Press Release -- West Canada

NEWS RELEASE

DATE: September 19, 2007

FOR RELEASE: Immediately

CONTACT: Bruce Carpenter, Executive Director
(315) 339-2097



State River Advocate Asks Spitzer To Lead
West Canada Creek Watershed Efforts
New York Rivers United Says Bad Situation Getting Worse;
Now Is Time For Top Leader’s Involvement


Rome,NY – Rome-based New York Rivers United has asked Governor Eliot Spitzer to become personally involved in the on-going dispute over allocation of the water resources of the West Canada Creek watershed.

“The West Canada Creek Watershed is one of our state’s finest. Much of the system’s allocation of water resources is not based on sound science or current law,” said NYRU executive director Bruce Carpenter. “Instead, it is based on outdated and conflicting laws and rules enacted in the past century. While often-competing demands for water increase daily, there continues to be lack of sound and current information.”

Water levels at Hinckley are now at an all-time low. Sporting groups are alarmed over negative impacts to this world-class fishery resulting from peaking hydropower plant operations, and local residents along the Creek are also concerned about dwindling water flows. The New York State Canal Corporation continues to draw water from the West Canada/Hinckley system even after the primary recreation season has ended.

“Local governments, citizens, sporting groups and others are calling attention to an issue the has been lingering for years, because no one has been willing to assume a leadership role and address the problem in a comprehensive way,” said NYRU’s Carpenter. “The current debate has not rectified the problem. We believe that without leadership from the Governor’s office, this bad situation will only worsen.”

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Carpenter points out that State Assemblymember RoAnn Destito has recently introduced legislation in Albany that would drastically increase the amount of water the Mohawk Valley Water Authority can withdraw from the West Canada/Hinckley system to provide drinking water for MVWA customers.

NYRU wants to develop a program for identifying and addressing direct and cumulative impacts of the various uses of the creek to ensure an appropriate balance between the competing uses of these waters that is protective of all uses and that will restore and protect these important water resources.
Carpenter said, “Leadership is needed to bring all parties to a negotiating table. Someone at the highest level must call for a complete and comprehensive evaluation of all issues. Parties must then use relevant information to draft a new operational plan that brings the system up-to-date, making it compatible with science and law as it now is written. Science and law are the building blocks that must be used.”

In its letter to Gov. Spitzer, New York Rivers United said, “As New York’s leading river conservation advocate, we call upon you, as the elected governor, to assume this responsibility and to bring all the parties together. We urge you to support completion of the necessary studies, so that negotiations can begin and can be productive. We must not continue in the direction we are currently headed.”

NYRU is an award-winning not-for-profit 501(c)(3) membership organization working throughout New York State to improve water quality, river access, recreational opportunities, ecological diversity, scenic attributes and riparian land use.

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Attachments:
(1) Copy of September 13, 2007, letter from NYRU to Gov. Spitzer
(2) Copy of September 12, 2007, Resolution adopted by Trenton Town Board