A Local Solution for Plan 2014

I grew up in Red Creek, just a stone’s throw from Lake Ontario. As a kid, Oswego, Fair Haven, and Sodus Point were where our families went and, when they weren’t looking, where we snuck off to be with our friends. Whether it was Rudy’s, the Bluffs, or the Point, we spent part of our childhoods here.

And it’s why the second hundred-year flood along the lakeshore in three years is personal for me as a candidate for Congress.

On May 3rd, I visited Fair Haven to help unload sandbags for residents-in-need before the most recent round of flooding started.

On June 28th, I announced my plan to combat high water levels on Lake Ontario and build infrastructure to roll back the effects of climate change in both high-water and low-water years.

My plan includes:

1) Immediate amendment of Plan 2014 to lower acceptable high-water levels; 2) Investment in and construction of a Great Lakes Water Level Security system to absorb the shock of both extreme high- and low-water level years; 3) Compensation directly to affected property and business owners along the lake.

We need to recognize that both climate change and slow-moving government bureaucracy are both real and to blame. Nobody — not along the shoreline of Lake Ontario nor anywhere else in NY-24 — should be subject to the whims of either without a real, actionable plan from their member of Congress. That is what my plan is intended to accomplish: immediate action balanced with long-term, strategic investment in the lake that we love.

We have amended Lake Ontario water-level regulation plans in the past many times. Rather than scrapping Plan 2014 entirely, we must move quickly to amend it. Plan 2014-A must move acceptable high-water levels closer to Plan 1958-DD targets while balancing concerns about the ecological health of the lake. This was the intent early in Plan 2014, but the final plan did not include adequate protections for homeowners and businesses along the lake. We can change that.

Amending Plan 2014

How would all of that work? We’ve got to dispense with “studies” and “round tables” and get to action — rapidly. In order to amend Plan 2014, action is required from both the US and Canadian governments. It took nearly two decades to move from Plan 1958-DD to Plan 2014 — our amendment process must move faster than that.

Amending Plan 2014 would require action by both the International Joint Commission (IJC) and the US Department of State. The hard truth is that the Trump administration has gutted our State Department, and Representative John Katko has repeatedly approved budgets decreasing their funding. This reality was underscored recently, as it took the Trump administration more than two years to fill the three US vacancies on the IJC — while our property owners were dealing with flooding, this administration was asleep at the helm.

We must reverse the damage done by the Trump administration and budgets voted on by Katko. Action to amend Plan 2014 requires a fully funded State Department and a loud, clear signal from both the President of the United States and the Congressman from NY-24: move acceptable high-water levels back closer to Plan 1958-DD.

Federal Funding

In my experience working in the House of Representatives for a Congressman on the House Appropriations Committee, I have seen firsthand how bills become law — and how those laws are funded by Congress.

There are numerous vehicles through which Congress could appropriate funding both for a Great Lakes Water Level Security system and direct reimbursement of property and business owners whose livelihoods have been affected by our ongoing flooding crisis. Funding could either be requested through the standard committee appropriations bills or through a new, stand-alone bill which would authorize spending for this purpose.

If funding could not be secured through the standard appropriations process, I would write the bill to authorize new funding for infrastructure spending and our lakeshore residents and spearhead its passage through both houses of Congress and to the President’s desk.

Building for the Future

How do we build toward the future and make sure we don’t have another “record-setting year” in two years? It’s time for Congress to get real. Climate change and slow-moving government bureaucracy are both very real.

We can deal with climate change here along the lake by building a Great Lakes Water Level Security system that can handle excess capacity in high-water years, and let it back out in extreme low-water years. This includes employing local scientists, engineers, and construction workers to build reservoirs, tanks, and other infrastructure to curb the effects of extreme weather and water. We should not force Central New Yorkers to have to choose between saving their homes or saving the lake — with smart investment and capacity-building, we can do both.

As your representative, I will meet with IJC commissioners and speak up for this common-sense plan to be implemented as quickly as possible. I will also join the Great Lakes Task Force in the House of Representatives. This group of Congressional leaders meets to discuss strategy for investment in and protection of the people along our lakeshores. In the 117th Congress, I look forward to becoming a member of this group — finally bringing much-needed leadership to the shores of our district, from Ontario to Oswego.

Any plan for Lake Ontario water levels — or any government plan of any kind, for that matter — must be built on trust. I was here before the flooding started and I intend to be here long after our lakeshore residents are made whole again. We deserve representation with the vision to build consensus around plans that will work — and the humility to change those plans if we find they don’t. I will always stand up for the people who live along Lake Ontario — they were my neighbors and friends growing up, and I will never leave them behind.

I look forward to leading this change — and serving my neighbors along the lake — in Congress.

Roger Misso is a candidate for Congress in New York’s 24th Congressional District (NY-24). He is a husband, father, and veteran — a former naval flight officer and victim advocate for military sexual assault victims. He has advocated for veterans and small business in Central New York. He is running to become just the second rural Wayne County kid in history — and the first in 192 years — to represent New Yorkers in Congress.

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