New Website Supports New Water Regulation Plan for Lake Ontario

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The International Joint Commission (IJC), the bi-national commission that manages the waters of the U.S.-Canada border, is holding public hearings in Olcott, Alexandria Bay, Massena, Greece, and Oswego, N.Y. in June to discuss options for managing the future water levels of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.

Leading state and national environmental organizations, including The Nature Conservancy, Save the River, Ducks Unlimited, Sierra Club, Audubon New York, and Citizens Campaign for the Environment, encourage the public to attend these public hearings and to endorse Plan B+, a water regulation plan that offers significant benefits for the environment, tourism, recreation, commercial navigation, low-cost hydroelectric power and the local economy. For more information on Plan B+, a new website has been formed, http://www.nature.org/planb.

The purpose of the new website is to provide background information on the IJC process, and on the two regulation plans under consideration, Plan 2007 and Plan B+. The web site also provides information on how the public can participate in the hearing process.

“We commend the IJC for realizing the need to update a 50-year old water management plan for Lake Ontario,” said Jim Howe, Executive Director of The Nature Conservancy’s Central and Western New York Chapter. “It’s time for a new plan, and Plan B+ is clearly the best option.”

Plan B+ offers significant benefits. From an environmental perspective, it mimics Lake Ontario’s natural 30-year cycles by allowing for a more natural water level variation on a seasonal and long-term basis, restoring the wetlands and coastal habitats of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. “Plan B+ controls extreme high and low water levels which can cause economic damage and also supports a greater diversity of species, including species at risk like the northern pike and black tern” said Sean Mahar, Associate Director of Conservation for Audubon New York..

“Plan B+ also offers significant economic benefits, said David Klein, Senior Field Representative for The Nature Conservancy. “It improves fishing conditions, and extends the boating season by increasing the number of days a shoreline business can remain open”. Fishing and recreational boating are multi-million dollar industries for Lake Ontario. “The plan improves revenue for hydropower production by more than $6 million per year, Klein continued.

The International Joint Commission is proposing Plan 2007 as the new regulation plan for Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence. “Unfortunately, this plan does not go far enough in restoring the 30-year cycles in water levels that are essential for maintaining the health of wetlands and coastal habitats and the species they support, said The Nature Conservancy’s Jim Howe.

The IJC is scheduling the hearings to gather public comments about which of the regulation alternatives – Plan 2007 or Plan B+ – to select. Public hearings will begin on June 10 in Olcott, and continue with meetings in Greece (June 11), Massena (June 19), Alexandria Bay (June 25), and Oswego (June 26). Hearing locations can be found on the website, http://www.nature.org/planb.

Comments can also be emailed to the IJC: [email protected] or faxed at 202-467-0746. To mail comments: The Secretary, United States Section, International Joint Commission, 1250 23rd St. NW, Suite 100, Washington, D.C., 20440.

The IJC will receive public feedback until Friday July 11, after which the commission will make a final recommendation to the U.S. and Canadian governments.

“Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River – and the environmental, recreational and commercial economies that they support – have been seriously and consistently degraded for fifty years. Now is the time to end this loss by implementing Plan B+. We urge all stakeholders to endorse Plan B+” said Jennifer Caddick, Executive Director of Save the River.

“We now have the opportunity to reverse the decades of decline and do what’s right for the environment and economy of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River,” said Sean Mahar, Director of Government Relations of Audubon New York. “Plan B+ is the regulation which will help restore the critical coastal habitats of the Lake and River, and we need citizens throughout the Great Lakes Basin to call on the IJC to implement this plan.”

For more information on Plan B+ and how you can participate in the comment process go to http://www.nature.org/planb.

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