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SCOTUS skeptical that state abortion bans conflict with federal health care law; Iowa advocates for immigrants push back on Texas-style deportation bill; new hearings, same arguments on both sides for ND pipeline project; clean-air activists to hold "die-in" Friday at LA City Hall.

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"Squad" member Summer Lee wins her primary with a pro-peace platform, Biden signs huge foreign aid bills including support for Ukraine and Israel, and the Arizona House repeals an abortion ban as California moves to welcome Arizona doctors.

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The urban-rural death divide is widening for working-age Americans, many home internet connections established for rural students during COVID have been broken, and a new federal rule aims to put the "public" back in public lands.

Supporters Say Indiana Bill Could Prevent Drinking-Water Disaster

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Thursday, March 26, 2015   

INDIANAPOLIS – A West Virginia chemical spill that contaminated the drinking-water source for 300,000 people last year is serving as a cautionary tale in Indiana.

Supporters of Senate Bill 312 say it would help prevent a similar environmental disaster in Indiana by protecting drinking-water sources.

Indra Frank, health project director for the Hoosier Environmental Council, explains the legislation would require owners of above-ground storage tanks to report the location and size of those tanks to state regulators.

"Some tanks are currently under reporting requirements from certain federal laws, but not all of them," Frank says. "This bill is intended to fill that gap, and have reporting of the rest of the tanks for Indiana."

There are more than 9,500 above-ground storage tanks in Indiana, and Frank says 450 of them are considered direct threats because of their proximity to a drinking-water source. The spill in West Virginia spread down a river for nearly 400 miles and was caused by two corroded, leaking ground storage tanks.

Frank points out that storage tanks contain industrial byproducts and pesticides – chemicals that, if released into the environment, could be harmful to people and wildlife. She says the bill aims to get a better picture of the threat the tanks pose, but feels it was gutted during the legislative process.

"Unfortunately, there were some amendments that were made as it went through the Senate that have weakened the bill," she notes. "In particular, 22 different exemptions were put in, and the size of the tanks that require reporting was made larger."

After the changes, the bill passed unanimously in the Senate; Frank says a House hearing is expected in the next week or two.



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