Overflow crowd expected for vote on restrictions aimed at LEAP pipeline

Looking ahead to a Tippecanoe County commissioners vote Monday on a moratorium on high-volume water transfers. Plus, Evonik officials confirm well testing with IEDC along Wabash River.

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OVERFLOW CROWD EXPECTED FOR VOTE ON RESTRICTIONS AIMED AT LEAP PIPELINE

Friday afternoon, county maintenance crews were lining up chairs in a first floor hallway and rolling a large-screen television into place outside the 75-seat capacity, remodeling-in-progress Tippecanoe Room, the County Office Building meeting spot for the county commissioners.

They were prepping for an expected overflow crowd Monday morning, as commissioners take up a proposed ordinance that looks to put a stick into the spokes – at least temporarily – of an Indiana Economic Development Corp. plan to pump tens of millions of gallons of water a day from aquifers near the Wabash River and send it via pipeline to Boone County.

(Photo: Dave Bangert)

Commissioner Tracy Brown said arrangements were being made to broadcast the meeting outside the County Office Building if the crowd, looking to vent over the state’s plan, grows.

“This issue is like none other I’ve seen in my time as a commissioner,” Brown said Sunday. “We understand people want to have their say. … Let’s just say, our inboxes are full.”

“We desperately need to find a way to get a pause on this,” County Commissioner Tom Murtaugh said last week.

Not expected to be in attendance Monday morning: IEDC officials. Commissioners initially expected Secretary of Commerce David Rosenberg and other IEDC representatives to make a presentation about the water study and how it might play into development at the 9,000-acre LEAP District near Lebanon, as scheduled several weeks ago.