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Media Release
December 18, 2000
IJC establishes International Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence
River Study Board
The International Joint Commission (IJC) announced today
that it has established an International Lake Ontario-St.
Lawrence River Study Board and appointed 11 of its proposed
14 members.
On December 11, 2000, during an executive meeting in Washington,
D.C., the IJC approved a directive that establishes the Study
Board and instructs it to undertake the studies required to
evaluate options for regulating levels and flows in the Lake
Ontario-St. Lawrence River system.
The Study Board will have seven U.S. and seven Canadian members.
Appointments made by the IJC to date include:
U.S. Co-director: Dr. Eugene Stakhiv, Chief of Policy and
Special Studies at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Institute
for Water Resources, Fort Belvoir, Virginia
Canadian Co-director: Mr. Doug Cuthbert, Water Issues Division
Manager, Environment Canada, Burlington, Ontario
Mr. John P. Cahill, Commissioner of the New York State Department
of Environmental Conservation, Albany, New York
Mr. André Carpentier, Hydrology and Hydraulics Directorate,
Quebec Ministry of the Environment, Ste.-Foy, Quebec
Ms. Lynn Cleary, Director of the Biosphere, Environment Canada,
Montreal, Quebec
Mr. Ian Crawford, Manager, Water Power Projects, Ontario
Ministry of Natural Resources, Peterborough, Ontario
Mr. Dalton Foster, Biochemist and Technical Advisor, International
Water Levels Coalition, Massena, New York. Mr. Foster will
also serve as the U.S. co-chair of the Public Interest Advisory
Group that will advise the Study Board.
Mr. F. Henry Lickers, Director, Environmental Division, Mohawk
Council of Akwesasne, Cornwall, Ontario
Dr. Daniel P. Loucks, Professor, School of Civil and Environmental
Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Dr. Frank Quinn, Senior Research Hydrologist, Great Lakes
Environmental Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Dr. Frank Sciremammano, Jr., Professor of mechanical engineering,
Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York
To assist the Study Board with its work, the IJC appointed
two study managers, Mr. Ed Eryuzlu, civil engineer, Ottawa,
Ontario, and Dr. Anthony Eberhardt, civil engineer, Buffalo,
New York.
Mr. Cahill will be assisted in his role as Study Board member
by Ms. Sandra LeBarron, Region 6 Director New York State Department
of Environmental Conservation, Watertown, New York.
The IJC directed the Study Board to carry out its work independent
of the work of the International St. Lawrence River Board
of Control, which is responsible for overseeing the regulation
of the outflows from Lake Ontario.
It has been nearly 50 years since a comprehensive assessment
was performed of water levels and flows regulation in the
Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River system. In April 1999, the
IJC informed the two governments that it was becoming increasingly
urgent to review the regulation of Lake Ontario outflows in
view of dissatisfaction, on the part of some interests, with
the working of that system and in light of environmental concerns
and climate change issues. However, the IJC recognizes that
the study may not resolve all the issues or result in significant
additional benefits for any interest group.
The International Joint Commission was created under the
Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to help prevent and resolve
disputes over the use of waters along the Canada-United States
boundary. Its responsibilities include approving certain projects
that would change the natural levels and flows of boundary
waters, such as the international Hydroelectric Power project at Massena,
New York and Cornwall, Ontario. If it approves a project,
the IJC's Orders of Approval may require that the flows and
water levels resulting from the project meet certain conditions
to protect the interests in both countries.
For more information, including the full text of the IJC
directive to the Study Board, visit the IJC's web site at
www.ijc.org.
Contacts:
Frank Bevacqua
Washington, D.C. (202) 736-9024
Fabien Lengellé
Ottawa, Ontario (613) 995-0088
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