if it’s if appropriately implemented, the plan would begin to reverse damage caused by 60 years of regulations
(01/31/12) A new plan for controlling water levels in lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River is intended to restore diversity in shoreline plant and animal communities by permitting greater fluctuations.
The International Joint Commission, representing both the U.S. and Canada, released the regulatory plan yesterday.
The panel says the water
levels would be allowed to be a few inches higher, on average, in spring and
fall than the current regulations allow.
Similar proposals in
recent years were withdrawn after protests from shoreline residents and
businesses.
A leading
environmental organization welcomed the new plan yesterday. Save the River,
based in Clayton New York, called it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to
restore the ecosystem.
In a press release,
the group said if it’s if appropriately
implemented, the plan would begin to reverse damage caused by 60
years of regulations since
construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway.
The water levels of
the lake and the St. Lawrence Seaway are controlled by releases from the
Moses-Saunders Dam in Cornwall, Ontario.
Public hearings will
be scheduled in late spring and comments taken until June 15.
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