DAILY GAZETTE
Schenectady, NY
December 16, 2003

Lakeside residents fear dock damage
By JOE MAHER Gazette Reporter

MAYFIELD - The Great Sacandaga Lake level was 14.5 feet above the historic average as of Friday, a situation one group of owners said resulted in "nightmarish" flooding and property damage.

Lakeside property owners were forecasting tens of thousands of dollars in damage as docks that are normally sitting on dry land this year will be locked into the ice when the lake freezes over.

Officials of the Hudson River Black River Regulating District have not said why the lake remains so high. The district has a new policy regarding all press inquiries. Chief engineer Robert Foltan said Friday all questions have to be submitted in writing.

The Daily Gazette faxed a list of questions Friday to the district's Albany office but no response was received by Monday night. Foltan said Executive Director Willard Loveless was not available for comment either. The district measures the lake level every weekday and puts the information on a telephone recording. The recording said Friday's elevation was 768.71 feet above sea level.

The lake, a flood-control reservoir, is considered full at 768 feet. The spillway elevation is 771 feet.

But the target elevation - part of a settlement agreement involving the district, the Federal Energy Regulating Commission and lake interest groups - is about 754 feet for Dec. 12.

Peter VanAvery, co-founder of the Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee, said it's been a bad year on the Great Sacandaga Lake. He wrote in the group's Dec. 10 newsletter:

"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."

VanAvery said the state contends that the target levels in the settlement agreement are not absolute requirements. He said his group will lobby for a change in the FERC license for the generation of hydroelectric power at the Conklingville Dam — so that realistic lake levels are assured.

The weekend snow forced the postponement of a regulating district board meeting scheduled for 9 a.m Monday in Johnstown. It has been rescheduled for 9 a.m. Dec. 29 at the Holiday Inn in Johnstown.

The board has been under pressure and scrutiny since announcing a plan to raise the fees it charges for lake access permits. The initial plan, which proposed some increases of more than 1,000 percent, has been withdrawn.

A new proposal that would increase the fees by 50 percent is still unwelcome, according to lake area groups like the Batchellerville Bridge organization.

A steering committee that includes members of Fulton County Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Great Sacandaga Lake Association and the Great Sacandaga Lake Fisheries Federation, has called for an independent audit of the district before any fee hike is instituted.

DAILY GAZETTE
Schenectady, NY
December 17, 2003

Agency expects Sacandaga Lake level to drop

By JOE MAHER Gazette Reporter

MAYFIELD - Great Sacandaga Lake regulators say they're trying to lower the level of the lake, but their efforts are hampered by an agreement aimed at maintaining lake levels late in the boating season.

Short of obtaining a waiver from the agreement on lake levels, the Hudson River Black River Regulating District has few options, said Executive Director Willard Loveless.

"The regulating district is aware the level of the lake is high, and we are doing our best to lower the level and address the concerns of area residents," Loveless said.

The lake was measured at 769.81 feet above sea level Tuesday, up two inches from Monday and 15 feet 9 inches above the historical average for the date of 754 feet, according to the regulating district.

The lake is considered full at 768 feet. The spillway elevation at the Conklingville Dam is 771 feet.

Loveless said the district is releasing the maximum amount of water allowed under the settlement agreement.

District officials said they are considering requesting an exception to the agreement that would allow them to release additional amounts.

The regulating district operates the lake as a flood-control reservoir designed to catch spring runoff, store it and then use it to augment the flow of the Hudson River in the drier months.

Regulating district staff responded to a Friday inquiry for comment on lake levels by mailing a news release dated Dec. 8. It was received on Tuesday.

Lake area groups and property owners have requested an explanation of the lake level, citing the possibility of tens of thousands of dollars in damage to ice-locked docks that are usually sitting on dry ground at this time of the year.

After years of complaining about low water levels, property owners saw the lake stayed higher than normal for longer than usual this spring, causing shoreline erosion and related problems. A spokesman for one lake interest group said the situation this year could be disastrous.

The agreement on lake levels is a blueprint for reservoir operations that came out of the federal relicensing process for the hydropower generators at the Conklingville Dam several years ago.

District officials said that the settlement agreement precludes the release of water when the Hudson River is flowing at a rate of 7,500 to 8,000 cubic feet per second (CFS).

LEADER-HERALD
Gloversville, NY
December 18, 2003

High lake levels causing concern

By OMAR AQUIJE, The Leader-Herald

Water levels at the Great Sacandaga Lake have been as much as 15 feet higher than the average elevation, which has left residents concerned despite the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District's effort to maintain the reservoir.

The reservoir's elevation was at 769.7 feet Wednesday, according to the district's Web site. The historical average for this time of year has been 754.3 feet. "It's sky high," said Jim Wheeler, a resident along the lake for 40 years. "The lake has never been this high as far as I've seen."

The district's attempt to reduce the water levels have been hindered due to a settlement agreement with downstream beneficiaries that requires the reservoir to remain at a certain elevation. "The regulating district is aware the level of the lake is high, and we are doing our best to lower the level and address the concerns of area residents," said Executive Director Willard Loveless in a recent news release.

According to the release, the lake level has increased due to above-average Hudson River and Sacandaga River flow, along with the flow limitations under the settlement. Wheeler, however, said he is in disbelief that an agreement could have resulted in the higher water levels.

The district is examining the possibility of temporarily increasing the allowable release of water from the lake by requesting an exception from the parties involved in the agreement. Under the settlement, the district is given an emergency escape clause that allows it to release water if the levels get too high.

Peter VanAvery, co-founder of the Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee, said the district should have done this a month ago. "This situation has never happened before," VanAvery said. "They have got to let that water out, otherwise it would be as if there was no reservoir at all."

During the reservoir's annual cycle, water levels increase in time for the spring once snow and rain fills the lake. VanAvery said the district would need to do something during the winter to make space for the increasing levels in the spring. "That has got to happen," VanAvery said. Once the lake freezes, VanAvery said there could be damage to docks that would normally be resting of land rather than remaining afloat.

"This is an astounding display of contempt by the Regulating District toward the property owners on the lake," VanAvery said.

The district has also developed a policy that it would only accept written inquiries.The Leader-Herald faxed a list of questions but received no response as of this morning.

DAILY GAZETTE
Schenectady, NY
December 18, 2003

Letters to the Editor

Dam license deal hurt Sacandaga Lake

The Great Sacandaga Lake Association and Great Sacandaga Lake Fisheries Federation participated in negotiations that led to the new license at the Conklingville Dam power station.

A headline in the GSLA's Summer 2000 Newsletter bragged: "GSLA plays a critical role in settlement agreement." But that agreement turned out to be a disaster. It led to the high waters that overflowed the lake's banks in May and June, devouring shoreline and hampering the launch of boats and the setting out of docks.

Until this year, the lake's level was always so low in December that every floating dock was perched safely on dry land. Today, the lake is almost 15 feet above its historical average, and every dock is afloat. At freeze up, the damage will be tremendous.

That settlement agreement was a giant gift to downstream energy firms. Since electricity producing turbines can spin only so fast, their operators wanted any excess water held back for future use. That's exactly what the new rules require, and that's why the lake is so high.

Willard Loveless, executive director of the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District, describes the GSLA and the Fisheries Federation as "two local stakeholder groups that represent landowners and residents around the lake." I am not a member of either group.

The Fisheries Federation has a tiny membership of little more than 100 people - a measly 3 percent of the lake's 4,550 access permit holders. The GSLA is not very large, either. Where do these organizations get off claiming they represent me and my neighbors?

If it costs you money to fix your shoreline or repair or replace your dock, send them the bill.

CONSTANCE DODGE
Edinburg