The International Joint Commission that regulates the Great Lakes is moving forward with the controversial Plan 2014. Commissioners of the joint U.S. and Canadian panel signed an updated order of approval for regulation of water levels and flows in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.
Plan 2014 is intended to provide a more natural rise and fall of Lake Ontario with the seasons, replacing the current plan from the 1950s that does its best to hold water levels steady year round. Commission scientists say that’s done a number on the lakeshore environment and Plan 2014 will restore the health of coastal wetlands. They have 16 years of research to back it up.
The IJC also says it will continue to protect against extreme high and low water levels, but lake shore property owners and towns are skeptical about that. They packed into public hearings over the last two years, mostly turning thumbs-down on the plan.
Greece Town Supervisor Bill Reilich says he’s very disappointed at the IJC decision. He says it has the potential to endanger homes and livelihood for thousands of Greece residents and he continues to urge the regulators to come up with something else.