GLUE Report: 7-28-11…
Lake Level
By this time many of you have already heard or read the news regarding
the FERC decision on the pending rule curve amendment initiated by the GRDA in
April. Late yesterday afternoon they made public a letter to GRDA declining the
filed amendment request citing lack of documentation and study on the flooding
affects upstream. For me this about as frustrating and disappointing as it gets
related to this issue. If the CYOA element was ever at work it was here as FERC
wanted no responsibility in a sensible decision.
I talked with Joe Harwood, arguably Grand Lake’s single largest
commercial operator, yesterday afternoon about the decision. Many of you will
recall Joe initiated a publicity campaign last fall to bring this issue to the
forefront. He and I ventured on to the lake last fall and took photographs of
him standing in dangerously low water he used in newspaper ads chiding our
elected officials, both state and federal to answer the following very simple
question; Do you favor lowering the lake before Labor Day weekend?
Getting them to take a position on this issue wasn’t easy but the
relentless Harwood got it done with the majority signing letters that they,
indeed, did not favor the lowering of the lake before Labor Day weekend. But
even the support of Inhofe, Coburn and Boren didn’t seem to faze what
apparently is an agency which answers to no one but themselves. Harwood’s
response to the news was simple enough as responded by saying, “I’m not going
away.”
The short story on the amendment process goes like this: The authority
filed the amended rule curve motion with the FERC in April, which included the
support of the various resource agencies. FERC is then flooded with letters
from upstream stakeholders claiming this change will increase the risk of
flooding. FERC requests additional information from GRDA in the form of a Corps
of Engineers study addressing what impact the change may have on flooding. The
COE responds with a letter to the GRDA citing a lack of manpower to complete
the study prior to this year’s draw down, and maybe ever, due to
budgeting constraints. GRDA responds to the FERC with the COE letter
included. FERC then denies the amendment request late yesterday.
GLUE and Grand Lake news Online share in Harwood’s sentiments about this
issue. Our letter to the FERC, and our second petition in support of a
compromise level of 742’, was filed last weekend. We have reactivated our web
site, www.grandglue.com, for the
purposes of continuing our petition drive and to address water quality issues.
Members can sign the petition on the site. We plan on keeping up the pressure.
Now don’t go driftin’ on me brothers and sisters as we are going to stay the
course and make our input a year-round pain in the ass for FERC just as our
Miami friends have done.
I’ll forward the actual FERC response in a separate report as it was
filed in a format not compatible with a word document, but their normal
practice is to convert it to a PDF format in a few days. The letter contains
the names of two staff contacts, Linda Steward, 202-502-6680, and F. Peter
Yarrington, 202-502-6129. It was signed by the Director of the Division of
Hydropower Administration and Compliance, Edward Abrams. In the future, our
efforts will be sent to these three bureaucrats as well as the organizations
secretary.
If we ever stand a chance in Hell of getting this ridiculous policy
changed, it’s going to require a year-round effort. We can’t just wakeup
annually in June or July and think, “OMG, they are going to lower the lake
again, millet or no millet!” I’ll keep you posted.
Cheers