TO: Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee Members
FROM: Peter VanAvery
DATE: December 5, 2003
The waters of Great Sacandaga Lake are at unprecedented high levels for this time of year, lapping less than two feet below the crest of the spillway at the Conklingville Dam. The lake's surface is an astounding 14 feet 11 inches above its historical average. By December, the waters of this river-regulating reservoir traditionally have been drawn down to the point where every floating dock on the lake is sitting on dry land. This year, however, all those docks are afloat, and that is bad news. When the lake freezes over, they stand to be trapped in ice. The damage may collectively amount to many tens of thousands of dollars.
Thus, the year ends as it began with a nightmarish situation involving water levels. Back in May and June, the lake rose so high that it flooded its banks for several weeks. Wave action savaged the shoreline, resulting in extensive erosion. After enduring a long and difficult winter, people flocked back up to the lake only to discover that their beaches were submerged and that it was difficult or impossible to secure docks and launch boats. Frustration levels ran high.
By contrast, in 2002, the lake's level was suddenly dropped well below the historical average in August, bringing the boating season to a sudden early end for many people.
Water levels have always been a challenge for property owners along Great Sacandaga Lake. It's a price one pays for living on a reservoir that is gradually emptied during the summer, fall, and winter so that it can impound the runoff from spring rains and snow melt, preventing flooding along the upper Hudson River. But clearly, something has gone out of whack. Something has changed and not for the better.
So what's going on? Our answer begins on December 31, 1993 with the expiration of Niagara Mohawk's 30-year license to operate the E.J. West hydroelectric plant at the Conklingville Dam. The energy firm's application for a new license was not approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) until 2002. By then, the E.J. West facility had been taken over by another company, Erie Boulevard Hydropower, a division of Reliant Resources, Inc., of Houston, Texas.
In the nine-year interim, representatives of more than 20 special interest groups met repeatedly to work out the details of a document called the "Upper Hudson/Sacandaga River Offer of Settlement." Erin M. Crotty, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, has called this document "a comprehensive and detailed 'blueprint' that establishes a new balance between lake levels and river flows that reasonably balances a multitude of competing interests without sacrificing the lake's primary flood control and low flow augmentation functions." "Reasonably balances"? Read on.
Higher water levels were the goal, whether directly or indirectly, of several of these special interest groups. For example, there are 17 hydro stations between the dam and Green Island, and representatives of downstream energy firms wanted to put to work every drop of water flowing through their turbines. But turbines have design limitations; they can handle only so many cubic feet per second of water flow. If the Hudson is flowing faster, water is wasted. During the spring runoff or in a year of excessive precipitation, the natural flow of the upper Hudson can satisfy the needs of the energy firms without any help from Great Sacandaga Lake. At those times, the energy firms wanted the new license to require that the lake's water be held back for future use.
Another group of negotiators also wanted higher water levels on the lake. Says Commissioner Crotty: "During Settlement negotiations, the issue of higher summertime lake levels/extended navigation season was persuasively represented by the Great Sacandaga Lake Association, the Great Sacandaga Lake Fisheries Federation and the Great Sacandaga Lake Marinas Association. Due to their advocacy, certain operating rules were incorporated into the Settlement and, subsequently, the FERC license that will serve to keep the lake generally higher during the navigation season."
In a letter, Regulating District Executive Director Willard Loveless describes the GSLA and the Fisheries Federation as "two local stakeholder groups that represent landowners and residents around the lake." Since when has that been true? Each year, the lake's 4,550 access permit holders receive an invitation to join the GSLA. And each year, most of them say "No thanks!" and toss it into the wastebasket. As for the Fisheries Federation, they have only 120 or so members, less than 3 percent of the lake's access permit holders. And I suspect that the goals of the Marinas Association are directly counter to mine.
Looking back on this fiasco, it is evident that the representatives of the energy firms came out on top. The energy firms got what they wanted, and the subsequent limitations on releases from Great Sacandaga Lake are the cause of the excessively high water levels we've seen this year. So as you kiss your dock and shoreline goodbye, you can console yourself with the thought that you are enriching the executives at Niagara Mohawk and Reliant Resources.
The Regulating District also comes in for its share of the blame. Beginning in the year 2000, it launched what proved to be a very successful disinformation campaign that lulled access permit holders to sleep. Beginning that year, the cover of its annual newsletter, "Waterline," featured a chart showing "Settlement Target Elevations," which indicated that lake levels would be held to elevations between a maximum of 768 feet above sea level and a minimum of 748 feet above sea level. The chart also appears in the District's handbook. That was the promise. This year's reality was that water levels exceeded 770 for a whole month, ultimately reaching 771.3. Now Commissioner Crotty says that target water levels are "not absolute requirements."
Back when the Settlement Agreement was being negotiated, the GSLA almost wore out its arm patting itself on the back. Brags a headline on the cover of its Summer 2000 Newsletter: "GSLA Plays a Critical Role in Settlement Agreement." Now that the Settlement Agreement has turned sour, bringing us rampaging water levels, the GSLA is laying low. Here's a suggestion: If your dock or shoreline suffers damage this year, send them the repair bill.
Let me add another quote from Mr. Lawless' letter: "The Aggressive Use of Storage operating rule was included in the Settlement to mitigate the loss of electric generation that would otherwise have occurred. While this provision will result in generally higher lake levels in late spring and early summer, computer simulations indicate that lake level increases will not be significant." "Not be significant"? As for computer simulations, remember the old saying: Garbage in ...garbage out.
The latest from the GSLA and the Fisheries Federation is that they have formed a "steering committee" with the Fulton County Chamber of Commerce to work on the access permit fee problem. If I were you, I'd plan to be present at the Regulating District's December 15 board meeting in Johnstown to represent my own interests.
Meanwhile, the BBAC is not going to stand idly by while special interest groups attack the quality of life of lake property owners. The FERC license needs to be amended, and our group will be pushing for that to happen.