August 26, 2010-by Gitte Laasby in the Post Tribune. Ed. Note: Apparently the Indiana Department of Environmental Management does not give a hoot about the law or the health of the people who must live with the consequences of their inaction.
HAMLET — The Indiana Department of Environmental Management won’t answer questions from the Post-Tribune about how the agency is handling an illegal, scalding-hot discharge from a mint farm that killed a dog in Starke County.
IDEM has ignored five requests for information over the last eight days from the paper, which sought an update on the situation. IDEM did not acknowledge receipt of the Post-Tribune questions, but did provide the requested information to a TV station in South Bend.
An IDEM manager told WSBT last week that the Materna Mint Farm reduced the temperature of its unpermitted discharge to 75 degrees — within the state’s legal limit. About a week earlier, the station had measured up to 190 degrees in Robbins Ditch where the discharged water ended up. On Aug. 7, the discharge killed a white Labrador who jumped into the ditch. The dog’s owner suffered second-degree burns on his foot when he tried to save the dog.
WSBT reported that “No trespassing” signs had also been posted last week.
Less than a week after the dog’s death, IDEM inspector Michael Kuss visited the Hamlet mint farm and told his bosses that he was worried about the threat to human health and the environment, sources told the Post-Tribune. Kuss said he had suggested lowering the temperature of the discharge by cutting back on production, but that mint farm owners didn’t seem interested. He also suggested diluting the 150-degree discharge with cold water.
At the time, Kuss said he found it “awkward” to advise the mint farm on how to lower the temperature in the discharge, knowing the discharge is illegal. Kuss indicated that someone in IDEM’s Office of Water Quality didn’t want the discharge shut off.
One source said Kuss’ superior, IDEM Northern Regional Office director Michael Aylesworth, had cited concerns that shutting down the discharge would endanger the mint crop.
The source said the incident should have been treated as a spill, which generally means emergency crews are dispatched to take care of the problem immediately.
IDEM spokeswoman Amy Hartsock previously told the Post-Tribune that the discharge didn’t meet IDEM’s definitions of a spill. She did not elaborate on why.
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