Farmers and small business owners tend to be an enterprising and independent bunch. That’s what it takes to succeed at running a business, maintaining crops and fields, and fighting mother nature so a family can prosper from the land. But in the rural areas surrounding Jasper that get-it-done approach used by landowners for decades to prevent flooding from rain-filled creeks has run into a major roadblock.
The agents who enforce environmental laws have recently discovered home-built levees, ditches, and dams, and brought these private efforts to contain the flow of water to a halt. While the Department of Natural Resources has a legitimate mission and did receive an initial complaint that led to the discovery of the widespread practice, the resulting broad enforcement is creating havoc for many small businesses and farms, requiring great expenditures by the landowners, and even threatening livelihoods.
At Schnellville Mill, John Lubbers says he and his brother might lose their fourth-generation family business that opened in 1921 because of regulatory issues concerning a levee he was about to repair to prevent flooding. If the mill closes, he says the family’s hardware store will close also.
Decades ago, a bridge and higher roads were installed, and the county moved the creek closer to the mill and built a levee. In the last five years, the levee has been etched away by flooding, so Lubbers bought concrete pieces from an old foundation to repair it.
Once DNR learned of it, that project was stopped. Now Lubbers faces thousands of dollars in additional costs for the required engineering study and has been told only smaller concrete blocks on a much shorter part of the creek will do.
Knowing the lay of his land, and familiar with the ten to twelve feet of water that can rise at any time, he says that won’t be effective, and he can’t afford to pay for failure. Thus, the family’s businesses are currently threatened.
Another impacted business owner, a farmer with fields being washed away by a meandering creek that sloshed flood water from side to side, had a plan to straighten the waterway’s path. But he quickly learned that would not be allowed because it would increase the velocity downstream, possibly impacting other landowners.
After receiving differing advice from several state and federal agencies and having multiple visits by their various agents, he submitted a series of different plans. He waited many months for a permit. By the time it came, planting season had arrived, and it was too late to bring in the earth-moving equipment.
At a meeting in Jasper held by Rep. Shane Lindauer, a crowd of about 250 people showed up concerned about the recent enforcement efforts landowners face for controlling flood waters on their property. Lindauer’s office has been working to assist these many constituents for months, visiting their property, meeting with agencies, and working to address their concerns.
While balancing the requirement of environmental agencies to carry out their enforcement mandate, and at the same time helping property owners get through this tumultuous situation, some issues need to be addressed by lawmakers, the administration, agencies, and the landowners:
- Currently, it is difficult for landowners to know if they need a permit, and if so, to which agency they should apply. Multiple agencies, including DNR, Indiana’s Department of Environmental Management, and the federal Army Corps of Engineers may be involved.
- If there are possible exemptions to the law they should be investigated.
- Delays in permits must be addressed so that the business operation may continue without a loss of income or major interruption. Multi-year permits should be considered as a future option.
- It must be made easier to ascertain if an engineering plan will be required, and how small businesses can cope with the thousands of dollars that may cost.
- There should be a means of working out differences between the government agency and the landowner, while still following the law, by working to make allowable accommodations.
Solving these issues may take legislation, regulatory changes, or administrative action. They may require coordination between various agencies or an action plan. All stakeholders will need to be patient and adopt a can-do approach. But whatever it takes–it must be addressed as soon as possible so that these small businesses, farmers, and landowners can get back to business and not suffer any huge losses.
This piece was co-authored by local State Representative Shane Lindauer and Barbara Quandt, state director of NFIB in Indiana. NFIB is a small business association with over ten thousand members in the state, many in the affected area.
