Environmental Stakeholder Inclusion

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s (IDEM) mission is to implement federal and state regulations to protect human health and the environment while allowing the environmentally sound operations of industrial, agricultural, commercial, and governmental activities vital to a prosperous economy.

An environmental stakeholder is a person with an interest or concern in environmental activities. The intent of IDEM’s Environmental Stakeholder Inclusion program is to ensure that interested stakeholders are included and represented in agency actions, as outlined in the agency’s Nondiscrimination Policy [PDF].

Within IDEM, the environmental stakeholder inclusion coordinator works with the agency’s program areas to enhance environmental stakeholder involvement in the regulatory processes administered by the agency.

Services Provided

The environmental stakeholder inclusion coordinator assists agency staff with fulfilling requests from external stakeholders for:

• Americans with Disabilities Act accommodations
• Translation and interpretation services
• Notification assistance services
• Plain English guide services for interpreting complex vocabulary, the technical and scientific basis for decisions, and the appropriate involvement process steps
• Special assistance requests

Special Assistance Requests

An ESI request is made by a stakeholder for a better understanding of IDEM’s agency actions of rulemaking, permitting, or compliance assistance. The request process is as follows:

1. A stakeholder makes a request to IDEM staff, program contact, ESI agency coordinator, or complaints coordinator by phone call, email, letter, fax, or in-person.
2. Request is entered into “Tempo” (RM) recordkeeping system and is updated throughout the process.
3. An acknowledgement is made to the stakeholder within 24 hours.
4. An initial response on the request shall occur within 30 days.
5. ESI Coordinator will address the request within 90 days.

To submit a request, email esi@idem.in.gov, contact an ESI coordinator directly at the information below, or complete this form.

For assistance, please contact IDEM’s environmental stakeholder inclusion coordinator.

General Inquiries:

ESI@idem.IN.gov

Central/South Indiana:

Herb Engman, (317) 233-4088, HEngman@idem.IN.gov

Northern Indiana:

Rahim Evans, (219) 265-3205, RPEvans@idem.IN.gov

IDEM Resources

• IDEM Public Notices:
  • The IDEM Public Notice Site is designed to provide public access to all IDEM public notices, for Indiana, as required by statute or rule including: permitting, meeting and hearing notices, rules and regulatory notices, and non-rule policy document development.
• The Citizens Guide to IDEM:
  • The Citizens’ Guide to IDEM describes the agency’s permitting and environmental cleanup programs. It explains the basic processes that occur once IDEM receives a permit application, becomes aware of a contaminated site, or is directed by law to develop a rule. The guide details how citizens can participate when IDEM makes decisions about issuing permits, conducting cleanup actions, preparing environmental reports and plans, and writing environmental rules.
• IDEM Forms Page:
  • The one-stop-shop for all of the agency’s forms and form guidance.

Additional Resources

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Justice