Amazon could build over New Carlisle wetlands, locals sound alarm 

 

NEW CARLISLE, Ind.-- Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center buildings are coming online in New Carlisle at a fast rate! And now, there's an application to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to expand further south and fill in nearly 10 acres of wetlands.

This proposal has environmentalists ringing alarm bells. A small team of locals plan to meet with county leaders this week to try to offer solutions.

Basically, their argument boils down to: Why can't Amazon avoid the wetland areas?

"Amazon was told by several generational farmers in this area, that there were wetlands here that they would never be able to build on. And they'd just have to live with it," said New Carlisle resident Dan Caruso. "And they were fine with that, or they thought they knew better over what people who farmed this land for generations knew."

Caruso is watching this development closely, and said this proposed project expansion is new.

"At no point was filling in wetlands involved in the conversation," Caruso said.

It has environmentalists ringing alarm bells, like St. Joe County resident Debra Durall.

"Our wetlands are dwindling," she said. "We are crowding all of our animals. It's like if all of us had to go to one grocery store and shop. And pretty soon, the shelves would be empty."

IDEM extended its public comment period before it will decide whether to permit the infill of almost 10 wetland acres.

"We don't care what's living there, what's growing there," Caruso said in sarcasm. "And we'll give them remediation somewhere else."

County leaders said Amazon will be required to pay for mitigation, funding wetland expansion somewhere else. But those concerned say we need to protect the land here, now, and are working with county leaders to find solutions.

"What we would like to see, with those 10 acres and some of the stream even, is to establish and maintain a corridor, a green corridor, between the wetlands and Bendix Woods, the 23-acre nature preserve at Bendix Woods," Durall said. "We think that would go a long way to helping us maintain habitat."

Both IDEM and the Army Corps of Engineers are taking public comment on this project.

Comments can be sent to [email protected] by March 20, and [email protected] by March 21. It's crucial to include the project identification number: 2025-78-71-ENH-WQC.