Members of United Shoreline are planning their next Friday evening rally for July 28 at the Hilton High School Auditorium – 400 East Avenue at 7 p.m.
Dr. Daniel Barletta, a well-known expert on lake level management and director of the Lake Ontario Riparians Alliance (LORA), will be the featured speaker. He served on the Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River Study Board (LOSL), which warned the International Joint Commission several years ago not to put Plan 2014 into place, due to their concerns property owners along the south shore would face devastation from changes in lake levels. Dr. Barletta also co-authored the Minority Report on the LOSL Study with Dr. Frank Sciremammano.
Dr. Barletta encouraged the IJC keep its promise of a balanced approach to lake level management and not enact a plan, “that places 95 percent of the damages in the United States, in New York State and on the Lake Ontario south shore … the role of the government should not be to harm the very citizens it is charged to protect,” he has stated.
The United Shoreline group, which consists of property owners along the south shore of Lake Ontario devastated by rising lake levels following the implementation of IJC Plan 2014, began organizing last month and most recently held a rally at the Orleans County Marine Park in Carlton, Orleans County.
Dawn Herbeck, a leader of the United Shoreline group, says more than 200 people attended the rally on July 14. Speakers included Assemblyman Steve Hawley, State Senator Robert Ortt and Susan Boss of PathStone, which administers the relief program in Orleans County.
The state has estimated that high lake levels this spring have caused $11 million in damage to the Lake Ontario shoreline in Orleans County and municipalities there have spent more than $200,000 to combat flooding.
The state legislature recently approved a flood relief package which makes up to $50,000 available to property owners who have suffered damage and whose primary residence is on the lakeshore. Those with secondary homes on the lake are also eligible for assistance if the total income of the residents is less than $275,000.
“We are still working towards lowering the lake level in spite of the IJC Plan 2014, which is keeping it artificially high and subsequently damaging most of the properties along the south shore of Lake Ontario,” Dawn Herbeck says.
United Shoreline is also calling for the replacement of the three American IJC committee members. They would like to see people who have experience and a strong background in lake water patterns and their effects appointed instead.
“Only one of the American IJC committee members is familiar (with) and lives on the Great Lakes (not Lake Ontario), which is the lake that takes the brunt of the water damage,” Herbeck says. “One of the members is from Montana and has no knowledge of the damage that we are going through.”
Governor Cuomo recently signed a request for assistance from FEMA and Herbeck praises the move. She says United Shoreline is working to ensure the request is approved by the federal government and the President. “This could mean an influx of manpower and aid to help many affected by this spring’s devastation,” she says. That manpower would come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Guard, “which would be a huge help to the area, especially municipalities,” Herbeck says. “We are very happy the governor signed it.”
She adds that it is important for people to understand that unless water levels are lowered and remain lowered, “we will see the same problem occur next year and the years after. We have had high rains in past decades, but the flooding and erosion was never an issue as it is now because of the artificially increased lake level.”
The road ahead continues to be long for lakeshore property owners Herbeck observes. “Receiving a small portion of the state grant is an accomplishment, but it is not an end to our fight. Many break walls will be fixed, but not everyone can be helped … $15 million does not cover all the properties from Youngstown to Alexandria Bay, if you do the math.”
United Shoreline now includes members from four counties along Lake Ontario. Herbeck says the group continues to plan rallies to provide information and to combine many voices into one strong voice.
