Rokita Continues to Lead Effort to Fix Fed Policy, as Rain Brings Lake Freeman to Normal Levels

Press Release

Rep. Todd Rokita delivered good news today to Hoosiers at Lake Freeman and the surrounding area: A rainfall has alleviated drought-like conditions there, source of much concern for local families, businesspeople, employees and their Congressman since early August, when Rokita began his charge to fix the biggest problem of all:

"Thankfully, water levels at Lake Freeman have returned to normal, which means life for people at the lake should, too. But I'm not stopping my fight to prevent this avoidable man-caused calamity from happening again."

To protect endangered mussels on the Tippecanoe River, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), enforcing the Endangered Species Act, ordered local Oakdale Dam operator, NIPSCO, to drain Lake Freeman at the height of August's busy tourist season. The federal agency took its action heedless of the economic or safety impact it would have on Hoosiers, who faced the loss of their livelihoods.

"Hoosiers have been struggling with not only the weather, but a series of bureaucratic blunders, due to onerous government policies, which made a bad situation far, far worse," said Rokita.

Rokita and his office took big steps to alleviate this bureaucratic mess. He announced last week a long-term solution to Fish & Wildlife's inflexibility that should protect his constituents from experiencing another such drastic drop at Lake Freeman. As a result of his constant correspondence with USFWS, as well as numerous emails, phone calls and meetings, the federal agency allowed NIPSCO to release water from Oakdale Dam more naturally, stabilizing Lake Freeman.

Other common-sense solutions, such as taking more accurate measurements of the Tippecanoe River, are part of the USFWS agreement with NIPSCO, and Rokita's office is working to finalize it with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). When FERC soon considers NIPSCO's new license, which Rokita expects to contain the necessary change, he encourages Hoosiers to submit their comments to www.ferc.gov.

However, Rokita says even more work needs to be done to add an economic test to Endangered Species Act regulations, non-existent so far. Congress passed the Act almost unanimously in 1973 but has not returned to amend it in 26 years. Rokita is also working to make sure NIPSCO quickly notifies those affected by its dam decisions when they happen.

He was happy to help the Shafer & Freeman Lakes Environmental Conservation Corporation, NIPSCO, and the Fish & Wildlife Service come together around the same issue and also that they expressed interest in a Tippecanoe River Watershed Initiative to find more solutions to water-use problems.

"Water is an increasingly precious resource, the oil of the 21st Century" Rokita said. "We have to work together to make sure we're using it wisely."

Source