Citizens Action Coalition report: Boone County LEAP project threatens Hoosiers
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Citizens Action Coalition on Monday released an 18-page report detailing issues the group identifies with the LEAP project in Boone County.
The group called for the development project northwest of Indianapolis to be put on hold until questions are answered and more transparency is provided.
Advocates across central Indiana have raised concerns over the last year about moving tens of millions of gallons of water and the costs that could be shifted to Indiana residents.
The Citizens Action Coalition report wants “transparent, reliable studies show transferring water from Hamilton or Marion County will not impair water availability in those counties into the future.”
The Boone County city of Lebanon in October annexed 642 acres for the LEAP Lebanon Innovation District, which is described on the Indiana Department of Economic Development’s website as “the next location of global innovation” with “9,000+ available acres strategically situated on Indiana’s I-65 Hard Tech Corridor.”
The report details how multiple water-heavy industries will take an estimated “47 to nearly 56 million gallons per day, equivalent to the average water use of nearly 737,000 Hoosier residents.”
In April, Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant Lilly announced a $3.7 billion project for the Boone County site. This is the only confirmed business building at the LEAP site as of December 2023. State officials called it the largest deal in the history of the Department of Economic Development.
The report said that Lebanon and the Indiana Economic Development Corp. “entered into a memorandum of understanding in 2022 whereby the IEDC would pay Lebanon to set aside about 860,000 gallons of water per day” for the Lilly facility.
Since this memorandum was written, that facility has grown in cost from $2.1 billion to $3.7 billion, which will likely require more water than originally anticipated.
The report notes an unnamed microchip manufacturer is also eyeing the LEAP project site for a $50 billion facility and estimates it would require “up to nearly 41 to 51 million gallons per day” in addition to the daily water needs of the Lilly facility.
The Economic Development Corp. is also “luring a data center to the site,” according to the report, which estimates a need for an additional 1 million to 5 million gallons of water a day for that facility.
The Citizens Action Coalition report said, “This voluminous amount of water is only the beginning for IEDC. The agency plans more development at LEAP that would eventually require 100 million gallons per day, equivalent to the average water use of approximately 1.3 million Hoosier residents.”
Grant Smith, a consultant for the Citizens Action Coalition, said in a statement, “This project was not well thought out at all. Adding to the water war precipitated by IEDC and state policy between Lebanon and Lafayette, the state has no water policy to ensure this vital resource will be available into the future. IEDC’s arrogant approach to economic development will ultimately diminish water resources, increase costs to ratepayers, and foment water wars between communities and regions.”
There is increasing concern from community members about the plan to move water from the aquifers near West Lafayette. Gov. Eric Holcomb shifted the responsibility of the water study to the Indiana Finance Authority from the Indiana Department of Economic Development.
Additional concerns include the cost of building ways to transport water from west and northwest central Indiana to the Boone County site.
Up until now, most of this project has been bankrolled by the Indiana Economic Development Corp. using taxpayer dollars. The report called the IEDC “a privatized state agency that operates in secret, with little accountability or transparency, and no mechanism for public input. The IEDC has been shrouded in controversy since its inception due to its lack of transparency that is by legislative design.”
The report shows the plan to build two pipelines, one from Indianapolis and one from Lafayette, to provide water to the Lebanon site.
The Citizens Action Coalition report also raises concerns that the cost of building the pipelines will be shifted to Indiana water consumers because “IEDC appears to be running short of funds,” according to the report.
Citizens Water initially was on board with providing water for the project but has since dropped out.
The report speculates Indiana American Water could become the next partner for this project. Indiana American Water provides water in Hamilton and Tippecanoe counties.
The Citizens Action Coalition is also concerned with water quality, the potential for wastewater from the Lilly facility to be discharged into Eagle Creek Reservoir in Indianapolis, hazardous waste, and the cost regarding energy needs.
In a news release issued Monday, the Citizens Action Coalition listed questions the group wants answered before this project moves forward:
- Who will pay for the billions in costs related to the necessary infrastructure to provide services for wastewater, water, gas, and electricity?
- Where will the power come from to serve the energy intensive industries located at LEAP?
- How will the thousands of tons of hazardous waste per year generated by the industries locating at the LEAP district be treated and disposed of?
- Where will the tens of millions of gallons of daily wastewater from the LEAP district be sent?
- How will future water availability in Indiana be impacted by IEDC plans to ship 100 million gallons per day from the Wabash Aquifer to LEAP, and what will it ultimately cost taxpayers and/or ratepayers?
- How will future water availability in Indianapolis and Hamilton County be impacted by IEDC plans to ship 10 million gallons per day from the Indianapolis region to Lilly and the City of Lebanon, and what will it ultimately cost taxpayers and/or ratepayers?
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