Q&A: Sen. Deery looks at new bill aimed at LEAP-style pipelines

Last year’s bills were sidelined. Why Spencer Deery says 2025 could be different in the water fight. Plus, motions and orders in Delphi murder case. WL signs on with ParkMobile. And more.

• Thanks to sponsor, Stuart & Branigin, for continued support of the Based in Lafayette reporting project.

---

• Support for this edition of Based in Lafayette comes from Purdue Convocations. Didn’t get what you wanted? Shop our Year End Sale and save $5 on tickets to our biggest spring shows, including Hadestown, TEDxPurdueU: Parallax, Pretty Woman: The Musical, Chicago, and “Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at 300” by Baroque chamber ensemble Les Arts Florissants. Valid through Jan. 1, 2025. Limit 6 discounted tickets per show, zones B & C only. SHOP THE SALE

Get your tickets here by Jan. 1.

---

Q&A: SEN. DEERY LOOKS AT NEW BILL AIMED AT LEAP-STYLE PIPELINES

A year ago, a pair of bills filed by state Sen. Spencer Deery and then-state Rep. Sharon Negele that looked to put the skids on state plans targeting western Tippecanoe County as a water source for the massive development plans for the LEAP district near Lebanon were set aside without hearings in the General Assembly.

At the time, the sense was that the imminent pressure was off for a pipeline that, by some estimates, aimed to tap-and-take as much as 100 million gallons a day from the aquifer along the Wabash River. Gov. Eric Holcomb had in December 2023 ordered new regional water studies that put the Indiana Economic Development Corp.’s controversial LEAP pipeline concept on pause until at least 2025.

This week, ahead of a Jan. 8 start to the General Assembly’s 2025 session, Deery, a West Lafayette Republican, says he’s poised to introduce a bill that would put a two-year moratorium on development of the LEAP pipeline – or one like it.