Local Indiana lawmakers respond to Holcomb's announcement regarding LEAP Lebanon project and taking water from Wabash River

LAFAYETTE — On Monday, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb announced that he had directed the Indiana Finance Authority to oversee the completion and validation of the INTERA water supply study that’s being completed for Indiana’s Economic Development Corp.'s LEAP Lebanon Innovation District project.

This news came as a surprise to some residents and local officials after they’ve been calling for the IEDC to be more transparent regarding the project, as well as calling for the project to be stopped altogether.

The LEAP project would potentially pull up to 100 million gallons of water a day from Tippecanoe County and pipe it to Boone County to help support a new economic district being developed by IEDC.

After Holcomb’s announcement, Tippecanoe County’s state legislators released a statement expressing their appreciation for Holcomb granting the Indiana Finance Authority of INTERA’s study, but they also believe it’s just the first out of many steps needed to address the concerns of residents in Tippecanoe County.

In October, local legislators — state Sen. Ron Alting (R-Lafayette) and Sen. Spencer Deery (R-West Lafayette), and State Rep. Chris Campbell (D-West Lafayette), Rep. Sheila Klinker (D-Lafayette) and Rep. Sharon Negele (R-Attica) ? pledged to work together in hopes of creating new legislation and regulations that will potentially limit how much water can be withdrawn from a region’s aquifer.