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1996 Indiana Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (1996)

handle is hein.sag/sagin0022 and id is 1 raw text is: STATE OF INDIANA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL PAMELA CARTER STATE HOUSE ATTORNEY GENERAL INDIANAPOLIS 46204 OFFICIAL OPINION 96-1 January 29, 1996 Ms. Kathy Prosser, Commissioner Indiana Department of Environmental Management 100 North Senate Avenue, 13th Floor PO. Box 6015 Indianapolis, IN 46206-6015 Dear Commissioner Prosser: This is in response to your request for an official opinion regarding Ind. Code § 36-9-23. Specifically, you asked: Whether I.C. 36-9-23 allows municipalities to regulate -wastewater discharge of industries outside the municipality, but within a ten mile zone of the boundaries of the municipality? For the reasons stated below, it is my official opinion that a municipality may regulate wastewater discharge of industries located within ten miles of its corporate boundaries, though I express no opinion whether it could do so if the affected area lies within the boundaries of another municipal corporation. ANALYSIS The interpretation of a statute must, of course, begin with its text, as the purpose of statutory construction is to determine and give effect to the intent of the legislature and to give the plain and ordinary meaning to the words used. Matter of Lawrance (1991), Ind., 579 N.E.2d 32; Berkey v. Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals (1993), Ind. App., 607 N.E.2d 730, trans. den. Here, the pertinent section provides: A municipality may exercise powers granted by this chapter within ten (10) miles outside its corporate boundaries. However, this mileage limitation does not apply to the provision of sewage treatment service for an entity that is described in section 16(b)(2) of this chapter. 09 OM S * NOT PAID FOR AT TAXPAYERS EXPENSE *