US, Canada adopt new Lake Ontario water-level plan
The international body that oversees Lake Ontario water levels has adopted a controversial new set of rules, a move that marks a major victory for environmentalists who said the former regulations have harmed the lake's ecosystem.
However, adoption of Plan 2014 is sure to infuriate many property owners on the lake's American shoreline who have asserted the new plan will exacerbate erosion and the threat of flooding.
Under the new plan, water levels will rise somewhat higher and drop somewhat lower than the old regulatory plan allowed. Plan 2014 is meant to more closely mimic the natural cycle of the lake's waters, helping to restore 64,000 acres of wetlands along the shoreline and improve fish and wildlife habitat there. Those wetlands have been damaged under the old plan, which seeks to keep water levels within a relatively narrow range, environmental experts have said.
The International Joint Commission, made up of three representatives each from Canada and the United States, said it approved an order Thursday morning adopting the new plan. The federal governments in both countries formally gave approval for the adoption on Wednesday. Only two U.S. commissioners took part in the Plan 2014 action; the third seat is vacant.
Water levels in Lake Ontario can be modified, though in no way completely controlled, by adjustments of the flow through a vast hydroelectric dam on the St. Lawrence River, into which the lake drains. Starting in January, the board that oversees those flow adjustments will abide by criteria laid out in Plan 2014.
The IJC has said that hydroelectric generation, commercial shipping and recreational boating all will benefit from Plan 2014. Interests in the lower St. Lawrence, around Montreal, should not be significantly impacted. The new plan, more flexible than the old version, also will make it easier to respond to the impact of climate change on the lake's waters, the IJC said.
Those expected to suffer at least some ill effects include shoreline residents, businesses and government facilities.
The commission estimates that those parties now spend about $20 million a year to build and maintain shoreline protection such as break-walls and rip-rap. Under the new regulatory approach, they would have to spend an additional $2 million annually due to the impact of sometimes-higher water levels.
Critics claim those figures, which apply to the entire shoreline in both countries, understate the true cost. More significantly, they also say that any increase in the peak lake level can wreak havoc along the shoreline, particularly in areas where there are no natural rocks or steep slopes at the shore and the soil is more easily eroded.
New lake-level plan draws comments aplenty
Edgemere Drive in Greece, lined with homes that sit very near the water, is one such place. Sodus Point in Wayne County, where parts of the village are barely above the lapping waves, is another.
But Gordon Walker, chair of the IJC Canadian section, noted Thursday that Plan 2014 only tolerates peak water levels that are 2.4 inches higher than under the old plan. When the level exceeds that point, emergency rules kick in that require operators to release as much water as possible from the lake.
Walker also made the point that any regulation plan can be overwhelmed by the forces of nature. Asked specifically about Sodus Point, he said the village had flooded before lake-level regulation began in the 1950s and again under the old regulatory plan. Inevitably, it will someday flood under Plan 2014, too.
"There will still always be some periods of flooding sometimes. We cannot possibly stop that situation," Walker said.
Dave McDowell, president of the citizens group Save Our Sodus, agreed that flooding is unavoidable in the low-lying village. But he maintained that it will happen three times more often under Plan 2014 than it did before.
"It’s a man-made disaster in the waiting," McDowell said of the new plan. He added that litigation may be needed to undo Thursday's action.
Adoption of Plan 2014 culminates a fractious, 16-year-long effort to update the old regulatory plan, which went into place in 1958. That effort was prolonged, in part, by repeated objections from shoreline interests. Their complaints brought about several revisions of the proposed new plan.
Lobbying against Plan 2014, and for it, only intensified two years ago after the commissioners voted to recommend adoption and send the plan to their federal governments for what turned out to be lengthy deliberations. Local political leaders split on the issue, with some favoring and other opposing. Most members of Congress in the region either opposed the plan or remained neutral.
Support Plan 2014 for Lake Ontario
Lana Pollack, who chairs the U.S. section of the commission, said during a teleconference with reporters Thursday that "we've been very sensitive to and aware of the feelings" of property owners along the American shoreline of the lake.
"Our obligation is to create a balanced plan that meets the needs of all of the interests," she said. "It is true in this case, as in life, that it is not possible to give 100 percent to any particular interest."
In recent years, political leaders and others had raised the possibility of special funding that would be made available to property owners to help defray the added cost of shoreline protection. But Pollack said Thursday the commission had no authority to provide such funding.
"That would be up to the governments, either the state or the federal governments or the provincial governments," she said. "It was discussed and may still well be discussed by the people who represent those constituents."
The adoption of Plan 2014 on Thursday comes little more than a month before President Barack Obama leaves office. Opponents have already denounced the move as a lame-duck action, and it would not be surprising if they asked President-elect Donald Trump to rethink the decision. The U.S. commissioners serve at the president's pleasure.
But the decision cannot be undone either unilaterally or easily, the commissioners said in a response to a question during Thursday's teleconference.
"It would go through the same process that we have just completed here. It wouldn’t necessarily take the 16 years it took to reach agreement last time, but let me tell you, it’s arduous to come to an agreement," Pollack said. "It requires each of the federal governments to consult with all of the interests and agencies related to this, and it's not something that one party can do. It has to be done as it just has been."
Walker, emphasizing the difficulty in changing the regulatory plan, added, "We’ve just now, as of today with the stroke of the pen, revised the 1958 order. It’s a long time in between."
The water cycle
Over the course of a year, the water in Lake Ontario rises and falls of its own accord in tune with weather patterns — typically peaking in June and bottoming out in December.
On average, the level stays within a 2-foot range, though variations are commonplace. So the old regulatory plan was aimed at keeping the level within a 4-foot range whenever possible.
The new plan will allow the lake level dip below that 4-foot range occasionally in dry years, and to go a bit above that range in wet years. On balance, the IJC said, the lake will often be a bit higher than it had been in the spring and fall, and roughly the same in summertime.