Latest News
Environmental organization says further delays to the Hammond Sanitary District project threaten the health of Little Calumet River and fail to comply with the Clean Water Act.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation, Water
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
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
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
Tradebe’s operations in East Chicago are under scrutiny as IDEM weighs two key permits: a renewal and expansion of the facility’s hazardous waste permit under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and a modification of its Clean Air Act (CAA) permit. Yet advocates argue that Tradebe’s extensive non-compliance record demands adequate, stronger oversight before any permit approvals are granted.
- Services: Partnerships
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation
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
CLC announces the launch of the organization’s Environmental Legal Aid Program to serve the environmental legal needs of local residents, advocates and community groups in Gary, Hammond, Whiting and East Chicago (“the Region”). The new program builds on CLC’s mission of providing free representation to environmental non-profits tackling critical environmental health and justice issues, as well conservation organizations engaged in protecting natural resources, water quality, and wildlife habitat.
- Services: Legal Advocacy, Partnerships
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation
Kim E. Ferraro is the Senior Attorney at the Conservation Law Center, known for her pivotal role in securing landmark legal victories for environmental protection during her tenure with the Hoosier Environmental Council. Kim’s achievements include halting threats posed by factory farms, compelling cleanups of industrial waste sites, and preventing the construction of hazardous industries near critical natural areas and marginalized communities, demonstrating her commitment to conservation, and addressing environmental injustice.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation
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
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
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
Today, the Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC) wishes a warm farewell and many thanks to its long-time Senior Attorney, Kim Ferraro, who is leaving HEC after 11 years to become the Senior Staff Attorney at the Conservation Law Center (CLC), effective August 1st.
- Services: Legal Advocacy, Legal Education, Nonprofit Support, Partnerships, Policy
- Issues: Biodiversity, Community-Centered Conservation, Land, Public Trust, Water
Conservation Law Center is excited to announce a $10,000 grant from the Duke Energy Foundation to establish a new student fellowship program. The Duke Energy “Grass Roots” Conservation Fellowship will offer students at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law a paid internship to gain hands-on experience advocating for water conservation and improved water quality in the state of Indiana.
- Services: Legal Education
- Issues: Biodiversity, Community-Centered Conservation, Land, Water
Conservation Law Center is excited to welcome Andrea Lutz in the newly created position of Director of Advancement. This new role replaces the prior Director of Development position and will expand the responsibilities to include administering the organization’s development and marketing initiatives, as well as program expansion and management.
- Issues: Biodiversity, Community-Centered Conservation, Land, Public Trust, Water
Each school year, second- and third-year law students at the IU Maurer School of Law have the opportunity to enroll for credit as interns in our Conservation Law Clinic, one of Maurer’s six public interest clinics focused on providing students a hands-on learning experience working with real clients. Under the supervision of CLC attorneys, student interns work closely with each other and with the attorneys on live legal matters for our myriad clients who need assistance with natural resource conservation issues.
- Services: Legal Education
- Issues: Biodiversity, Community-Centered Conservation, Land, Public Trust, Water
Conservation Law Center and Earthjustice, working in collaboration to represent the Sierra Club, have prevailed in the case of Essroc Cement Corp. v. Clark County Bd. of Zoning Appeals & Sierra Club. Essroc had sued the Clark County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) in an attempt to overturn the BZA’s denial of Essroc’s plan to burn hazardous wastes as a fuel for its cement plant.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation
The Sierra Club, represented by Earthjustice and Conservation Law Center, has been granted intervention in a trial court proceeding in which the right to burn hazardous waste near homes and schools is being disputed.
- Services: Legal Advocacy
- Issues: Community-Centered Conservation
Let's Stay in Touch
Get the latest news directly to your inbox
CLC periodically sends out newsletters with updates about our latest work. Stay in the loop by signing up for the newsletter.
