Jacobs among bipartisan group seeking federal funding for lake level study
Press Release, Congressman Chris Jacobs
Representatives Chris Jacobs (NY-27), John Katko (NY-24), Joseph Morelle (NY-25), Anthony Brindisi (NY-22), and Elise Stefanik (NY-21) have sent a letter to House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Lowey and Ranking Members Granger and Rogers, asking for the inclusion of funding for Phase II of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee’s expedited review of the International Joint Commission’s Plan 2014 in any spending package being brought to the House Floor this month.
“Though a small investment from the American government, the importance of this study is significant for our constituents along the shore of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Communities along this watershed have experienced increasingly high water levels and subsequent flooding over the past several years, and many public and private property owners are still at risk of severe damage from high water levels,” wrote Jacobs, Katko, Morelle, Brindisi, and Stefanik.
Plan 2014 is the set of rules and regulations that governs outflows from Lake Ontario through the Moses-Saunders Dam located on the St. Lawrence River. The body that administers these outflows, the International Joint Commission (IJC), has initiated a two-phase expedited review of Plan 2014 through its Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee (GLAM). This process has allowed the diverse stakeholders impacted by Plan 2014 to give substantive input toward the goal of comprehensively reviewing Plan 2014.
In their letter, Reps. Jacobs, Katko, Morelle, Brindisi, and Stefanik specifically requested funding for Phase II of the IJC’s expedited review of Plan 2014 through its Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee (GLAM).
Phase II will be a three-year study of Plan 2014 rules and operations under extreme conditions moving forward. Phase I of this review has already been funded by Congress and is currently underway.
