IJC may release water regulation plan next week

WASHINGTON — A new regulation plan to control water levels on the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario may come into sharper focus next week.

The U.S.-Canadian International Joint Commission is working on final details of its latest draft proposal on the issue, said a commission spokesman, Frank A. Bevacqua. Environmental groups following the issue say they expect the proposal to bring the regulatory scheme closer to the natural seasonal flows the system would see if not for the construction of the St. Lawrence Power Project and St. Lawrence Seaway in the 1950s.

Mr. Bevacqua said the IJC is making technical and translation corrections to the report, which will be in French and English. The report could be out as soon as next week but, Mr. Bevacqua said, could be released later in the month.

The IJC is trying to balance the interests of shore property owners, commercial shippers and recreational boaters as well as environmental concerns — the last two of which were not major factors when the regulation plan was written in 1956.

A New York representative on the IJC task force that guided the agency on the plan cast this month’s release as an early point in the process, to be followed by additional public comment on an issue that already has generated several years of spirited debate.

That representative, Jennifer Congdon of the New York Environmental Facilities Corp., said in an emailed statement that New York representatives “look forward to receiving critical feedback from the public.”

The IJC has signaled that its proposal will result in result in greater variations in water levels and be targeted in part at maintaining wetlands, which are critical to wildlife as well as to protecting the St. Lawrence River shoreline, for instance. The plan will protect the interests of shoreline property owners, but shoreline protection costs may increase, the IJC has said — the key concern along the south shore of Lake Ontario.

The boating season could be longer in some years because of higher water in the fall, but levels could be lower in the summer, the IJC has said.

Should the proposal follow that route, environmental groups such as Save the River likely will cheer its resemblance to a plan released a few years ago, called B+, which generated criticism from Lake Ontario shoreline property owners for encouraging bigger variations in flows. Save the River Executive Director Jennifer J. Caddick said she hasn’t seen the proposals details but expects it to resemble plan B+.