Ont. opposes plan for regulating levels

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Last Updated: Thursday, April 24, 2008

The Canadian Press

Ontario has joined environmental groups and New York state officials in opposing a plan that would change how the water levels and flow of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River are regulated.

It's been 50 years since changes were made to how the water levels and flows are controlled at the Moses-Saunders Dam at Cornwall, Ont., and Massena, N.Y., and the binational International Joint Commission said it had become "increasingly urgent" that a review be done.

Last month, the commission unveiled a new proposal based on a five-year study, but environmental groups and American officials immediately criticized it, saying it focused too much on economic interests at the expense of environmental concerns.

Ontario Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield said Wednesday she also disagrees with the commission's decision.

"[The plan] increases economic benefits for every sector and it does more for the environment," Cansfield said. "However, we also believe that it won't do enough to sustain the health of the lake and the river in the long run.

"[Our preferred] option takes steps toward emulating the natural pattern of water flow and level variability that existed before the dam was built in the 1950s."

A public consultation process is currently underway to debate the merits of the plan before a decision is made on whether to implement it.

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Cloud hangs over marsh

Plan to control Lake Ontario level is flawed: critics

May 28, 2008

Eric McGuinness

The Hamilton Spectator

(May 28, 2008)

Cootes Paradise -- threatened by a proposed new plan to regulate the level of Lake Ontario -- happens to be enjoying nearly ideal conditions for fish and wildlife this spring.

Tys Theysmeyer, aquatic ecologist for the Royal Botanical Gardens, which owns the nature sanctuary at the west end of the Hamilton Harbour, says low water last fall helped get rid of most of the remaining carp blamed for uprooting marsh plants and stirring up sediment.

High water this spring is good for nesting water birds, spawning fish and other wildlife.

"It's perfect breeding habitat for our frogs and fish, what we need after the Biedermann (pesticides plant) fire that wiped out a lot of life last summer," Theysmeyer said in an interview.

" We've never had so many fish at the fishway," which excludes carp while letting desirable fish enter the marsh to spawn. "The numbers continue to rise."

The present plan for controlling outflow from Lake Ontario was adopted by the Canada-United States International Joint Commission (IJC) in the 1950s.

Environmentalists say it doesn't allow enough seasonal fluctuation for birds, fish and wildlife, while waterfront property owners in New York state maintain it doesn't do enough to minimize shoreline erosion.

A $20-million, five-year study of alternatives produced three options, but the commission set them aside in favour of a compromise called Plan 2007.

Theysmeyer, and most environmental interests, prefer one of the original three known as Plan B+.

The N.Y. Department of Environmental Conservation says the IJC proposal will damage the lake ecosystem as much or more than the current plan, prompting Governor David Paterson to ask U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to intervene on behalf of Plan B+.

Ontario Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield says Plan 2007 does have many good features, but said she believes there is more merit in B+.

The IJC is holding 10 public hearings around the lake, the first in Jordan at 7 p.m. June 9 at the Best Western Beacon Harbourside Inn and Conference Centre, 2793 Beacon Blvd.

For more information, go to the IJC website at ijc.org.