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Abnormal River Condition Watch Issued

An Abnormal River Condition (ARC) Watch has been issued for Lake Freeman, as one of the following conditions has occurred: the previous day’s 24-hour average for flows at the Buffalo USGS gauge dropped to 410 cubic feet per second (cfs) or below; or the previous day’s 24 hour daily average for flows at the Winamac USGS gauge dropped to 300 cfs or below.

As of 6:22 am ET, on September 7, 2021, the 24-hour daily average at the Buffalo USGS gauge is 503 cfs and the 24-hour daily average at the Winamac USGS gauge is 295 cfs.

The surface elevation taken near the face of the Oakdale Hydroelectric Dam was measured at 609.9 ft. below the normal operating target of 610.35ft.

The change in surface elevation measured at the hydro does not reflect or equate to the same potential change in depth for other areas of the lake. Surface elevation is the relative measurement to sea level, local datum. A change of .01 ft in the surface elevation equates to 1/100th of a foot or .12 inches. NIPSCO does not measure average depths.

Please be mindful of your surroundings and aware of any submerged objects in or underneath the surface of the water. Due to the water levels, objects such as tree stumps, old dock pilings and such may start to show or become a hazard to boat operators, swimmers, and tubers.

Without additional rainfall, depths could continue to be reduced. Current information may be found at www.nipscohydro.com.

Approaching Potential Abnormal River Conditions (ARC)

Current conditions and measurements taken along the Tippecanoe River and Lake Freeman appear to be approaching potential Abnormal River Conditions (ARC).

At this time, lake levels have not been impacted, nor do the current flow rates serve as a predictor that abnormal river conditions will necessarily occur or that lake levels will be impacted.

An ARC event is not triggered until the USGS Buffalo gauge shows a discharge reading of 410 cfs or lower (24-hour average) or Winamac discharges read 300 cfs or less (24-hour average).

Should flows upstream from Lake Freeman continue to decrease, NIPSCO will follow the protocols provided in the Updated Technical Assistance Letter (TAL) issued by US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on September 7th, 2018, resulting in the following actions:

·        NIPSCO will maintain a discharge rate of either: 1.39 times the flow of the previous 24-hour daily average flow measured at the USGS Buffalo gauge or 500 cfs through the Oakdale Dam, whichever is less
·        White County EMA alert will be issued to those subscribed for the service
·        NIPSCO and White County EMA will issue a joint safety press release
·        An update alert will be posted on www.nipscohydro.com

We will continue to keep you posted with any updates.

Outgoing & Incoming Board Members at the Annual Meeting

The SFLECC Annual Meeting was held on Saturday, August 28th. The three outgoing directors this year were Lee Anderson, Kent Kiester, and Grant Martin. Incoming directors are Todd Lemen, Rick Stetler, and Jack Werner. Congratulations and thank you to all who have and continue to serve on our Board!

2021 Annual Meeting

The SFLECC Annual Meeting will be held on Saturday, August 28th at 10 am in the Benjamin Pavilion at the Monticello City Park. Five board positions will be filled at the meeting. Only members* of the SFLECC are entitled to vote. Directors must be legal residents of the State of Indiana.

*Members of the corporation consist of persons who have a paid current Shore Front License or have made a donation twice the amount of a standard Shore Front License during the calendar year. They could also be a recorded member of an association with a paid current Shore Front License. Members are encouraged to attend this meeting.

Waverunner Raffle Winner!

SFLECC Fundraising Chairperson, Dave Hardy, pulling the winning ticket while Mike Gregory from Tall Timbers, SFLECC Board President Mike Triplett, and SFLECC Executive Director Gabrielle Haygood, observe and verify.

Congratulations to the Waverunner Raffle Winner, Kit Caster of Monticello! Thank you to all who entered and we look forward to hopefully doing it again next summer!

SFLECC Waverunner Raffle Drawing

The drawing for the New Waverunner will be this Friday, August 6th at 12:00 pm EST at Tall Timbers Marina on Lake Freeman. If you’d like to watch the drawing, we will have it Live on our Facebook page. Thank you to everyone who purchased a ticket and best of luck to all!

Lake Freeman Economic Impact Survey

The Carroll County and White County Economic Development Corporations have partnered with Purdue Center for Regional Development to conduct an economic impact study on Lake Freeman. To participate in the study, business owners should visit https://pcrd.purdue.edu/lfbusiness; Homeowners may visit https://pcrd.purdue.edu/lfhomeowners; and visitors should go to https://pcrd.purdue.edu/lfvisitor

If you were affected in any way by the low water levels, please take the survey today!

U.S. Court of Appeals Issues Decision

Nearly 6 months after the October 5, 2020 hearing with the Federal Court, The Shafer and Freeman Lakes Environmental Conservation Corporation (SFLECC) received the opinion and order from the panel of judges that heard our case.  “Unfortunately, it did not go 100% our way”, said John Koppelmann, Lake Level Task Force Chair, “but we still have an opportunity to impact the desired change.”

Excerpt from the Judges’ Opinion: “We otherwise find no error in the agencies’ expert scientific analyses. But we hold that the agencies failed to adequately explain why the new dam procedures do not violate a regulation prohibiting the Fish and Wildlife Service from requiring more than “minor” changes to the Commission’s proposal for dam operations. Because vacating the agencies’ decisions would subject the dam operator to contradictory legal obligations imposed by separate agencies, we grant the petition in part, deny the petition in part, dismiss the petition in part, and remand to the Commission without vacatur for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

What this means is that the Court found nothing wrong with the US Fish & Wildlife Service’s (FWS) use of Linear Scaling to determine the amount of flow out of Oakdale Dam during Abnormal Low Flow events. But, the court felt that both agencies, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and FWS, failed to determine if FWS’s requirements were a “minor” change to the operations of the Oakdale Dam. And thus, is sending the case back to FERC for FERC and FWS to determine if FWS’s Technical Assistance Letter (TAL) makes only a “minor” change to FERC’s staff alternative.

Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the FWS can prescribe in its Incidental Take Statement “reasonable and prudent measures” that it considers “necessary or appropriate to minimize” the impacts of any anticipated incidental take of an endangered or threatened species. See 16 U.S.C. § 1536(b)(4)(ii). By regulation, the FWS requires that any reasonable and prudent measures it proposes “cannot alter the basic design, location, scope, duration, or timing of the action and may involve only minor changes.” See 50 C.F.R. § 402.14(i)(2).

It is our understanding, that if FERC deems FWS’s mandates to be anything but minor in the way the Oakdale Dam is designed to operate as compared to FERC’s Staff Alternative, (which almost mirrored SFLECC’s proposal for revised Dam operations), FERC has the authority to amend the license to implement the Staff Alternative.  That would be a significant relief to the Monticello and Twin Lakes community.

“Despite significant expert testimony to the contrary, we are disappointed that the Court felt FWS acted reasonably using the linear scaling method.  Moving forward, we are hopeful that what happened to Lake Freeman in 2020 will illustrate to FERC that the changes are anything but ‘minor’,” stated Gabrielle Haygood, SFLECC Executive Director.

The Court will soon issue its formal Mandate to FERC, at which time, we will then learn the timelines involved in this process.  Additionally, the change made to NIPSCO’s license with FERC in 2018 stands as we wait for additional FERC proceedings. 

In the meantime, the SFLECC encourages those affected by the devastating 2020 Lake Freeman drawdown to do 2 things:

First, contact your Federal Legislator letting them know how it affected your property and the environment around your property and requesting them to contact FERC.  Providing photos, especially comparison photos, will be very helpful;

Second, submit your comments with photos to FERC so they can see that FWS’s requirement is not a “minor” change and they can see firsthand how it affected your property and the environment around it. Comments by individuals on the issue may be sent to FERC in two ways: via eComment or via US mail.  The eComment procedure is detailed at www.ferc.gov.  Reference project  P-12514.  Comments by individuals sent by US Mail should be titled “Comment on Project P-12514”.  Send to Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20426.  All comments sent to FERC may be viewed online at www.ferc.gov through their eLibrary.

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR FEDERAL LAWMAKERS:

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