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| FUDR RESPONSE TO DRBC, COALITION and TU
In its recent letter to “Dear Readers” authored by Nat Gillespie, TU National defends CP2 while attacking FUDR’s plan. National TU and the Coalition’s relentless attacks on FUDR are acts of desperation; their position is weak and indefensible. CP2 is the same plan as the FFMP except for some minor tweaks, a plan that has been delayed until July because all the knowledgeable parties have rejected it. CP2 does little or nothing to mitigate flooding and would leave the lower West Branch and upper Main Stem devoid of the much-needed cold water during the critical warm weather months of the year. Those of us who have fished these stretches in the summer know too well that releases of 80-250, only 180 in May (FFMP) or 80-350cfs, it’s only 250cfs in May (CP2) will not cool the lower half of the West Branch (let alone the Main Stem) sufficiently, the reservoir voids will be minimized and flood damage exposure will be unaddressed. Yes, 350 cfs is better than 250 cfs, but not enough better on warm and hot days in May, June, July and August and even in April at times) to keep the water temperature under 70°F on the lower West Branch and Main Stem. This means there will be no fishing, no insect hatches, no fishermen and certainly no floating (it takes a minimum of 425 cfs to float a drift boat on the West Branch – it will also be un-floatable on the East Branch and Main Stem under this program), and when the reservoir levels drop below 85%, usually in May or June, releases are much worse. TU argues that FUDR’s proposal would create too many drought days. However, this conclusion rests on the convenient rules used by the DRBC to make the calculations. After four years of justifying them, National TU and the Coalition now, finally agrees with FUDR’s long standing argument that the drought curves need to be revisited but they are willing to live with them until the revisit takes place at some unknown date in the future (possibly never). The convenient complacency of NTU and the Coalition smacks of complicity right from the get-go. They have never questioned the self serving system that the NYCDEP and DRBC has so conveniently set up, even at the risk of killing off the Main Stem rainbow population which is undisputable at this juncture due to the failed Rev. 7 policy, a policy that National TU backed 100% three-four years ago, again attacking FUDR for trying to improve the situation. National TU by its own charter is expected to fight for what is right for the trout and the environment, but they have rolled over from day one on the West Branch and Main Stem fishery so that they don’t offend the NYCDEP and the DRBC. It is obvious (and predictable) that TU National’s strategy from the start was to go along with the DRBC’s destructive plan and then at the eleventh hour offer a minor tweak and Presto. “Victory”! Sorry guys, this will never sell on the Main Street in the Delaware River towns, and will never be accepted by serious groups that know the upper Delaware fishery, or with the fisherman. For nearly four years TU has defended the OASIS model and ignores its built-in problems and missing data, etc. TU also ignores the change in requirements resulting from increased summer time flows down the Lakawaxen and the absence of the 50 billion gallon Rondout Reservoir in the calculations underlying both the FFMP and CP2. With respect to the fact that NYC takes about 350 million gallons per day less than is assumed in the DRBC’s calculations, TU states that the “DRBC has not backed down on creating a policy that works under 800 million.” Thus, National TU is willing to play by the distorted rules employed by the DRBC and supported by NCYDEP rather than standing up for the proposition that the rules must be changed to maintain and improve a famous wild trout fishery and to protect lives and property in the river communities. The FUDR Plan provides specific protection for potential floods and the fishery and can be implemented without penalizing the legitimate needs of any of the River’s users except in years of very low rainfall when all involved should be made to compromise, including the fishery. TU concludes its letter by saying that “If no policy is adopted in July, the system will revert back to Revision 1, where base releases are 45 from Cannonsville for ten months of the year and less from Pepacton and Neversink.” – more desperation, or is it blackmail! This idea is laughable (except in a disastrously dry year) particularly in view of the uproar that the FFMP Plan has caused already. What happens in July will be determined by the “Parties” but given anything less severe than a very serious drought, a 45 cfs release regime seems inconceivable at this point – even 80/300 cfs is inconceivable to as anyone with a knowledge of the fishery knows that this would be the final blow in killing off the famous wild rainbow fishery in the Main Stem. In summary, the CP2 plan can not be accepted by FUDR, or by fishery and flood mitigation groups that support the FUDR, or by the local communities and their representatives, or by the thousands of trout fishermen because CP2 does not address the following in a meaningful way and the FUDR Plan does: •Real voids to protect local communities from flooding. •Protection from warm water, over 70°F, in the lower West Branch and upper Main Stem as early as April and May and most certainly in all the warm months. •Adequate flows over 400 cfs in the West Branch and over 1200 cfs in the Main Stem for drift boats, canoes and other floatable devices for the fishery and eco tourists that are so important to the local economies. The elderly and handicapped angler, eco tourist and smaller children that can’t wade and must fish or float the river from a boat! •Improving the existing fishery and extending the season from the current, and unpredictable, 2-1/2 months to a 7 month season for the benefit of all; fishermen, businesses and local economies •Revisiting the overly conservative drought curves that curtails the whole system. •The hoarding of more Catskill water made possible by ‘new’ high volume releases by PPL shutting down Cannonsville’s critical releases in the summer with no added credit to the Cannonsville releases. •A provision to release significant water amounts from the bottom at least equal to the amount that is spilling over the dam, which is required in regulation 671 and is being ignored. •Addressing the 49 billion gallons of water in the Rondout Reservoir, which is not reflected in the FFMP or CP2 plan. At this writing (May 8, 2007), all 3 reservoirs are dangerously full at 100% and vulnerable. Any spring storm that would dump 4”-6” of rain would once again flood all the upper river towns. It is an outrage that the May 8 flow at Cannonsville is a miserly 250cfs (130 release). The water temps on the lower West Branch and Main Stem are close to 70°F and with more heat and sun predicted, so it will go over 70°F on one of the most important weekends of the season for the fishing community. Gravel bars in the river are exposed and the trout that are trying to find cover and will soon be gasping for breath. The West Branch has been unfloatable for drift boats, canoes or kick boats for over 6 days and the Main Stem will also be unfloatable before the weekend. Moreover, this is just the beginning of the season, the middle of the Hendrickson Hatch for god sakes! Lodges and restaurants and other businesses that should have been full have almost empty since Saturday. The much needed Montague triggered releases into the West Branch have not kicked in due to the continued 1000+cfs releases that PPL has been dumping into the Lackawaxen R. over the past weeks and continues today. This was not included in the Supreme Court Decree Compact and it steals the much-needed releases from the West Branch and Main Stem by satisfying the Montague target so they don’t have to release Cannonsville water. The NYSDEC, DRBC and Parties to the Decree and the NYCDEP all have the right to intervene and yet they do nothing while the fishery, local businesses and fishermen suffer. Both the FFMP and CP2 do very little or nothing to correct this situation for the fishery and the flood victims on all the branches of the upper Delaware. The FUDR Plan provides real relief for real people; a graduated release, more cold water when there is plenty of water to give and less when the water levels in the reservoirs are reduced without jeopardizing any of the users rights. What could be simpler! See the FUDR Plan at www.FUDR.org. The Executive Committee Friends of the Upper Delaware River Dan Plummer, Chairman And Executive Committee Friends of the Upper Delaware River |
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| FUDR :: 1148 5th St., New York, NY 10128:: email: catskilldan@mac.com :: 607-363-2001 | ||||||||||||