather than state incentives or proactive leadership.
Both candidates believe the state should set an example for energy conservation by requiring new state buildings to be built to higher standards.
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