When Mike Pence walks into the Governor’s office on Monday, one of his first acts as Governor will be to place a one year moratorium on new regulations. Increasing state and federal regulations have posed serious problems for Indiana agriculture. Lt. Governor Sue Ellspermann told HAT, “We know that agriculture has experienced its share of regulations both environmental and otherwise; and we understand that running any kind of business, you have to have the kind of environment that will allow those businesses to thrive.” She said the Pence administration wants to take a breather and make sure the regulations that are on the books have a reason to be there.
She told HAT in a one-on-one interview that, going forward, she wants to take a “lean approach” to implementing new regulations. Ellspermann said some level of regulation is needed, but care must to taken to make sure these are based on sound science and do not cause unintended consequences, “In Indiana, we understand that some level of regulation is needed, but we need to be a busines- friendly and ag-friendly state; and we intend to do that moving forward.”
Ellspermann said Indiana will also push back against increasing federal regulations. Governor Pence has already re-appointed Tom Easterly as head of IDEM, the agency primarily responsible for enforcement of state environmental regulations and for coordination with federal environmental regulations.
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