Press Release -- BBAC Damage Survey Results
EDINBURG, NY, August 24, 2004 -- Excessively high water levels on Great Sacandaga Lake caused at least $175,000 worth of damage last year to docks, stairways, boat lifts, boats, and other private assets, according to survey results announced today by a local activist group.
The Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee, the volunteer group of private property owners around the lake that conducted the survey, said the results supported its contention that the new Federal license on the reservoir is flawed and needs to be changed. The license, which dictates when the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District can store and release water, was issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Great Sacandaga Lake is a river-regulating reservoir that is drawn down in summer, fall, and winter to accommodate the following spring's snow melt and rainfall. By the time winter arrives, the water typically has withdrawn 50 to 100 feet or more from the spring shoreline, leaving docks and other shoreline assets on dry land.
In 2003, the reservoir experienced two episodes of excessively high water -- one in the spring and one in the fall/winter. Although both episodes caused damage, the latter was especially harmful to private property. In mid-December, the reservoir's level was 16 feet above target. For the first time in 73 years, every dock on the reservoir was still afloat when the lake froze over. Many were torn from their moorings or crushed.
The BBAC contends that the rules embodied in the new license did not take into consideration years like 2003 when rainfall is excessive. The group's position is that minor changes in the wording of the license would give the District the flexibility it needs to release excess water. However, the District has refused to initiate the necessary legal steps to amend the license.
"It is a disgrace that Great Sacandaga Lake, one of the jewels of the Adirondack Park, is under the thumb of a Regulating District indifferent to the plight of property owners along its 125-mile shoreline," BBAC spokesman Peter VanAvery said today.
"At the very least, the District should have issued a warning to access permit holders when it became apparent that the lake would be full at the time of freeze-over last year," VanAvery said. "But the District said nothing."
"To add insult to injury, the District now refuses to take steps to amend the license -- even though the license contains a provision for doing so. The catch is that any amendment process must originate with the District, so by its inaction the District is pocket-vetoing any possibility that the problem will be solved," VanAvery said.
"What this means is that every time we have an abnormally wet year, we will see significant damage to private property," VanAvery said. Most basic insurance policies do not cover losses such as those experienced by Great Sacandaga's campers, he pointed out. "While the District's high-paid managers can afford to shrug off repair bills ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, a loss of this magnitude can be devastating to retirees and to others who operate on a limited income," he said.
The BBAC spokesman also noted that excessively high water levels have seriously eroded the lake's shoreline, undermining retaining walls and exposing tree roots. "Although the state owns the shoreline, many access permit holders groom their segment of the buffer zone as fastidiously as if it were their own property, sometimes spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on retaining walls," VanAvery said. "Many of these people have watched in dismay as high water levels destroyed their investment," he added.
With the damage survey's results in hand, the BBAC's next step is to appeal to Governor George Pataki, who wields executive control over the District, and to other elected officials by means of a petition drive and letter-writing campaign.
The BBAC says it intends to point out to the Governor that before the new license was issued, the Regulating District consistently misled the lake's property owners about its potential impact on their quality of life. Beginning in the year 2000, the District repeatedly mailed the lake's 4,650 access permit holder a newsletter showing that the target level for the lake varied from a low point in mid-March of 748 feet above sea level to a high point in June of 768 feet, an elevation at which the reservoir has traditionally been considered "full."
"In the past, water levels had sometimes exceeded 768 for a week or two," VanAvery said. "But we were not given any warning that the rules in the new license could result in excessively high water levels for nearly two months at a time. Unfortunately, the Regulating District's disinformation campaign was all too successful. If we had known what was planned, our elected officials would have heard from us."
From April to June 2003, Great Sacandaga rose far above 768 for 59 days in a row. For ten of those days, the lake was so high that water poured over the spillway at the Conklingville Dam, an event that had rarely happened until then. Then, from November 2003 to January 2004, the lake exceeded 768 for another 52 days in a row. From mid-December until the April thaw, every dock on the lake was entombed in ice. As the ice shifted, many docks were torn apart.
This past spring, the lake once again rose past 768, this time for 23 days in a row. Although the Regulating District is working to remediate severely eroded sections of shoreline, it has only one workboat, and progress is glacial. Last year, it repaired a total of about 80 access permit segments, with many hundreds more to go.
The BBAC conducted its survey by posting a blank form on its web site (www.nybbac.org), by asking members to inform their neighbors, and by running the survey questionnaire in two local publications, The Sacandaga Times and The Sacandaga Monthly. Results are still arriving.