🚫 🚰 Stop the LEAP Lebanon Pipeline Project

County Commissioner Tracy Brown is willing to listen. If you have not called your Senators or Representatives offices, please call them TODAY! Tell them you OPPOSE the LEAP Water Pipeline Project!! If you are able to go a step further, grab a buddy, and ask them to sit down with you to discuss how they plan to stop this water steal. (If in Boone county – ask them how they plan to put a halt to the massive land grab!) Contact their Legislative Aids (LA) to set up a meeting, and to tell them YOU OPPOSE THE LEAP PIPELINE PROJECT!!!

Name	Position	County	Email	Phone	Legislative Assistant
Tippecanoe County Commissioners Office	Tippecanoe County	Tippecanoe		765-423-9215
Ron Alting	Indiana State Senator	Tippecanoe	Evan.Davis@iga.in.gov	317-232-9808	Evan Davis
Sepencer Deery	Indiana State Senator	Tippecanoe	Hector.Ayala@iga.in.gov	317-232-9517	Hector Ayala
Chris Campbell	Indiana State Representative	Tippecanoe		317-234-3101	Gabriel Donnelly
Sheila Klinker	Indiana State Representative	Tippecanoe		317-232-9875	Peter Okeafor
Sharon Negele	Indiana State Representative	Tippecanoe		317-232-9802	Vanesa Reyes
Mark Genda	Indiana State Representative	Boone	h41@iga.in.gov	317-232-9620
Becky Cash	Indiana State Representative	Boone	h25@iga.in.gov	317-232-9620
Brian Buchanan	Indiana State Senator	Boone	Buchanan	317-234-9441	Garrett Unger

Please share with everyone who should know their drinking water is under threat. Every voice is a vote.

Background

Conversation in Preserving Boone County, 2023-11-03

Brandon Reese
Kevin Krulik can you point me to the study(ies) that show that 2 bgd number? I’m genuinely curious. Thanks!

Kevin Krulik
Brandon Reese sure:
https://www.indianachamber.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/WaterStudyReport2014LoRes.pdf
and the preliminary results of the study currently underway:
https://iedc.in.gov/MapFiles/site01/LEAP-Lebanon-ExecutiveSummary.pdf

Brandon Reese
Kevin Krulik looking at the Indiana Chamber study that you linked, page 57 has a county-by-county map of Indiana that has estimated recharge. It shows Tippecanoe county as having 50-100 mgd capacity in total. That seems to contradict the 2 bgd number you’ve mentioned by at least an order of magnitude. Page 59 also shows that Tippecanoe county’s “pumping to recharge ratio” was already fairly high as of 2012. I’m generally with Britt Reese in that I don’t trust much coming directly from the IEDC or those funded by them, but I’ll take a look at that one later.

Brandon Reese
Kevin Krulik I looked at that executive summary. Very, very light on details and still doesn’t even mention (let alone prove) the 2 bgd number you’ve cited.

Brandon Reese
Kevin Krulik you still haven’t cited a source that supports your 2 bgd capacity assertion… So, you’ll forgive me if I take your confidence that there is “abundant water” to the tune of 100+ million gallons a day with a very large grain of salt.

Kevin Krulik Brandon Reese I’ve cited, you stated you don’t trust the source. I guess we’ll have to agree to wait for the completed peer reviewed study.

Brandon Reese Kevin Krulik no, that’s not what I said. I read the sources and said that no where in either source is there data, or even mention of “2 billion gallons per day of capacity” from the aquifer in question in Tippecanoe county. I cited specific pages in the report with specific capacity numbers that are a minimum of an order of magnitude lower than that. I’m waiting for you to refute those numbers with a study that supports your assertion.

Kevin Krulik Brandon Reese, well you did, but regardless, I recognize the sentiment in the questions you posed, and I agree that the 2 BGD capacities were not discussed in the reports, but were cited and represented by the reports’ author. However, I am afraid I don’t posses the full expertise needed to properly walk through the extrapolations of the data, to the conclusions presented. Although, I understand, as I stated, that the 2 BGD representation was a capacity associated with the entire river/aquifer system. I have already contacted the report author for further analysis and explanations behind the capacities cited and I will share that information, when available, under separate cover.

Brandon Reese Kevin Krulik that’s the thing though, isn’t it? The proposal isn’t to “tap the entire river/aquifer system” (by, say, damming up and creating a reservoir on the Wabash that can then be tapped), it’s to tap the aquifer under Tippecanoe county, an aquifer that has been shown to be recharged by local rainfall, not “remote sources,” an aquifer that has somewhere between 50-100 mgd total recharge capacity, the aquifer that is more “pond” or “lake” than “river” (the water in it doesn’t move more than ~5 feet a day under normal circumstances), an aquifer that (as of 2012) was ALREADY being drawn on fairly hard by the county where it sits. All of these assertions are supported by the available studies (Teays, 2003; Indiana Chamber, 2014). Even the executive summary from the IEDC doesn’t show capacity in excess of these numbers.

Kevin Krulik Brandon Reese data is actually showing these entire system is more connected than originally thought, and the basin, the local source is virtually entire state of Indiana and portions of Illinois. It’s the most prolific water source in the state and many have been working for decades to ensure its security and availability for all. I suggest you reach out to the IEDC and those working on this project.

Brandon Reese Kevin Krulik fair enough that new studies MAY show more interconnection within the system (pending study completion and validation by independent experts) but it’s still incredibly disingenuous to say that 100 mgd from the aquifer under Tippecanoe county is “only a small percentage” of the ENTIRE Wabash River valley flow. Even if they ARE more interconnected than previously thought, the idea that 2bgd is an appropriate number to use as the denominator in that percentage calculation when talking about withdrawal from the Teays aquifer is laughable at best, deliberate “lying by statistics” at worst.

Lebanon’s Mayor, Matt Gentry

Interesting Post on Nextdoor about Lebanon’s Mayor, Matt Gentry’s recent post on Facebook. Thank you, Amy Mickschl.

My job of Mayor of Lebanon is to serve the interests of the citizens of Lebanon. That is who elects me to serve them. Does the Governor of Indiana worry about making the lives of the citizens of Illinois or Ohio better? The citizens of Lebanon are my priority and focus.

If I had zero regard for people that live outside of Lebanon, why have I demanded that all annexations be 100% voluntary and at the request of the property owners? I have never annexed anyone that hasn’t asked to be annexed. Why did the City put in place the largest setbacks and significant buffers in the State in our LEAP PUD? I will always listen to the citizens of Lebanon and make decisions that best serve my constituents.

The people around Lebanon that oppose LEAP have never been able to make an argument that shows any negatives of LEAP to Lebanon are greater than the benefits.

I find it fascinating that people that don’t pay City taxes are demanding to vote in City elections. I would understand “taxation without representation”. We fought a revolution over it. However, “representation without taxation” is a novel and unserious proposal.

Do people in rural Tippecanoe County get to vote in Lafayette or West Lafayette elections? No. They don’t. I don’t expect Mayor Roswarski or Mayor Dennis to work to help Lebanon. That’s not their job. It’s mine.

You can contact the Gentry’s office: https://lebanon.in.gov/mayors-office/

Sign the Petition

News Coverage

November 2023

October 2023

August 2023

Indiana Wildlife Federation: Great Reporting Surrounding the Proposed LEAP Project in Lebanon

July 2023

WTRH: Indiana spends millions on proposed pipeline plan as state agency remains silent and hides details