LEBANON, Ind. (WISH) — The mayor of Lebanon is fighting back against the latest report about the LEAP Lebanon Innovation District, calling the write-up disingenuous.

The Citizens Action Coalition on Monday morning released the report that says the LEAP district puts Hoosier’s access to water at risk because the project will require water to be pumped and moved in from the Wabash River valley to Boone County.

Lebanon Mayor Matt Gentry said Monday night that the opposite is true.

“It’s far more likely that rates will not increase because of LEAP. The state is trying to use economic development to solve a much larger central Indiana water problem,” the Republican mayor said. “So without LEAP, by 2050, Indianapolis won’t have, central Indiana won’t have more water for new development. Right so, you need something like LEAP to fund a pretty costly pipeline.”

The Boone County city northwest of Indianapolis in October annexed 642 acres for the LEAP Lebanon Innovation District, which is described on the Indiana Department of Economic Development’s website as “the next location of global innovation” with “9,000+ available acres strategically situated on Indiana’s I-65 Hard Tech Corridor.”

The report details how three water-heavy industries could use up to 56 million gallons of water a day, or the average water use of 737,000 Hoosiers.

In April, Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant Lilly announced a $3.7 billion project for the Boone County site. This is the only confirmed business building at the LEAP site as of December 2023. State officials called it the largest deal in the history of the Department of Economic Development.

The Citizens Action Coalition report notes that an unnamed microchip manufacturer and a data center could become the next additions.

“I mean I think frankly it was a pretty disingenuous and not even factually accurate report, a lot of it,” Gentry said. “I mean parts of it were saying we didn’t even have water for Lilly, which is completely untrue. I mean we can serve Lilly without any regional pipelines.”

The Citizens Action Coalition is also concerned about wastewater and other materials. Gentry said those issues can be solved with regulations and wastewater treatment.

The Indiana Finance Authority is overseeing a comprehensive water study of the Wabash River valley, which is expected to be ready in January.

In a news release issued Monday, the Citizens Action Coalition listed questions the group wants answered before this project moves forward:

• Who will pay for the billions in costs related to the necessary infrastructure to provide services for wastewater, water, gas, and electricity?
• Where will the power come from to serve the energy intensive industries located at LEAP?
• How will the thousands of tons of hazardous waste per year generated by the industries locating at the LEAP district be treated and disposed of?
• Where will the tens of millions of gallons of daily wastewater from the LEAP district be sent?
• How will future water availability in Indiana be impacted by IEDC plans to ship 100 million gallons per day from the Wabash Aquifer to LEAP, and what will it ultimately cost taxpayers and/or ratepayers?
• How will future water availability in Indianapolis and Hamilton County be impacted by IEDC plans to ship 10 million gallons per day from the Indianapolis region to Lilly and the City of Lebanon, and what will it ultimately cost taxpayers and/or ratepayers?