WHERE ARE OUR POLITCIANS NOW THAT THE LAKES ARE DOWN AGAIN

Apparently our politicians who vociferously protested the low lake levels a couple of years ago are not aware that this is happening again.  Perhaps they are too tied up with the upcoming elections. I suggest we all contact them and make them aware that the Corps has once again refused to decrease release rates in time to help avoid drastic drops in lake levels.  They need to hear how bad the levels are.  They need to hear that all the excuses the Corps used to use as to why they could not decrease release rates sooner have been debunked. At one time the Corps used to try to confuse the politicians with 10 excuses.  One by one we have shown these don't hold water (pun intended).

CHALLENGE TO CORPS CONCERNING LAKE LEVELS

FOLLOWING IS A COMMENT PLACED ON THE RECENT BALANCING THE BASIN.  IT IS PERTINENT TO THE PROBLEMATIC DROUGHT PLAN THE CORPS INSISTS ON USING AND MIRRORS THE THOUGHTS OF SAVE OUR LAKES NOW:

The Corps with their work following hurricane Matthew has once again demonstrated their capability to do the job well.  If they would now address the yo yo lake levels that keep destroying the reputation of the SRB from the stand point of recreation they could again claim a great victory.  All the impediments are now out of the way.  Past experience from droughts have demonstrated that 3600cfs is safe to downstream interests and SEPA admits they do not need the corps to hit the arbitrary power quotas which are based on normal rainfall.  Now all the Corps needs to do is take charge and decrease release rates to 3600cfs (lower may be possible after the drought study is complete) anytime the lakes can not be maintained at full pool. We look forward to that time.

CORPS CLAIM ABOUT HAVING TO MEET SEPA QUOTAS IS NOT TRUE

Common knowledge from multiple sources have assured us that SEPA can live with whatever  gallons per second is forecasted by USACE.  In the past we have had excuses of environmental impact, dissolved oxygen levels in the harbor, industrial needs for water, etc. etc. causing the Corps to follow the current drought plan.  One by one we have eliminated these excuses by talking to the experts on these subjects and as a result the only excuse the Corps now has for not dropping to 3600cfs when the lakes start down is power quotas with SEPA.

We knew from the past that top management from SEPA told colonel Kertis when he was commander of the SRB that they preferred the lakes remain as full as possible so they could call on us for peaking power at times of large demand.  We know that because we were sitting in the room with Colonel Kertis when he called SEPA.  We never anticipated then that the corps would finally end up with power quotas as their only excuse or we would have done more with that statement when Kertis was here.  Since the corps is now blaming their refusal to reduce release rates to 3600cfs when the lakes start down on power quotas, we did further research on SEPA's needs. We now have found that SEPA can live with whatever release rates the Corps needs to use.

As you all know recreation is one of the issues congress has told the Corps they need to protect.  Anyone knowledgeable about our lakes knows that recreation includes all the homes built on the banks of the lakes, concessionaires such as the marinas who give access to the lakes, and the ability for the population at large to come here to enjoy all the various water sports.  We need to demand that the corps finally do their job and protect recreation.  When they use SEPA as their excuse we now know that is not a valid reason to keep destroying our lakes.