The Indianapolis Business Journal and the Associated Press report that a reduction of meat inspectors could have a terrible impact on local producers who will not be able to get their product to market.

Here's a snip:

Indiana's plan to lay off some meat inspectors to save money and reduce the time inspectors spend with small, independent processors has the industry and farmers fearing it could hurt what has been a growing industry.

It's not clear how many of the state's 52 inspectors will be let go, but meatpackers say any layoffs will prevent them from growing to meet demand for locally raised meat. And, if state inspectors are scarce or unavailable, small meatpackers who can't afford to upgrade for federal inspections could cut back their operations or go under.

Their fears highlight a dilemma lawmakers in many states face as tax revenues decline and they struggle to balance budgets: How deeply do they cut programs that are essential to growing segments of their economies and could generate new tax revenues?

"We're one of the small businesses in Indiana that showed growth in a recession year," said Steve Beutler, past president of the Indiana Meat Packers and Processors Association. "Now we can't grow."

Read the full article.

Carmel, Ind. — Castalia Homes, LLC has certified the first LEED Platinum home by the U.S. Green Building Council in Indiana. The Zionsville home is in the Stonegate subdivision, 6639 W Deerfield Dr. It has the highest certification available through the building council with a Platinum level certification. The home also scored a Gold level rating under National Association of Home Builder green rating system.

Castalia Homes contracts a third party rater to test the home under the Energy Star standards as well as LEED standards. Since Castalia Homes uses a third party it can truly say that its homes are green.

The rating system, called LEED (leadership in energy and environmental design), is simple and under the U.S. Green Building Council. Buildings or spaces are assessed on six criteria: site, water, energy, materials, indoor environmental quality and innovation in design. If they accumulate a minimum of credits, they're deemed 'certified'; if they get more, they achieve 'silver,' 'gold' or 'platinum' status, which is the cream of the green crop.

Castalia Homes has the most certified LEED for homes projects in the State of Indiana.

About LEED® for Homes

LEED® for Homes is a third-party certification system for high-performance green homes. Developed and administered by USGBC, LEED for Homes awards points to projects in seven categories of environmental performance: Location & Linkages, Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Indoor Environmental Quality, Energy & Atmosphere, Homeowner Awareness, and Innovation and Design. To date, more than 540 homes have been LEED-certified, and over 13,000 have been registered and are under development. For more information, visit www.thegreenhomeguide.org.

Indianapolis — A company that recycles expanded polystyrene has a drop-off site that’s open to the public. Createc of Indianapolis densifies the product and sends it to reprocessing plants, which convert it to crystalline polystyrene to be used again by plastics molders. Until recently, expanded  polystyrene (Styrofoam is the most familiar trademark) has been the hardest item to recycle. Clean, white EPS, No. 6 plastic can be deposited in bins on the southside of the Createc building, 6835 N. Guion Road, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Indianapolis — The Nature Conservancy won one of the city’s first Sustainability Awards for its new headquarters in the category of water. Called the Efroymson Conservation Center, the headquarters at 620 East Ohio St., received recognition from Mayor Greg Ballard for the storm water management system.

The building, scheduled to open in April, is set to earn the first platinum LEED certified building in the state. It will capture and control 100 percent of the storm water that falls on the building site. As such the site is not connected to the City’s Combined Sewer Overflow, or CSO, bur rather relies on low impact development, such as green roofs, native plants in the landscape, rainwater collection system on roof, a cistern, underground water infiltration that collects overflow, bio-retention area and permeable pavement.