Moses Saunders Dam

Public Advisory Group on Plan 2014 holds first meeting

Date

The Public Advisory Group appointed by the International Joint Commission (IJC) to assist with finding potential improvements to the regulation of Lake Ontario outflows held its first meeting on June 30. The meeting was held online.

The Public Advisory Group will assist the IJC’s Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management (GLAM) Committee with an expedited review of Plan 2014, the plan for regulating outflows that took effect in 2017. Public Advisory Group members will contribute knowledge about water level impacts and help foster a two-way dialogue between the GLAM Committee and affected interests and constituencies.

“The Public Advisory Group will play an essential role of helping us understand how water levels affect all stakeholders in Canada and the US,” said Jane Corwin, chair of the IJC’s US Section.

“We always learn when we engage in a common dialogue with all of the stakeholders,” said Pierre Béland, chair of the IJC’s Canadian Section.

To support stakeholder engagement during the expedited review, the IJC has engaged the Consensus Building Institute to serve as a neutral facilitator.

The IJC was established by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to help the governments of Canada and the United States prevent and resolve disputes over use of the waters shared by the two countries. When asked by the two governments, the IJC approves projects in boundary waters, such as the Moses-Saunders Power Dam, that affect natural water levels and flows across the boundary. The IJC sets conditions and criteria that operators of the dam must meet when managing flows through the project.

Contact:
 

Sarah Lobrichon         Ottawa               613-992-5368                Lobrichons@ottawa.ijc.org

Frank Bevacqua         Washington       202-736-9024                 Bevacquaf@washington.ijc.org