In recent months, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management gave public notice or issued three significant environmental permits affecting Northwest Indiana. With each permit public comment process, many Indiana and Illinois stakeholders voiced their opposition to the issuance of the permits.

The opposition has been generated in part by inaccurate and inflammatory media coverage, the misunderstanding of the project details and the related environmental permitting process.

It is important to note that IDEM has prepared legally, scientifically and technically sound permits in each instance. The volumes of state and federal rules, regulations, laws and policies specify the intense process that must be followed when IDEM, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or other regulatory agencies draft new, modified or renewed environmental permits for air, water or solid waste disposal. When a draft permit is issued, the limitations and requirements contained within the permit reflect these rules, laws and policies. At no time is an environmental permit ever issued that does not uphold the intent of the law to protect human health and the environment.

When a corporation or municipality considers a major capital improvement project, the development team of environmental, legal, financial and other appropriate staff, reviews all project aspects. Critical to the decision-making process is the timeline for obtaining all legally required permits, which will dictate when construction is allowed to begin as well as when operations can commence. As such, the development team relies upon the reams of regulatory information as set forth in law to assist them in determining the timeline of the project.

The recent reaction to the issuance of draft environmental permits has attempted to seek commitments beyond compliance of current law without any legal, scientific or technical basis and has adversely affected the opportunity for significant capital investment in Northwest Indiana. In doing so, the message sent to corporate planners is one of uncertainty in obtaining quality permits in a timely fashion. This type of message forces these planners to look at other locations, not Northwest Indiana. Once a permit is issued in draft form, years have passed -- not days as has been inferred in public comments published to date.

Northwest Indiana, as well as the state, actively encourages businesses to consider us for their capital improvement projects at existing sites or to build new enterprises here. Each individual project brings new jobs, secures existing jobs and creates new support business opportunities.

Such projects add to the quality of life of Northwest Indiana residents.

No corporation or municipality proposes a project that would negatively impact the area and its residents. It is in their best interest to design a project that offers the economic opportunities in conjunction with environmental protection.

If Indiana is seen as a state that cannot offer the certainty of obtaining quality environmental permits in a legally defined timely fashion, we will lose opportunities to grow. We won't be considered for expansion or new locations by corporations. That perception would be detrimental in light of the indisputable fact that our environment has significantly improved over the last 30 to 40 years and continues to improve across the entire region.