|
International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River
Study Board
January 28, 2004
SUMMARY OF CONFERENCE CALL
Board members on the call were: Gene Stakhiv; Doug Cuthbert, Dan Barletta, Marcel Lussier, Lynn Cleary, Ian Crawford, Sandy LeBarron, Frank Quinn, Andre Carpentier, Henry Lickers, Stephen Renzetti, Jim Snyder, Ed Eryuzlu, Tony Eberhardt.
Others in attendance for all or part of the meeting were: Elaine Kennedy, Max Streibel, Tom Bender, Ralph Moulton, Joe Atkinson, Serge St. Martin, Roger Haberly, Denis Peloquin, Skip Shoemaker, Wendy Leger, Syed Moin, Arleen Kreusch, Michele Tracy, Andre Plante, Russ Trowbridge, Tom McAuley, David Fay.
After a role call, Doug described the purpose of the call and the items that would be covered.
- Action Items from the Akwesasne Board Meeting and Executive Session with the IJC.
- There were no comments on the list of items provided noting that follow-up actions were required on several.
- It was noted that the Commission will seek opportunities to brief elected officials over the next two years.
- The Board approved the payment of registration fees for study participants attending the St. Lawrence River Institute Conference in Cornwall in May 2004. Attendees should contact the General Managers regarding payment procedures.
- The Board approved the nomination of Luc Lefebvre as Canadian Lead of the Commercial Navigation TWG.
- Review and Approval of Year 4 Work Plans.
- U.S. Work Plans. After a brief description of the budget summary and an explanation of the reasons for additional reductions by Tony, the following responses were given to questions raised:
- Regarding the Coastal TWG, of the $175,000 proposed for continued contract work by W.F. Baird, $150,000 is for work which began in 2003 but for which funds were not available at the time. The remaining $25,000 is for iterative verification of results in conjunction with SVM development. Other TWGs are also providing similar verification.
- Regarding the H&H TWG, the proposed work by Debbie Lee on the development of a web-based toolbox of various forecasting products was not included. A forecast component will be included in plan development by Debbie as part of the PFEG work plan. Wendy will provide details of this PFEG item to the Board.
- Regarding the Environmental TWG, Joe Atkinson will contact Joe DePinto regarding the LTI contract and will make adjustments on the estimate for his participation and that of TWG members to come within the revised budget amount for the TWG.
- Canadian Work Plans. After a brief description of the budget summary and an explanation of the reasons for additional reductions by Ed, the following responses were given to questions raised:
- Regarding the Environmental TWG, the work plan will be provided and reviewed in March 2004.
- Regarding the H&H TWG, there may be a contingency requirement if Hydro Quebec requires funding in addition to that currently allocated in the H&H budget for Laura Fagherazzi’s continued participation on synthetic supply generation.
- Regarding the IM TWG, the Cdn budget would be limited to $75,000.
- Regarding the PFEG, the estimate may be less depending on the amount awarded for the “Trade Off” contract.
- Recognizing that there may be shortfalls, the Board approved the year 4 budgets as shown in the following table. Each group is expected to try to reduce costs to eliminate the shortfall, particularly related to travel. In August 2004, budgets will be reviewed to see if unused funds can be reallocated.
Approved Funding for Year 4 for U.S. and Canadian Activities
| Activity |
U.S. Portion in
U.S.
Dollars |
Canadian Portion
in Canadian
Dollars |
Comments |
| Info. Management |
50,000 |
75,000 |
|
| Environmental |
245,410 |
750,000 |
Canadian amount to be reviewed after a work plan is submitted in March 2004 |
| Rec. Boating |
120,000 |
40,000 |
|
| Coastal |
200,000 |
80,000 |
|
| Comm. Nav. |
42,000 |
40,000 |
|
| Hydro |
0 |
0 |
|
| Water Uses |
20,000 |
62,000 |
|
| H&H |
60,000 |
60,000 |
|
| PIAG |
250,000 |
300,000 |
|
| PFEG |
340,000 |
430,000 |
|
| Board & Management |
260,000 |
324,000 |
|
| IJC |
25,000 |
197,000 |
|
| Other (Akwesasne & LTI) and transfer from Cdn Section to US IJC for Coastal work (US$164K outstanding) |
98,128 |
100,000 |
This amount ($Cdn100K) is an estimate made at the time of the Board conference call. |
| Totals |
1,710,538 |
2,458,000 |
|
| Expected available funds |
1,648,135 |
2,368,000 |
U.S. amount includes expected total reimbursement of $364,135; |
| Shortfall |
62,403 |
|
|
- Schedule of Meetings
- PFEG Plan Formulation Group workshop - Feb. 3-6, 2004 in Burlington, Ontario
- Coastal TWG meeting – March 11, 2004 in Toronto
- PIAG meeting – March 14, 2004 in Toronto
- Board/PIAG/PFEG decision workshop – October 20-21, 2004 in Ottawa
- Board/PFEG workshop – January 26-27, 2005 in Buffalo.
- Study/PFEG final workshop – March 23-24, 2005 location TBD
- PIAG public meetings in June/ July 2005 (similar to 2004 series of meetings). Commissioners should attend
- Akwesasne Community Meetings – February 2005. Tony will identify and coordinate participation by a representative of the Board, PIAG and an appropriate TWG.
Prepared by Tony Eberhardt and Ed Eryuzlu
February 10, 2004
***************************
|
