Richard Meilan

I live within a mile of both INTERA test sites. Thus, I am interested in the results of their pumping tests. In early December, I started monitoring activity on their western-most test site daily, to ascertain when pumping had begun, because INTERA would not reveal when they intended to start their test.

At ~2:30 p.m. on 12/13/23, an INTERA employee engaged me in conversation. Among other things, I was told that she and her co-workers were surprised that during the first test, the drawdown of the water table was 1½ feet, after only pumping for 72 hours at a rate of 2 MGD. This was much more than they expected.

The public is frustrated by the secrecy surrounding the LEAP pipeline. I was relieved when the IFA promised to be more transparent than the IEDC had been about this project. I sincerely hope that the final INTERA report will be made public, in its entirety, and that it will include the true drawdown levels that were measured following all test-pumping operations.

Richard Meilan, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus of Forestry and Natural Resources

Purdue University