The International Joint Commission, which monitors boundary waters between the U.S. and Canada, has signed an updated plan regulating water levels and flows in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Advocates of the plan in New York believe it will reverse decades of man-made damage and benefit the economy of the upstate region.
The International Joint Commission was established in 1909 to regulate the shared waters of the U.S. and Canada. The Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Plan 2014, more commonly known as just Plan 2014, determines the flows through the Moses-Saunders Dam located on the St. Lawrence River between Cornwall, Ontario and Massena, New York. The IJC signed an updated plan this month that revises flow levels originally developed in the 1950’s.
Stuart Gruskin is Chief Conservation and External Affairs officer for the Nature Conservancy in New York. He says Plan 2014 changes a management system that created unintended consequences. “And in the course of addressing those unintended consequences which really impaired the environmental health of Lake Ontario it also provides benefits to the communities, to the economy, more hydropower. So it’s really a win-win. It solves a long-standing environmental problem and provides other benefits.”
Gruskin notes that under the old plan water levels did not fluctuate much, adversely affecting the ecosystem. He finds the new plan more closely mimics nature with a goal of restoring 64,000 acres of wetlands, the largest effort in the U.S. outside of the Everglades, and improving habitat for fish and wildlife. “The decisions that were made 50 years ago didn’t have the benefit of the science that we have today and the IJC spent 15 years in an extremely comprehensive process. And what’s really extraordinary about Plan 2014 is that without it costing the taxpayers a dollar it’s tapping into the force of nature to allow a restoration and a healing of wetlands.”
New York’s 21st Congressional District abuts the St. Lawrence River and part of Lake Ontario. Representative Elise Stefanik calls the bi-national plan good environmental and economic policy for the entire region. “It will bring more tourism, it will bring more commerce to the region. It also protects our environment, which as we know is not just along the St. Lawrence River but within the Adirondacks, within various parts of my district. That’s important to our economy. It translates to jobs. It also translates to more tourism.”
Save our Sodus is among the groups on Lake Ontario’s southern shore that oppose Plan 2014. Past president Ed Laroux expects it to increase shoreline damage and harm local economies. "The issue with this it’s not just a spike in terms of how they will regulate. They will allow longer periods of time at higher levels as well as longer periods of time at lower levels. The understanding of the dangers here I think have not been fully understood by the people who ultimately were responsible for allowing the plan to go forward. The consequences will be more severe and the economic and the physical damage will be evident.”
The plan cannot be changed or rescinded by the incoming Trump Administration.
