Glue Report for August 12-2011
The following letter and associated petition signature
file was submitted to FERC this am via e-filing. I also authored an e-mail to
Steve Hocking which can be found below my letter. Just an FYI, and no, we
haven’t given up.
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Mail Code: PJ-12.5
888 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20426
Reference: Project #1494, Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees
Dear Madame Secretary:
As mentioned in our submission, by Grand Lakers United
Enterprise on July 15, 2011, the attached signatures are in addition to those
included with our comments surrounding the controversial lake level issue on
Grand Lake. Although disappointed in the commission’s denial of the Grand River
Dam Authority’s application for a temporary reprieve from the ill-fated millet
seeding, we’re not surprised. Again, let us point out the signatures on this
petition, and there will be more submitted as collected, support a compromise
level of 742’ being maintained until after the Labor Day holiday.
However, the most disappointing news from your agency came
in an e-mail to a fellow Grand Lake stakeholder regarding this now nearly 20
year-old misguided policy. Though nowhere in the operating license language is
the annual draw-down to accommodate the annual millet seeding referred to as
related to flooding, your staff seems to be buying into the public relations
campaign, be orchestrated in Miami, Oklahoma, to make it just that.
Heather Campbell, of your staff, indicated in an e-mail to
Wildwood Cove Resort Owner and operator Bill L’Amie that complaints from
upstream special interest weigh far more heavily than that of a majority of
stakeholders as follows:
Mr. L'Amie,
Thank you for your
comments. We understand that you, being the owner of Wildwood Cove Resort
at Grand Lake, are upset with the Commission staff's recent decision to dismiss
the Grand River Dam Authority's application for an amendment to the rule
curve. Our decision was based on the fact that GRDA did not provide us
with the information we needed to make an informed decision on the
application. You assert that modification to the rule curve “is not a
flood issue”, however, while the application was pending, we received numerous
comments from upstream entities that the proposed amendment could cause additional
flooding of upstream properties. Also in addition to flooding issues, we
are required to analyze and take into account potential effects of revising the
rule curve upon fish, wildlife and other environmental resources.
Notwithstanding the support of fish and wildlife agencies for the rule curve
amendment, the Commission must do its own evaluation of these potential
effects. The information we requested is necessary for us to undertake this
independent analysis as required by the National Environmental Policy Act
as well as other statutes and the Commission's regulations. We also note
that GRDA is welcome to refile the application when it obtains the needed
information.
Madame Secretary, are we not
reinventing the wheel here. We’re now being told the GRDA petition has been
rejected because the Corps of Engineers didn’t have sufficient time to complete
the requested study by your agency on the possible flooding impact of proposed
amended rule curve change. Some of the old dogs in this campaign for common
sense still remember the Real Estate Adequacy Study, performed in 1998 by the
Corps of Engineers, to determine just what the title of the study suggests. But
the COE couldn’t determine how much easement property was needed without first
analyzing the backwater effect of the Pensacola Project on flood events. The
Hydraulic Conclusion portion of the study contained the following summary:
Only a minimal difference of six inches or less of
backwater extended above an abandoned railroad bridge located one half mile
from the Will Rogers Bridge, and that such minimal amount could be influenced
by the presence of five bridges within 2.2 miles of the turnpike bridge. This
indicates while backwater from a selected number of historic floods may have
exceeded existing flowage easements, the extent of such backwater effect is
greatly reduced upstream of the turnpike bridge.
This study was presented at a public forum, in Miami
Oklahoma, called for by then Congressman Tom Coburn, who was representing
Oklahoma’s Second Congressional District. During the presentation by the COE,
it was stated there was evidence of a significant backwater effect as a result
of the management practices employed by the Pensacola Project. In spite of this
already completed study and the fact Miami, Oklahoma, experienced three major
flood events in 1927, 1935 and 1938, prior to the dam’s construction, the
upstream lobby efforts continue to blame their flooding problems on the lake’s
level. At the same time, they continue to build and rebuild within the flood
plain and have done little to improve the bottleneck of water flow down the
Neosho River.
We know the GRDA petition for change is a lost cause, but
the majority of stakeholders are solidly behind a rule curve change. We intend
to intensify our lobby efforts to match that of our upstream friends through
the continued submission of stakeholders signing our petition of support for a
modified lake level of 742 from August 15th through October 15th.
Sincerely Yours,
Rusty Fleming
Executive Director
Grand Lakers United Enterprise
PO Box 1
Langley, OK 74350
Steve Hocking
Chief, Environmental
Review Branch
Division of Hydropower Administration
and Compliance
I am a stakeholder on Grand Lake, P-1494, in northeastern
Oklahoma. I publish an online publication, Grand Lake News Online, and also
serve as the executive director of Grand Lakers United Enterprise. This morning
I filed these two attached documents with respect to the long standing lake
level controversy on Grand Lake. We’re committed to this cause until an
outbreak of sanity occurs.
As one who lived through and reported on the re-licensing of
the Grand River Dam Authority in the early nineties, to manage this lake,
I remember all too well how the lowering of the lake to an elevation of
741’ was to be a five year trial to be analyzed for its effectiveness. In
a mandated mitigation plan to benefit the ducks and appease the resource
agencies, there was never a mention this action was in any way related to flood
control. It concerns me greatly to see this issue now being expanded into an
area which had no bearing on its adoption, management or the conclusion it was
ineffective. The support of the recent temporary rule curve amendment filing by
the resource agencies signals a unity never seen before on Grand Lake. To let
this opportunity for that outbreak of sanity previously mentioned
to slip through our fingers would truly be a step backwards for Grand Lake..
Sincerely Yours
Rusty Fleming
Executive Director
Grand Lakers United Enterprise
PO Box 1
Langley, Ok 74350