Rock Creek Energy Group, a Washington, DC-based firm representing Brookfield Renewable/ Erie Boulevard Hydropower, LP (Brookfield) in its dispute with the Regulating District over whether the energy company should provide reasonable compensation related to its hydroelectric power generation at the E.J. West plant adjacent to Conklingville Dam on Great Sacandaga Lake, has written to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requesting that it compel the Regulating District to continue to provide water from Great Sacandaga Lake for hydroelectric power generation, even after the current extension of an agreement between Brookfield and the Regulating District expires at the end of June.

Both the Regulating District and Brookfield have submitted formal petitions to FERC seeking a resolution to the dispute. The Regulating District’s petition asks FERC to require Brookfield to maintain an agreement with the Regulating District which provides the necessary property rights for Brookfield to use Great Sacandaga Lake for the generation and sale of electricity at the E.J. West hydroelectric plant. (By New York State law, the level of compensation associated with any such agreement would need to be based on fair market value. The Regulating District has completed an independent, third-party appraisal that indicates that the approximately $1.5 million per year in compensation Brookfield has been paying through the existing agreement represents less than this fair market value.)

The petition submitted by Brookfield requests that FERC direct the Regulating District to continue to channel water leaving Great Sacandaga Lake to Brookfield’s E.J. West hydroelectric plant, rather than making the releases through Conklingville Dam, even if the agreement between the parties (as extended) expires at the end of June.

In response to the Washington, DC firm’s May 17^th letter to FERC, the Regulating District wrote to FERC reiterating its request that FERC expedite a formal ruling on both petitions, and that it reject Brookfield’s request to provide an interim ruling solely for Brookfield’s benefit which would allow the continued generation and sale of electricity at E.J. West without reasonable compensation.

Built by the State of New York as a storage reservoir for purposes of flood protection and flow augmentation, the Great Sacandaga Lake operated slightly differently in its first 70 years of operation than it has over the last two decades. Negotiations with hydroelectric companies over the relicensing of hydroelectric plants like E.J. West began in 1992 and culminated in 2002 with an “offer of settlement” which incorporated the “aggressive use of storage” concept into the operation of Great Sacandaga Lake. This reduced the extent of the “target” winter drawdown by two feet, and also kept water levels higher at other times of year, helping to support hydroelectric power generation at the E. J. West plant, and other downstream facilities. Although beneficial in many respects, this change in operation has resulted in increased erosion and other higher water level-related impacts.

“The Great Sacandaga Lake provides innumerable ecological, recreational, economic, and public safety benefits for those along its shores, and residents well downstream along the Hudson River,” John Callaghan, Executive Director of the Regulating District, said. “The production of clean, renewable hydroelectric power is certainly one of those important benefits, as is the revenue we currently receive from its generation that helps us deliver on our critically-important public safety mission. We look forward to FERC’s ruling in this matter, and to reaching a new or extended agreement with Brookfield which allows these many benefits to continue unimpeded and unthreatened for future generations.”

A link to Brookfield’s letter appears here.

A link to the Regulating District’s response appears here.