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Reports: IJC may hold emergency meeting to consider more flood control measures along Lake Ontario

Veronica Volk
/
WXXI News

There is word that the board of the International Joint Commission, the U.S. – Canadian agency that manages the waters shared by the two countries, may hold an emergency board meeting on Wednesday, to look at issues involving recent shoreline flooding.

On his Facebook page, Greece Town Supervisor Bill Reilich said that he has confirmed with Rep. Chris Collins that incoming U.S. Chair of the IJC, Jane Corwin, and other U.S. commissioners want a meeting to propose the suspension of Plan 2014. Reilich says that has been his goal and is cautiously optimistic there may be some progress toward that end.

Officials with the commission and other agencies involved in maintaining the plan that includes regulation of the Moses Saunders Dam on the St. Lawrence River, have pushed back on the idea that increasing the amount of water leaving Lake Ontario would have prevented flooding problems this year, or the last time there were major flooding issues, in 2017.

They have said the flooding is mostly due to the amount of precipitation in recent months as well as the flow of water into Lake Ontario from the other Great Lakes.

The Buffalo News on Tuesday quotes Corwin as saying that the IJC hopes to have an emergency board meeting on Wednesday to consider further flood control measures.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.