Let’s come together to protect our water: Tell Mayor Hogsett to use his power to protect Eagle Creek and Central Indiana’s drinking water.
The 9,000+ acre LEAP industrial site in Lebanon, IN has been mired in controversy since its inception and it needs more water for future tenants. Eli Lilly and the Meta Data Center Complex are the only known tenants at the site. You may remember that just a couple of years ago, plans to pull 100 million gallons of water each day for LEAP from the Wabash River area were abandoned following significant community push-back. Later, Citizens Energy Group reengaged a plan to provide 25 million gallons a day of water to the LEAP industrial site by 2031.
In 2025, over 400 central Indiana property owners received letters from Citizens Energy Group demanding the sale of their easements or face eminent domain. Word began to spread that Citizens Energy Group (CEG) wanted to build pipelines and infrastructure to send 25 million gallons of water daily from the water system that serves Marion County and surrounding counties to the LEAP industrial site in Lebanon, IN. For perspective, that is roughly the same amount of water used daily by Evansville, IN. Since this time, we have learned that Lebanon Utilities is proposing to build a pipeline to return 100-200 million gallons of treated water each week to the north end of Eagle Creek, a National Audubon Society designated Important Bird Area where the mudflats provide critical feeding and resting habitat.
Our city leaders were not notified about these plans. In a January 13, 2026 op-ed Indianapolis City County Council members called for "transparency and meaningful public engagement before decisions are finalized, not after the fact." Council members note that "Indianapolis owns and maintains Eagle Creek Reservoir, and the agreement governing Citizens’ water withdrawals expires in July 2026. Lebanon Utilities and Citizens Energy Group continue to move forward these projects without meaningful engagement with the public and despite a lack of adequate analysis regarding the impacts of these plans.
Complete the form on this webpage to send a message to Mayor Hogsett calling on him to protect Eagle Creek and our drinking water. Please consider adding a personal message about how you utilize Eagle Creek. Petition language: Dear Mayor Hogsett, Citizens Energy Group’s Lebanon (LEAP) Water Supply Program would siphon 25 million gallons of our water daily from Eagle Creek and our water system to be sent to the LEAP industrial complex by 2031; subsequently, Lebanon Utilities would return 100-200 million gallons of treated water weekly into the north end of Eagle Creek Reservoir. Discharge would take place beside the National Audubon Society Important Bird Area, where the highly sensitive mudflats serve as critical feeding and resting habitats for migratory and resident birds. Discharges could be ecologically harmful to the wildlife that call the reservoir home and our water quality, adding additional phosphorus, a driver of algae growth. Other contaminants of concern could be added to Eagle Creek such as PFAS.
Allowing Eagle Creek and our drinking water supplies to serve as a source for the LEAP industrial complex is a reckless proposal. These secretive plans lack fundamental transparency and studies to ensure that our drinking water and the Eagle Creek ecosystem will be safe. Please require full transparency and independent study regarding the full scope of these projects that could be detrimental to our ecosystem and community for generations to come.Mayor Hogsett, you are the steward of Eagle Creek, the source of thousands of residents drinking water. We are calling on the City of Indianapolis, as the owner of Eagle Creek, to use its voice and power to protect our ecosystem and water supply.
