Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
The Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News is the newsletter of the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund, published five times per year. The News is intended to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas among citizens and organizations working to protect aquatic habitats in the Great Lakes Basin.
Volume 14, Number 4 • Fall 2006
Lake Erie
Basin Update - U.S.Side
Dams, Barriers and Barristers on the Cuyahoga River
By Elaine Marsh, Friends of the Crooked River
Like the crooked Cuyahoga River that
the project threatens, the hydro-electric
proposal in Gorge Metro Park in Summit
County, Ohio has been through some
twists and turns in the last few months.
This proposal seeks to seize the use of a
public park for private profit against the
will of park managers, dozens of agencies
and organizations and scores of
individuals. It will destroy public land, degrade water quality in
the Cuyahoga River and diminish the recreational and aesthetic
experience for the 140,000 citizens who use the park each year.
This “revitalization” of a hydro operation, which ceased in 1958,
will produce electricity for about 1,000 homes. If a license is
granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), it
will perpetuate, for fifty years, one of the most significant
impediments to water quality on the Cuyahoga River, the dam,
itself. (See Volume 13, Issue 5, Grassroots Update for more information.)
As part of its Integrated Licensing Process, the FERC requires the
applicant to hold “stakeholder negotiations” to determine the
appropriate study plan protocol. The applicant sponsored five
days of such “discussions.” In addition to Friends of the Crooked
River, Metro Parks, Serving Summit County, American
Whitewater, Friends of Metro Parks, Ohio EPA, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service joined the applicant
in debating what studies should be required to determine
the public cost/benefit in this project. And while the lively and
usually cordial discussions warmed the early winter, it wasn’t
clear that there was any stakeholder interest in the results of the
stakeholder process.
Somehow, the fact that this project is in a public park and
opposed by park management, a duly authorized political
subdivision of a sovereign state, does not seem to impact FERC’s
decision-making in any significant way. FERC favored the
applicant over the land-owner, the National Park Service, Ohio
EPA and local interest groups in the study-plan determination.
FERC denied all but minor alterations suggested by these agencies
and organizations. And the applicant cited their time and
their cost as reasons for refusal of the studies requested by
stakeholders. And they did so while declaring their intention to
fully cooperate with park officials.
On May 1, 2006 Metro Parks, Serving Summit County, asserted its
rights. Park Commissioners declared their belief that Ohio
Edison’s easement had been abandoned. (A lease of this
easement was the vehicle used by the applicant to gain standing
on the property.) Days before the equipment was scheduled
to enter the park, Metro Parks blocked access to the public
property.
On July 24, 2006 the applicant filed suit in federal district court,
in order to obtain a temporary restraining order to gain access to
the land. Currently, we are awaiting a decision of that court.
Stay tuned. This project has a long way to go before the public
and park managers will ultimately prevail.
Interestingly, the applicant has offered to abandon its quest in
exchange for $5 million. Imagine! The public paying a private
company millions of dollars to retain the use of its own park.
For more information:
Elaine Marsh, Friends of Crooked River
2390 Kensington Rd., Akron, OH 44333
PH: 330.657.2055 • E-mail: ohgreenway@aol.com
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