Fight over water for LEAP spreads to Hendricks County – WFYI

Fight over water for LEAP spreads to Hendricks County  WFYI

Citizens Energy Group has proposed a booster station and two tanks to help supply water to the industrial park. Gordon Haag has lived on about 20 acres in Hendricks County for close to four decades. The pastures have butterflies, deer and horses, old oak trees line the road and the property is surrounded by farms. The area could soon be altered: Citizens Energy Group has proposed building a water booster station and two 1.5-million-gallon tanks nearby. The $48 million pump project is part of the infrastructure the Indianapolis utility needs to help bring water to the LEAP development district in Boone County. “It’s stayed a rural area, which has been really special,” Haag said of his home just north of Indianapolis.

“The pump station is a change of life. It’s gonna change the whole area for the worse.” Haag is organizing neighbors to push back against the pumping station. Before coming to Hendricks County, the utility pursued at least one other site for the project. That location, in a nearby Whitestown subdivision, also faced pushback from neighbors. The Hendricks County Area Plan Commission is expected to review the site plan at a meeting Oct. 13. The meeting follows a public hearing in August, when commissioners criticized the project but seemed unsure whether they had authority to prevent it. Municipalities have