‘Harms flooding has caused the generations here could have been avoided,’ says clinic client and environmental justice organization LEAD Agency
Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic last week filed a comment letter with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) calling for comprehensive analysis of flooding and natural resource impacts in the upcoming relicensing process for the Grand River Dam Authority’s (GRDA) Pensacola Dam in northeastern Oklahoma. This is the clinic’s first public filing on behalf of its client Local Environmental Action Demanded Agency, Inc. (LEAD), an Oklahoma-based environmental justice organization with a long history of public education and advocacy in the region.
“Northeastern Oklahoma deserves a transparent and thorough relicensing process for the Pensacola Dam that will address the community’s major concerns about this dam’s impacts on flooding, public health, and endangered species, especially with escalating climate-driven threats,” said Christophe Courchesne, Senior Attorney and Assistant Professor in the Environmental Advocacy Clinic. “Federal law and environmental justice demand solutions.”
The dam has played a significant role in exacerbating recent flooding events upstream from the dam along the Grand River and the highly contaminated Tar Creek, one of the country’s first Superfund sites — and still one of its most polluted. These events can redistribute toxic sediments and threaten the health and safety of neighboring communities and Tribes, which have experienced harms from toxic pollution originating from long-abandoned lead and zinc mining operations in the area.
“LEAD is honored to be represented by Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic, and our comments go to the heart of the environmental problems we are facing due to a festering mega Superfund Site on one end of the watershed and our drinking water lake on the other, with the entire system contaminated,” said Earl Hatley, President of LEAD’s Board of Directors. “Exacerbating the problems are the lack of communication between the various federal and state agencies in charge, more frequent flooding due to climate change and toxicity of the flood waters.”
“The harms flooding has caused the generations here could have been avoided, and the danger of these toxic flood waters linger after being absorbed into the soil and linger long after the waters recede. These are wrongs and the assistance from the clinic in preparing these comments for LEAD also helps us speak for citizens who have experienced these wrongs,” Rebecca Jim, LEAD’s executive director and Tar Creekkeeper said.
Over the last several years, GRDA has conducted environmental and other studies to support its application to relicense the dam for decades to come under FERC’s Integrated Licensing Process and is expected to file a draft relicensing application next month. Despite recent severe flooding events affecting communities upstream of the dam, GRDA is seeking authorization to maintain higher Grand Lake reservoir levels for recreational purposes.
The clinic filed its comments on LEAD’s behalf in response to GRDA’s most recent study report and presentation to stakeholders. The comments identify serious inadequacies and gaps in GRDA’s studies and argue that, during the relicensing process, FERC must take responsibility for comprehensively analyzing upstream flooding exacerbated by the dam; climate change impacts on the dam’s operations; levels of toxicity in Grand Lake and upstream watershed sediments; and compliance with the Endangered Species Act for endangered aquatic species and bats affected by the dam.
The comments also discuss the proper interpretation of a rider bill attached to the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which GRDA mistakenly cites to avoid responsibility for addressing flooding and other impacts. The clinic and LEAD intend to participate in FERC’s relicensing process as it moves forward in the coming months.
Fall 2022 Environmental Advocacy Clinic students Peri Buck, Nick Bondurant, Vanessa Fetter, and Lukas Schnell authored the clinic’s comments.
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About Vermont Law and Graduate School: Vermont Law and Graduate School, a private, independent institution, is home to the nation’s premier environmental law program. The school features innovative experiential programs and is home to the Environmental Law Center, South Royalton Legal Clinic, Environmental Advocacy Clinic, Energy Clinic, Food and Agriculture Clinic, Environmental Justice Clinic, and Center for Justice Reform. For more information, visit www.vermontlaw.edu and follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
About LEAD Agency: Local Environmental Action Demanded Agency, Inc. (LEAD) is an environmental justice organization in northeastern Oklahoma that seeks to raise awareness about the effects of contamination on human health and the environment. Through public education, outreach, action, involvement with appropriate government agencies, and litigation, LEAD works to organize a citizen response toward cleanup and restoration of environmental harms, while striving for pollution prevention and environmental sustainability. For more information, visit leadagency.org/ and follow on Facebook.