GLUE Member Report: 09-16-2010

GLUE Member Report: 09-16-2010

SMP -Another summer has come and gone and the shoreline management plan for Grand Lake is still stuck somewhere in the bowels of FERC. A recent inquiry as the status of the plan, submitted by U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, finally got a response if it could be called that. The feds told Coburn the plan was still being evaluated by the FERC staff and pointed out the agency had received numerous comments during the public comment period to be included in the evaluation. There was no time frame included in the response for a FERC ruling.

As our members know, I subscribe to an e-mail notification program available through the FERC web site, which provides me a copy of all FERC related documents and correspondence between GRDA and the federal agency with respect to Grand Lake. The absence of any communication on this subject since the FERC letter with a request for clarifications and questions related to the plan, following its filing, seems strange. There is either verbal communications going on or none at all. I’m told some key personnel retirements at FERC and the associated process of replacing them has slowed the process. Lake of the Ozarks filed their plan approximately six months prior to the Grand Lake plan and is still waiting as well.

Lake Level – The lake level issue has struck a nerve again this year with the lowering of the lake in spite of no plans to seed the millet in the mud flats. Of course, the public was kept in the dark as usual, but the GRDA did appeal to FERC, or so we’re told, for a variance from the level curve in their sacred license. It was systematically denied.

At the same time, many of you noted that the spillway gates were open and water was being discharged without even the benefit of generating power. As it turns out, the authority was in the midst of a 37 day dissolved oxygen study, you guessed it, mandated by FERC. There was absolutely no consideration to the impact this study would have on the last major holiday weekend of the year. For those of you with an inquiring mind, I’m attaching the correspondence and documentation associated with this decision.

I’m told, by a representative of the often maligned state wildlife department, this study could have been done in July with no interruption to the recreation below the spillways over the holiday weekend. Go figure…..but back to the lake level.

In a short series of events, State Rep. Doug Cox seems to have had enough. He wrote a column, which is carried in most of the area papers and electronic outlets, taking FERC to task and asking for help on this issue from our federal elected representatives. He encouraged lake users to write their representatives and included the mailing addresses in the piece.

I’m guessing that in response to the letters they received, Coburn and Inhofe issued a joint response saying our state rep. didn’t understand the process and that any rule curve change would have to be initiated by GRDA. In short, my interpretation is that they didn’t want anymore damn letters of complaint from you Lake People. They did say if GRDA filed an amended rule curve they would support it. Now, don’t you feel better?

Joe Harwood, and many others, including yours truly, are taking a strong position in trying to keep this issue in focus. He is running ads this week regarding a ballot he has sent to all our elected officials with but one simple question: Mr. or Ms. Elected official, are you in favor of lowering the lake to 741’ elevation prior to the Labor Day weekend? It should prove interesting to see our politicians attempt to answer a simple yes or no question. He plans on publishing the results of his ballot.

I’m also attaching three pieces I have written on lake level and the dissolved oxygen testing which were on published on my new site, www.grandlakenewsonline.com. This week’s piece includes the body of an e-mail I sent regarding the lip service response issued by Coburn and Inhofe.

Things are starting to move….just slowly. Stay tuned.

Cheers from Grays Hollow