NEWS

Lake Ontario water level deliberations nearly done

Steve Orr
@SOrr1

A decision may be nearing on the proposed plan to change the way Lake Ontario’s water levels are regulated, and both proponents and opponents are continuing efforts to influence the outcome.

A new regulatory plan meant to address environmental degradation along the Lake Ontario shoreline was adopted in mid-2014 by the U.S.-Canada International Joint Commission  that oversees Great Lakes issues. The IJC action capped 15 long years of study and debate about updating the regulatory plan, which was created a half-century ago.

Many environmentalists hailed the proposed regimen, which would allow some additional variation in the lake level to help revive shoreline wetlands. But shoreline property owners and others oppose the new plan, fearing it would worsen shoreline erosion and flooding. The Rochester area is a hotbed of opposition.

Federal officials in Washington, D.C., and Ottawa, who must sign off on Plan 2014 before it can take effect, have been deliberating in private for nearly 1½ years.

A final decision, at least in Washington, may be close. U.S. Rep. Chris Collins, a staunch opponent of the new plan, said he was told last week by federal officials that a final report with yes-or-no recommendations should be finished by the White House Council on Environmental Quality in December.

Sunset over Braddock Bay, 2007. The bay is part of a large wetlands complex on the Lake Ontario shoreline.

"We don’t know what they (the recommendations) are. I’m hoping they’ll put any end to it," said Collins, a Republican from Clarence, Erie County, who represents shoreline residents in Niagara, Orleans and far-western Monroe counties.

The meeting last week between State Department officials and Collins and U.S. Rep. John Katko, R-Camillus, Onondaga County, another strident opponent, was highlighted in a recent newsletter from the Lake Ontario Riparian Alliance, a leading opponents' group. Katko represents the Lake Ontario shoreline in Wayne, Cayuga and part of Oswego counties.

Collins said they stressed potential harm to shipping and boating from lower water, and the dangers of erosion and flooding during high-water periods. Collins said he asked "why are we even going through this worthless exercise". Why don’t we just put a stake in its heart now?

"The State Department people said that while they heard our arguments, they’re going ahead with the process," Collins said.

An IJC spokesman, Frank Bevacqua, said his understanding is the U.S. and Canandian governments "are close to finishing, though no firm timelines have been set." A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of State, which is leading consideration of the plan, did not provide comment on the status of deliberations.

Meanwhile, a coalition of proponents now boasts more than 100 elected officials, environmental, business and community leaders among its members. The coalition also said in a recent news release that 23,000 people have supported Plan 2014 by means such as signing petitions and writing letters to the editor.

"We took stock of this incredible support, and it's deep and it's broad and it's bi-partisan,” said Jim Howe, executive director of the Nature Conservancy's Central and Western New York chapter. "This shows the balanced nature and overwhelming economic and environmental need for a new lake-level plan." The Rochester-based chapter helped form the coalition.

Howe said he also has the impression that deliberations are nearing a conclusion in both countries. Howe noted that new Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal party have been more responsive to environmental concerns than the previous Conservative government, which he thinks augurs well for Plan 2014.

And he pointed out that President Barack Obama has been "an incredible leader on Great Lakes issues." (Obama's Chicago family home is a dozen blocks from Lake Michigan, making him the first president since Grover Cleveland to live within walking distance of a Great Lake.)

Coalition supporters include four members of Congress, including U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, Essex County, whose district includes the St. Lawrence River bank and east end of Lake Ontario. A member of the Canadian Senate, two New York state senators, one assemblywoman and numerous local officials, including Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren, also are on the list.

Absent from the list of supporters, though, are Gov. Andrew Cuomo; New York's two U.S. senators, Democrats Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and U.S. Rep Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, who represents most of the Monroe County shoreline. All have issued statements in the past saying they have been continuing to study the issue.

Collins said he pressed State Department officials last week on whether Cuomo will have veto power over the U.S. decision. If Cuomo does have that power, then Collins pledged to "pull out the stops and make sure he did stop it."

There has been talk that adoption of Plan 2014 might be accompanied by funding that would help shoreline property owners and others cope with any additional costs associated with the plan. But the Erie County congressman vowed that he, Katko and other opponents would block any effort to use federal funds for that purpose.

Howe said he thought that was a misguided approach. "Every complaint that you hear about Lake Ontario management (erosion and flooding) is happening now under the current plan. There is no plan that will prevent this type of damage from happening along the shore.

"Rather than oppose a plan that is good for everyone, wouldn’t it be better for all of us to support a balanced plan and work together to find solutions for community along the lakeshore?" Howe said.

SOrr@DemocratandChronicle.com