Latest News
Conservation groups are working to save the cerulean warbler, a state-endangered bird whose population has dropped by 70% in 50 years. A three-year project, partially in south-central Indiana, aims to improve forest habitats to bolster the warbler's population. Researchers are using tiny "backpack" geolocators to track the birds' migration routes from Indiana to South America.
- Issues: Biodiversity
Scientists gathered at Indiana University Northwest in Gary for a discussion of environmental public health in the region.
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation
A company's bid to open a soil recycling facility on the corner of Clay Street and15th Avenue in Gary was blocked after it failed to secure majority support at the Gary Common Council's Tuesday meeting.
- Services: Legal Advocacy, Nonprofit Support
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation
An industrial firm is seeking to bring a new soil recycling facility to the corner of Clay Street and 15th Avenue in Gary.
- Services: Legal Advocacy, Nonprofit Support
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation
The East Chicago Common Council voted to block a proposed scrap metal recycling facility near schools, a stadium, and a hospital after the Conservation Law Center raised concerns about potential health impacts and urged greater scrutiny and public participation in the approval process.
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation
After a nearly two-year legal fight, Ogden Dunes officials have dropped plans for a stone revetment along the Lake Michigan shoreline. In June 2023, the Conservation Law Center, representing Save the Dunes, challenged the Indiana Department of Natural Resources permit for the project.
The Town of Ogden Dunes has abandoned its plan to build a stone erosion barrier in Lake Michigan after a nearly two-year legal fight with Save the Dunes. The decision is being hailed as a major victory for shoreline advocates, though concerns remain about long-term beach protection and how the town might respond going forward.
The Conservation Law Center has expanded its environmental legal aid work in Northwest Indiana, adding attorney Rachel Schwartz to support community groups and residents facing pollution, development, and transparency concerns. Together with veteran attorney Michael Zoeller, the team is litigating key cases and providing hands-on support to help residents advocate for cleaner, safer neighborhoods.
The EPA has delayed stricter pollution standards for steel mills for roughly two years, prompting lawsuits from environmental and community groups concerned about continued exposure to toxic emissions. Advocates in Northwest Indiana warn that the delay will prolong significant health risks for residents living near coal-burning facilities.
A Gary resident has filed suit against the Little Calumet River Basin Development Commission, alleging illegal private meetings, ineligible members, and an improper lease tied to a proposed waste-to-energy facility. The case challenges the commission’s transparency and authority, reflecting ongoing community concerns about environmental impacts and public accountability.
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation
Hoosier Environmental Council is asking the Morgan County Circuit Court to overturn an administrative law judge’s order they say allows the utility to violate federal rules at Eagle Valley.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Water
Seven Hoosier nonprofit agencies shared their concerns about Gov. Mike Braun's recent executive order that would lessen environmental regulations of Hoosier businesses and industries. Executive Order 25-28 would also prohibit state environmental rules that are more stringent than federal regulations.
The state agency charged with protecting Indiana's environment and Hoosiers from industrial pollution completed its first step to “reduce excessive environmental regulation” and fulfill obligations imposed by Gov. Mike Braun.
A new Indiana law that expands the state’s prescribed burning capacity was signed by Indiana Governor Mike Braun on April 30, in part due to efforts by Indiana University Maurer School of Law students through the school’s Conservation Law Clinic.
- Services: Legal Education
- Issues: Education, Land
Local advocates are pressuring Northwest Indiana’s steel mills to adopt cleaner technologies and curb toxic emissions. They warn the mills are among the nation’s top sources of greenhouse gases and harmful air pollution.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation
Nearly 4,000 acres in Sullivan County will become the new Busseron Creek Fish and Wildlife Area. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources was able to acquire more land, faster with the help of partners like the Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape, the Conservation Fund and the Nature Conservancy.
- Services: Partnerships
- Issues: Land
Nature has reclaimed an old coal mine in southern Indiana, and state environmentalists have collaborated to ensure the land will belong to all Hoosiers.
Indiana’s Department of Natural Resources, working with the Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape initiative and The Conservation Fund, have acquired nearly 4,000 acres of diverse habitat that will become the Busseron Creek Fish and Wildlife Area in Sullivan County.
- Services: Partnerships
- Issues: Land
SISL’s overarching goals are to preserve and protect military missions, support sustainable farming and forestry, restore and sustain ecosystems, ensure thriving human communities, and improve climate resiliency.
- Services: Partnerships
- Issues: Land
A recent International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health report on concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in the United States highlights a disturbing truth: large-scale industrial farming is poisoning our air, water and communities.
- Services: Legal Advocacy, Policy
- Issues: Land, Water
Water, essential to all life on the planet, is an abundant resource in Indiana. This alone puts Indiana in a resilient position as we navigate toward a climate-changed future.
Conservation work is largely relationship-driven. One of Central Indiana Land Trust’s longtime champions, Michael Spalding, was not only instrumental in expanding Meltzer Woods in 2020. He also played a key role in the Lowe Tract’s protection.
- Services: Partnerships
- Issues: Land
State Conservationist Damarys Mortenson announced today that Indiana’s USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is making funding available to help landowners protect and restore key forestland across southern Indiana through land easements. The funding is provided through the Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). Eligible landowners must submit applications for the current funding pool on or before October 4.
- Services: Partnerships
- Issues: Land
A Gary resident is suing the Little Calumet River Basin Development Commission over alleged violations of transparency rules, the eligibility of two of the body's members, and the commission's ongoing relationship with the company behind a controversial planned waste recycling facility in Gary.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation
California-based Fulcrum Bioenergy, the company behind controversial plans for a jet fuel making facility in Gary, is facing bankruptcy, according to a report by Bloomberg published on Tuesday.
The outlet reported that nearly all of the company's roughly 100 employees had been laid off in mid-May and that most of the company's operations had been halted. Fulcrum's website is no longer functioning.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation
The grassroots environmental group Gary Advocates for Responsible Development (GARD) is seeking judicial review of a complaint against the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) that was dismissed last month.
In 2022, GARD filed a petition with the Indiana Office of Environmental Adjudication (OEA) in which it claimed that IDEM acted improperly when it granted a federally enforceable state operating permit (FESOP) to Fulcrum Bioenergy for a planned trash-to-fuel facility at Buffington Harbor earlier that year.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation
Interpreting the complex system of permits and standards that regulate the Region's many industries can be a daunting task.
“You’ve got to be an environmental scientist or an engineer to respond to these permits," Gary resident Doreen Carey said during an October panel held at Indiana University Northwest.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation
We are pleased to announce that the Powell Township Board has enacted an official “RESOLUTION” rejecting the plan by the Michigan Aerospace Manufacturers Association (MAMA) to rezone Granot Loma to build an industrial rocket launch site, finding under the Township Zoning Ordinance that it:
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Biodiversity, Land, Water
A new federal program will support conservation of tens of thousands of acres across southern Indiana through the Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape (SISL), helping restore forestland and promote sustainable farming and forestry practices. The effort aims to boost ecosystem health, protect wildlife habitat, and support long-term land stewardship by local landowners.
Macaw Recovery Network announces its first land purchase toward the restoration of habitat for the critically endangered Great Green Macaw.
Its purchase of La Peninsula in northern Costa Rica will help save not only this magnificent bird but all forest wildlife that share its habitat.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Biodiversity, Land, Water
Gary, IN - - In an ongoing challenge to Fulcrum Centerpoint’s air pollution permit, Gary Advocates for Responsible Development (GARD) is asking the administrative law judge overseeing the case to put an end to Fulcrum’s harassing litigation conduct. Fulcrum, a large California corporation wants to build what it calls a “biorefinery” that will “gasify” garbage and turn it into a sustainable source of jet fuel. GARD appealed Fulcrum’s air permit out of concern that the planned operation will add even more toxic air emissions to Gary’s already unhealthy air.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation
ODGEN DUNES — The possible construction of an armor stone revetment in Ogden Dunes has been challenged by the non-profit group Save the Dunes.
The organization filed an administrative appeal June 19 after the Indiana Department of Natural Resources approved Ogden-Dunes' request for a 2,970-foot-long, 10-foot-wide revetment along Lake Michigan’s lakeshore, according to a statement from Save the Dunes.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Biodiversity, Land, Public Trust, Water
A little more than three years ago, Lake Michigan was at its highest level in more than 30 years, and waves dashed up against the sheet steel piling that lakefront homeowners in the town of Ogden Dunes had installed in the 1980s and 1990s.
Worried that the piling was vulnerable and their homes were in danger, the town petitioned for permission to install a revetment — a layer of large, interlocking boulders along the shoreline — to protect their homes.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Biodiversity, Land, Public Trust, Water
(Ogden Dunes, IN)- Save the Dunes filed an administrative appeal on Monday with the Indiana Natural Resources Commission. The appeal challenges the Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ (“DNR”) approval of the Town of Ogden Dunes’ proposal to build a 2,970-foot-long, 10-foot-wide, armor stone revetment along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Save the Dunes is represented in the case by the Conservation Law Center, a public interest environmental law firm that also runs the Conservation Law Clinic at Indiana University Mauer School of Law.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Public Trust, Water
The state is allowing AES Indiana to dump more than 1 million gallons of water contaminated with harmful coal ash pollutants directly into the White River every day, according to Indiana environmental groups who call the approval process a "contradictory shell game."
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation, Water
An Indiana environmental group says the state is allowingutility AES Indiana to release more than 1 million gallons ofcontaminated water a day into the White River from coalash ponds at its Eagle Valley Generating Station inMartinsville in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation, Land, Water
The Eagle Valley natural gas plant in Martinsville is using water that could be contaminated with toxic coal ash to cool the plant and then putting it back into the White River.
The Hoosier Environmental Council said that violates federal coal ash rules. The group is challenging the state’s decision to reissue Eagle Valley’s wastewater permit.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation, Water
For seven Bloomington-area breweries, beers and conservation go together like hops and yeast. A new collaborative brew called SentinAle has debuted and its goal is to raise awareness about the Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape.
- Services: Partnerships
(MARTINSVILLE, IN)- The Hoosier Environmental Council (“HEC”) filed an administrative appeal on Monday with the Indiana Office of Environmental Adjudication (“OEA”). The appeal challenges a water permit issued by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (“IDEM”) that allows the Eagle Valley Generating Station—an AES-owned powerplant in Martinsville—to discharge toxic contaminants from its leaking coal ash ponds directly into the West Fork of the White River.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Water
A ditch system dug nearly 100 years ago to drain Beaver Lake, formerly the largest natural lake in Indiana, is at the center of a legal battle between a 4,350-dairy cow CAFO and the neighboring Newton County residents.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Biodiversity, Land, Water
Environmental law attorney Kim Ferraro might have only been half-joking when she claimed that if she had known at the start of her career what she knows now, she probably would have chosen a different practice area.
- Services: Legal Advocacy, Legal Education
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation, Land, Water
IU to help manage newly declared Sentinel Landscape
A new initiative that aims to strengthen Indiana’s military readiness will also help preserve and protect a large swath of southern Indiana around military installations.
- Services: Partnerships
- Issues: Land
Finding the Army Corps of Engineers did not follow its own guidance and procedures, the Northern Indiana District Court has thrown out the Corps’ decision that a concentrated animal feeding operation built on a former wetland in Newton County is not under federal regulation.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Land, Water
Pollution, deforestation, extinction of endangered species, and extreme weather events are taking their toll on today’s world. A nonprofit organization in Bloomington, Indiana is doing its part to reverse these trends.
- Services: Legal Education
- Issues: Biodiversity, Land, Water
Water is essential for life, and people concerned about the health of Lake Monroe have worked together to form the Lake Monroe Water Fund.
On its website, it’s described as an “active funder for watershed projects that conserve, protect and sustain Lake Monroe as our shared community water resource.”
- Services: Nonprofit Support
- Issues: Biodiversity, Water
A familiar name from a different email address feels out of context. Upon further investigation it is perfectly in context. Andrea Lutz has been my ‘forever’ Upland Brewing Company contact.
Now, she is the spokesperson with the Conservation Law Center headquartered near the IU Bloomington campus.
- Issues: Biodiversity, Land, Water
Harrison County agreement marks the first use of the federal agricultural land easement component in Indiana.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Land
Christian Freitag, executive director of Sycamore Land Trust for the past 18 years, has resigned to become president and director of the Conservation Law Center. Freitag will succeed W. William Weeks as president and director of the nonprofit environmental law firm in Bloomington.
Carol Kugler, a reporter for The Herald-Times in Bloomington, IN, attended CLC's recent presentation at Green Drinks Bloomington.
- Services: Legal Advocacy, Policy
- Issues: Water
Thanks to the efforts of the Friends of White River (FOWR), the banks along a stretch of riparian corridor in Warfleigh and Broad Ripple will retain vegetation originally slated for removal.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Land, Water
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