The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) provides timely and accurate legal advice to IDEM’s management and staff. Its attorneys work with agency program staff to further the agency goals of protecting Hoosiers and their environment. OLC counsels agency staff on permitting decisions, legislative affairs, and policy development. Attorneys also assist in the development and promulgation of rules to implement state and federal laws pertaining to air, water, and land regulation to protect human health and the environment. OLC attorneys represent the agency in administrative litigation matters related to permitting and enforcement actions within the Office of Environmental Adjudication and work with the Office of the Attorney General on other litigation matters outside of the administrative process. Attorneys also draft and review contracts, memoranda of understanding, and grants, as well as house IDEM’s Natural Resource Damage Assessment program.
OLC also oversees criminal investigations to ensure prompt investigation of environmental crimes and the Office of Records Management to assist with the fulfillment of public records requests to ensure implementation of the Access to Public Records Act.