A controversial bill to strip state protections of isolated wetlands passed the Indiana Senate Monday. It now heads to the House.

The vote was 29-19, with nine Republicans who opposed, including Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso. Sens. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell and Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond were absent.

Two of the bill’s Republican sponsors Sens. Mark Messner, of Jasper, and Chris Garten, of Charlestown, said its purpose was to lift regulations hobbling some farmers or homebuilders. Garten said he has received “numerous calls” detailing cases where farmers faced fines from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management when an isolated wetland was found on their land.

“Our Hoosier farmers are being targeted,” he said. The bill was “a check and balance on an agency that has gone unchecked and unbalanced for far too long.”

The measure would repeal a 2003 state-regulated wetlands law. For example, a business building near a wetland needs to get a permit from IDEM. It would largely remove the agency’s role.

During a 50-minute debate, at least eight lawmakers spoke against it.

Critics said those disputes should be worked out on a case-by-case basis. Repealing the agency’s entire role was like throwing out the baby with the bath water, they said. Opponents included IDEM, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, several environment and conservation groups and river basin commissions.

“All of these organizations understand the value of protecting Indiana’s wetlands,” said Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes.

Indiana is one of eight states that has its own regulations for isolated wetlands, which are not connected to a major tributary. If passed, not all isolated wetlands would automatically have federal protection, she said.

It also would knock out at least seven pending administrative cases, Tallian said.

Its passage would be a “giant leap backward” for clean drinking water and the environment, said Sen. Susan Glick, R-Indianapolis. Her constituents have come to her over disputes with IDEM. which she has gone to the agency, while trying to help individuals work it out, she said.

Indiana has already lost 85% of its original wetlands with the remainder responsible for flood management, absorbing excess stormwater, and helping to filter ground water, including drinking water purification. Wetlands also provide habitats for at least 79 threatened species and part of a life cycle for many recreational fish, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

The Trump administration in January 2020 ended federal protection for many of the nation’s millions of miles of streams, arroyos and wetlands, a sweeping environmental rollback that could leave the waterways more vulnerable to pollution from development, industry and farms.

The policy change, signed by heads of the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, narrowed the types of waterways that qualified for federal protection under the half-century-old Clean Water Act. The move affected an estimated half of the U.S.’s wetlands. The Biden administration is expected to reverse the order, but could be long delayed partly due to Trump-era federal rule making changes.

The Associated Press contributed.