Bills looking to restrict LEAP pipeline, ready to file. First look here
Identical bills in Indiana House and Senate would limit pumping water more than 20 miles, in effort to curb IEDC plans to take western Tippecanoe County aquifer via pipeline to Boone County industries
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BILLS RESTRICTING LEAP PIPELINE, READY TO FILE
A pair of lawmakers who represent sections of western Tippecanoe County targeted as a water source for the massive development plans for the LEAP district near Lebanon plan to file identical bills Monday aimed at limiting the length of pipelines and how much groundwater they could carry away to industrial uses.
The bills – with one in the House and another in the Senate, coming on the opening day of the 2024 General Assembly – also would set up permitting processes for a new “major ground water withdrawal facility” designation and offer protections for nearby agricultural irrigation wells.
State Rep. Sharon Negele, an Attica Republican, and state Sen. Spencer Deery, a West Lafayette Republican, were finalizing drafts of the bills late last week, after months of outlining the basic goals during community meetings centered on mounting protest against tapping and taking as much as 100 million gallons a day from aquifers near the Wabash River.
Neither said anyone should expect that the proposed measures to stop the pipeline, dreamed of by the Indiana Economic Development Corp. to feed semiconductor plants and other water-intensive manufacturing in the he 9,000-acre Limitless Exploration/Advanced Pace innovation district in Boone County.
And neither were guaranteeing that the bills would get hearings during the 2024 session or that, even if they do, the specifics in the end would look like they do going in.
“It’s important for people to recognize that we’re not going to get everything that we want in the first year,” Deery said. “But there’s an opportunity to try to establish some basic protections and guidelines in this first year that will put Tippecanoe County and the local areas in a better situation than we’re currently in. … This seemed like a good place to start.”
The bills come on the heels of a move by Gov. Eric Holcomb late last year, pausing an IEDC-paid study of the Wabash River aquifer in Tippecanoe County – already a year in – and reassigning the project to the Indiana Finance Authority, broadening the scope of the study as he did it.
In a visit last month to West Lafayette with Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston and Senate President Pro Tem Rod Bray, Holcomb also told Greater Lafayette leaders that no decisions would be made about a pipeline with an estimated $2 billion price tag until the state had data that there was sufficient supply and that the region being used as a water source wouldn’t be harmed. Bray and Huston at the time reiterated promises they’d made to local legislators that they didn’t expect the General Assembly to consider funding for a pipeline, either, during a session scheduled to last no later than March 14.
(That said, Holcomb also told Based in Lafayette that he remains a fan of getting the LEAP district going, even if it means pulling water from assorted parts of the state to get it done.)
The bills also come after Tippecanoe County commissioners, in December, finalized a nine-month moratorium on high-volume radial collector wells and large water transfers from county aquifers. Commissioners set the initial timeframe specifically to give the General Assembly time to come up with more binding rules about groundwater, pipelines and development. Commissioner Tom Murtaugh said last month that the county moved on the moratorium after IEDC officials told commissioners that if the state landed a major chip facility, it would start pipeline planning in earnest.
“We go into this knowing everything’s kind of in limbo,” Negele said. “So, we’ll be dealing with people who will say, ‘Do you really need this? Nothing is going to really happen.’ And that will be that for some people. … I hope to get something passed that sets up some kind of structure. And I think we can get there. We need to work to tell that people are very upset about this and here’s why.”
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The bills, yet without numbers or committee assignments, would do five things:
Defines a major groundwater withdrawal facility. Under the bill, that would mean a facility with one or more wells with the capability of pumping at least 10 million gallons of groundwater from one or more aquifers in one day. The facility also would need to be connected to a pipeline that could take that water 20 miles or more. Anyone looking to set up a major groundwater withdrawal facility used primarily for commercial or industrial uses would need a permit first.
A permitting process. Aimed at transparency – among the major beefs about how the quasi-public IEDC quietly rolled out its water study and pipeline concept – the bill would require public notice of permit applications through the Department of Natural Resources website and by mail to county and city leaders. The process would require at least two public hearings and a written, peer-reviewed feasibility study.
Permit approval requirements. The Natural Resources Commission would be responsible for the permitting process, determining whether the facility “will fulfill the health, economic, environmental and other needs of present and future generations of Indiana citizens.” Deery said that section meant “both in the area where the water is being sent as well as where it’s coming from.”
Maximum draws. The bill would allow permits to limit the maximum amount a major groundwater withdrawal facility may take and transfer each year.
Agricultural protections. Indiana law now protects residential wells, offering compensation if they run dry or are affected by nearby major water users. But it doesn’t offer the same protection for farms with irrigation systems or other businesses considered “significant groundwater withdrawal facilities” that have the capacity to pump more than 100,000 gallons of groundwater or surface water in a day. The bills would offer compensation to those operations, too, if they’re within 10 miles of a major groundwater withdrawal facility determined to have caused problems.
“This is where we’re starting,” Negele said. “Now, where we end, we’ll see. … In Indiana, because of our primitive water laws, we are just at the beginning of figuring this out. Obviously, this (LEAP pipeline) project forced it to be highlighted. But the reality is that, as a state, we need this conversation about a statewide water plan. We just have not done it because we have not had that push to do it. But it’s there now.”
Deery said he’s been lining up co-authors and sponsors for the bill. He said he expects to add Sen. Ron Alting, a Lafayette Republican who has been critical of the IEDC’s plans to pump water from Tippecanoe County. He also said he has commitments from Sens. Sue Glick of LaGrange, Ed Charbonneau of Valparaiso and Blake Doriot of Elkhart. Negele said she has Reps. Mark Genda, a Frankfort Republican who represents the southeast edge of Tippecanoe County, and Mike Aylesworth, a Republican from Hebron, on board.
Aylesworth proposed House Bill 1556 during the 2023 session. The bill would have required public notice about water transfer plans, with an opportunity for public comment, as well as requiring proof that the transfer wouldn’t harm the environment or public health. The bill did not get a hearing in the Indiana House this year. Aylesworth told 300 people at a public forum in June at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds that getting traction on water bills has been difficult.
Deery said he’d continue to recruit support, especially from other parts of the state where Tippecanoe County’s outrage hasn’t quite reached.
“The more attention this gets, the better,” Deery said. “And particularly more that people understand this is not just a small, local concern, but really raises some issues that affect lots of people in different parts of the state.”
Note that Holcomb indicated in a December interview that he didn’t think Tippecanoe County was the sole supplier in the equation: “I predict that we will have multiple straws punched into the ground that will show where water can come from – show that we were blessed with an overabundance of water.”
Negele predicted the bill would have a rougher road in the House than it might in the Senate. Even there, Deery said he wasn’t predicting anything would be easy.
But late last week, Deery found himself on social media, fending off local voices impatient about why the measure hadn’t been among the first bills filed and angry that he might be backing away from legislation he’d been touting since the summer.
“I think it certainly speaks to the anxiety and the interest that people are literally, every day, checking the bills to see what’s been filed,” Deery said. “I've never heard of a situation where there's so much interest and anticipation of what local elected officials are going to do to address an issue. … It’s our job, now, to get that across to our colleagues.”
To track the bill: The House and Senate bills on major groundwater withdrawal facilities are expected to be filed Monday. They’ll be public in the coming days, with bill numbers. To track any bill during the 2024 General Assembly session, go to: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2024/bills
Here’s a look at a preliminary draft of the bill:
MORE BACKGROUND
Here are some of the latest developments in the LEAP pipeline debate.
Tippecanoe County’s moratorium: Tippecanoe County commissioners pushed back Nov. 20 on state notions of taking water from a Wabash River aquifer and pumping it to massive developments in Boone County, channeling growing local anger into a nine-month moratorium on large-scale water transfers and high-volume wells. A second and final vote is expected Dec. 4. An IEDC spokesperson called the move “a clear action to stoke further rhetoric and misinformation,” saying it “has zero practicality and was moot from its introduction,” given that no wells or pipelines would be installed in the next nine months. County commissioners said the nine-month moratorium was meant to give the General Assembly a chance to consider changes in state law to either stop or limit the pipeline concept. Tippecanoe County commissioners also voted unanimously on a resolution opposing the pipeline, joining similar measures passed in Lafayette, West Lafayette, Attica, Covington, Monticello, Shadeland and Battle Ground, among others. For more: “Tippecanoe Co. fights back on IEDC’s LEAP pipeline with moratorium. IEDC says restrictions are meaningless. Residents suggest it might not be enough. Commissioners call it just the first step.”
INTERA water study: The IEDC released preliminary test results in September, based on pumping done in early July on a 70-acre site just southeast of Granville Bridge. Using 12-inch diameter test wells pumping at a constant rate for 72 hours, INTERA pumped a couple of millions of gallons a day, measured the drawdown and extrapolated the potential with modeled results. Based on those tests, according to an IEDC executive summary, two wells on that site could produce a combined 30 million gallons a day, with model scenarios that “suggest much higher pumping rates can be sustained” with “the upper bound … not yet defined.” During a community meeting a week later, Jack Wittman – a hydrologist and vice president of INTERA, a Texas-based firm – said the tests suggested that up to 45 million gallons a day could come from two high-capacity radial collector wells on that site.
INTERA ran tests at a second test site, about two miles west from the first one in mid-December. (See: “Second well test done for LEAP pipeline; Granville neighbors fight being an ‘afterthought.’”)
In November, Gov. Eric Holcomb reassigned the ongoing study into the size and capacity of the Wabash River aquifer, taking it away from the IEDC and handing it to the Indiana Finance Authority to review and finish. Indiana Finance Authority officials also were charged with conducting a regional water study in Tippecanoe County and 12 other counties, with initial results in spring 2024 and a final report by fall 2024.
Cities, counties line up: Miami County commissioners voted in December to join a list of governmental bodies opposed to the LEAP pipeline plan. Among the others: Tippecanoe County commissioners, Lafayette City Council, West Lafayette City Council, Terre Haute City Council, Attica City Council, Covington City Council, Monticello City Council, White County commissioners, Fountain County commissioners, Shadeland Town Council and Battle Ground Town Council
For other recent coverage of the LEAP pipeline:
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INTERA's tests pumped water from the aquifer right back into the river. That's not at all what they're planning to do. How can we be expected to see such a test as legitimate?
Don't forget that the Indiana Finance Authority has, by the IEDC's own words, been working "with them" all along. I don't expect to see the IFA come to conclusions much different than the IEDC was planning.