Another day, another plan – but at what expense?

By BRIAN DAGGY
Guest Columnist

The saga of how to find enough water for the LEAP Lebanon Innovation District took another turn recently when the State Budget Committee approved a combined $101 million for a water pipeline, land and infrastructure for the project.

State lawmakers gave the Indiana Economic Development Commission (IEDC) permission to spend about $50 million on a proposed water pipeline stretching from the Indianapolis area to Lebanon. The IEDC would give the money to the Indiana Finance Authority for bond financing, and it would cover the first five years of debt service coverage.

This is at least the third plan floated to provide millions of gallons of water to the project. Citizens Energy would likely tap into water systems in Westfield and Whitestown to meet the water need. Sound familiar? Citizens withdrew an application 10 months ago to supply up to 10 million gallons of water per day to the site. Plans to build a pipeline pumping water from under the Tippecanoe County/Wabash River aquifer also created an uproar.

How much money will the project take? Reports say that the IEDC has already committed more than $1 billion of state funds to the LEAP project to lure companies and jobs to the area. Eli Lilly and Company has committed to a new, expanded facility. But, so far, no one has any idea what other projects will be located there.

To say the IEDC put the cart before the horse is an understatement. They bought up prime farmland without promised tenants and without a plan to provide water to the development. This is not a case of “if you build it, they will come.” So far, they haven’t come and even if they do, they may not have the huge amounts of water needed for advanced manufacturing.

The State Budget Committee’s discussion about the latest appropriation was lengthy and contentious. It’s clear the IEDC needs to provide more information to the state legislature before moving forward with this project. Legislators are trusted to allocate taxpayer funds in the best possible manner, not to give dollars to the IEDC based on years of promised projects.

Below are suggestions for actions to improve IEDC transparency with the project:

• Agree to regular meetings with legislators and local citizen representatives to answer questions and provide transparency in their actions. We, as taxpayers, are owed this courtesy.
• The proposed 25 million gallon per day (mgd) Citizens Energy pipeline project needs to be fully vetted. Exactly where will the water come from, where will the pipeline be built and how many landowners will potentially be affected by imminent domain taking of property? Given this water proposal is a fraction of the original 100 mgd proposal, will the Tippecanoe County/Wabash River aquifer proposal resurface later?

The fact that Indiana is long overdue for a comprehensive statewide water management plan is exemplified by the fact that IEDC appears to be able to convince Citizens to bring a water pipeline as much as 35 miles to Lebanon to service the LEAP district, while Cicero in Hamilton County is unable to get enough water to support additional residential housing, even though Morse Reservoir (owned by Citizens) is adjacent to the town. At this point, Citizens isn’t saying where the water will come from – so it very well could come from Hamilton County.

The question I come back to repeatedly is whether public funds should be at risk for a speculative venture such as the LEAP Project, or if private investor funds should instead be involved? The private market is arguably better at making sure essential questions are answered before a project of this magnitude is undertaken. Water availability, electric utility availability, and other resource needs would be known beforehand. Not to mention how an additional 25 mgd of water would be handled as wastewater.

Recklessly throwing more taxpayer dollars at this underperforming project is not a solution. Hoosiers deserve more forethought and answers.

Brian W. Daggy is a member of the Boone County Preservation Group. The group was formed in opposition to the LEAP project and to advocate for responsible development in Boone County.