Holcomb on water needed for development: ‘unprecedented opportunity is right now’
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Gov. Eric Holcomb says Indiana has plenty of water.
But, he also says, he needs to prove it, so he’s accelerating the search for water.
“The attention and the potential investment, this window of unprecedented opportunity is right now.” Holcomb said in an I-Team 8 interview this week.
The Republican governor on Nov. 13 announced major steps amid concerns about moving water from northwestern central Indiana for a development just northwest of Indianapolis. Yet, he bets enough water exists in the Wabash River area to supply the proposed industrial development in Boone County.
The LEAP Lebanon Innovation District, under development by the Indiana Economic Development Corp., includes a $3.7 billion project from Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant Lilly. Developers also want more tenants.
A microchip manufacturer is looking to expand and build a $50 billion facility, which would require several million gallons a day.
David Sanders, a Democrat on the West Lafayette City Council, said “This is objectionable to everyone. This opposition goes across the political spectrum. It has united people not only in Tippecanoe County but in the entire region in a way that no other previous issue has united so many people. I would argue it is the most important issue in Indiana politics today.”
The Republican mayor of Lebanon said several months ago that the Boone County city has enough water to support the Lilly project and the existing residential water consumption. But, additional industrial development will require water from outside Boone County.
In January, the Indiana Finance Authority released a water supply study from Clinton County, the county just north of Boone. The study indicated plenty of water was underground and that “water resource development would be of tremendous value to Clinton County and it’s residents.”
Shortly after the release of the report, I-Team 8 was alerted to a water supply study in Tippecanoe County.
Holcomb told I-Team 8, “What is most important is having the facts, having the data to determine the decision. So, quite frankly, I understand where people are coming from when they say ‘What is going to happen?’ Nothing is going to happen unless we have the water.”
Will Indiana have a water rights fight in the Indiana Legislature this year?
“Oh, I hope not,” Holcomb said. “I think we are going to let the data drive our decision, and we are not going to be held back by being oversupplied with water.”
The governor has described Indiana’s water supply as” oversupplied and excess” twice in the past couple of weeks. Will the current water study support his claim? The results are due in January.