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

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COUNTY FIGHTS BACK ON IEDC’S LEAP PIPELINE WITH MORATORIUM

Tippecanoe County commissioners pushed back Monday on state notions of taking water from a Wabash River aquifer and pumping it to massive developments in Boone County, challenging growing local anger into a nine-month moratorium on large-scale water transfers and high-volume wells.

“One thing that kind of scares me is over 200 years we’ve had wars out west over water,” Commissioner David Byers said Monday morning. “It’s sad that the IEDC decided to bring it to Indiana.”

Byers recognized that an issue that has been consuming Tippecanoe County will need considerably stronger legs in other parts of the state to turn the tide on a tap-and-take pipeline plan that seemed designed as inevitable.

Kathy Willowoode and David Kucik carry Stop the Water Steal yard signs from Monday’s county commissioners meeting. (Photo: Dave Bangert')

Byers noted a handful of media from Indianapolis drawn by the controversial issue that pulled in an overflow crowd Monday, which he figured was a next step in getting word about the restlessness to the Statehouse, “where they’re talking about taking that water.”

“You know, Gov. Holcomb thought everything was, We’re all happy up here,” Byers said. “Well, that’s not true. Maybe we’re starting to reach some people. That’s what this is about, right here.”