County mulls moratorium on high-volume drilling, pipelines to slow LEAP plans

Commissioners unveil a proposed ordinance and a 9-month ban on radial collector wells and transfers of more than 5 million gallons of water a day. They hope it buys time to slow LEAP pipeline

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COUNTY MULLS MORATORIUM ON HIGH-VOLUME DRILLING, PIPELINES TO BUY TIME TO SLOW LEAP PLANS

• State lawmaker updates proposed legislation

• Neighbors wonder if anything short of stopping the pipeline is enough

• Pumping is expected at second test site the week after Thanksgiving

Tippecanoe County will consider a measure Monday that would put a temporary moratorium on high-volume water transfers and on the sort of high-capacity wells being contemplated to tap and take tens of millions of gallons daily from Wabash River aquifers to feed massive, shovel-ready manufacturing sites two counties over, near Lebanon.

County commissioners unveiled a draft of the proposed ordinance Tuesday morning, the latest attempt to slow or stop state plans for a water pipeline designed to carry as much as 100 million gallons a day to the LEAP District in Boone County.

Commissioner Tom Murtaugh, who hinted last week that the move was coming, said the proposed ordinance had been in the works before Gov. Eric Holcomb announced Monday that he was reassigning an ongoing study into the capacity of groundwater along the Wabash River in western Tippecanoe County.

“Our first hope would be that the state will take a pause,” Murtaugh said Tuesday morning. “But obviously, I think we need to have this in place as a fallback."