Republican U.S. Rep. John Katko wants any federal funding agreement for the U.S. State Department to include language that requires it to produce a report that assesses whether an Obama-era plan helped or hindered communities along Lake Ontario during historic flooding last spring.
Joined by U.S. Reps. Chris Collins (R-NY) and Claudia Tenney (R-NY), the lawmakers sent a March 13 letter to U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, requesting they include language in the fiscal year 2018 omnibus funding agreement they are currently working on that requires the State Department to assess damages attributable to implementation of the Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River Plan 2014.
“Together with Reps. Collins and Tenney, I am committed to ensuring shoreline property owners, municipalities, farmers and businesses are able to recover from the severe flooding our region faced in 2017,” said Katko. “As part of this effort, it is critical that we take steps to assess the detrimental impact of Plan 2014 on communities along Lake Ontario. Doing so will help our local officials take action to mitigate future damages and increase preparedness.”
Approved in 2016 by the International Joint Commission (IJC), a U.S.-Canadian organization that regulates bodies of water that span or cross the border, Plan 2014 is a water regulation plan to control the water levels of the lake and river via the Moses-Saunders Dam, and to create environmental, recreational and financial benefits, among others. Plan 2014 went into effect in January 2017. Heavy rainfall throughout the spring brought Lake Ontario to its highest levels in 100 years and created extraordinary floodwaters that impacted surrounding properties. Many people – including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who asked President Donald Trump to replace them – laid blame with the IJC members, who in turn said the flooding would have occurred with or without Plan 2014.
In their letter to House leaders, Reps. Katko, Collins and Tenney wrote that it’s “imperative that we understand the true damage that this plan has caused our shoreline communities.” In addition to an assessment of Plan 2014’s contribution to the floodwater damage, the lawmakers also have requested that the State Department’s report include compensation options for those impacted by the “unprecedented flooding,” according to Katko’s staff.
Rep. Collins said his constituents deserve more answers about the significant flooding event “so we can find a workable solution moving forward. I’m confident that the Trump administration is close to replacing the commissioners on the IJC with individuals that will get rid of this disastrous plan.”
As one of the “major contributors” to the 2017 flooding in upstate New York, Rep. Tenney added that, “If Plan 2014 remains unaddressed, the high water levels will continue to cause severe damage.”