IJC appoints team to plan Upper Great Lakes Study September 17th, 2001
The International Joint Commission (IJC) is pleased to announce that it has appointed an Upper Great Lakes Plan of Study Team to prepare a plan for reviewing the regulation of the flow of water out of Lake Superior. The Plan of Studies Team was appointed after the IJC received public comment on a draft directive for the effort at a series of meetings this past summer. A membership list is attached.
Outflows from Lake Superior are regulated in accordance with Orders of Approval issued by the IJC. Regulation affects water levels and flows – and consequently a variety of interests including the environment – in the Upper Great Lakes system from Lake Superior downstream through Lake Erie. The review would assess whether changes to regulation are warranted to meet contemporary and emerging needs, and interests and preferences for managing the system in a sustainable manner, including management under climate change scenarios.
The Plan of Study Team will prepare a draft Plan of Study by October 18, 2001. Following public consultation on the draft, the team intends to provide a final Plan of Study to the IJC by January 11, 2002. The actual review of regulation would not be initiated until funds were appropriated in the United States and Canada for the studies identified in the Plan of Study.
For more information, including the directive to the Plan of Study Team and a draft outline of the Plan of Study, visit the Plan of Study Team website at:
http://www.ijc.org/conseil_board/upper_greatlakes/en/upper_home_accueil.htm The International Joint Commission is an international organization established by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to prevent and resolves disputes over the use of waters shared by the United States and Canada. The IJC is also reviewing water levels and flows regulation in the Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River. More information is available on the IJC’s website at:
www.ijc.org With the assistance of its International Lake Superior Board of Control, the IJC regulates the outflows from Lake Superior through hydropower projects that were approved by the IJC in the St. Mary’s River. More information is available on the Board’s website at:
www.ijc.org/conseil_board/superior_lake/en/superior_home_accueil.htm Contacts:
Frank Bevacqua, Washington, D.C. (202) 736-9024 Fabien Lengellé, Ottawa, ON (613) 995-0088
