LaSell Dam's future dim

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September 14, 2008

By BRUCE ROWLAND The Press Republican Sun Sep 14, 2008, 05:15 AM EDT

ALTONA -- If current plans are carried out, the LaSell Dam will follow the original Chazy Central Rural School, Harmony Hall and many other buildings at William Miner's Heart's Delight Farm in Chazy, and all but one of his powerhouses into the dust bin of history.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has determined the dam, located near the bridge where Devil's Den Road crosses the South Branch of the Great Chazy River just south of Altona, is unsafe and must be completely rebuilt or demolished.

"We're going to tear it down," Altona Supervisor Larry Ross said. "It is a shame. We're going to put money into the powerhouse instead."

Miner's McGregor Powerhouse, just upriver and also visible from the bridge, has received initial restoration funds from Noble Environmental Power as part of the permitting process for the company's wind park in the town.

An engineering study done for the town and Noble related to this restoration also decries the destruction of the LaSell Dam. It cites the dam's "integral relationship" to the McGregor Powerhouse and urges that reuse and restoration options be explored. "If the LaSell Dam is demolished "¦ it will diminish the historical and landscape integrity of the site," it states.

The dam, a familiar landmark to anyone entering Altona from the south or visiting adjacent Feinberg Park, currently isn't impounding water, which rushes freely through its base. However, brush has piled up at the base on the upriver side of the flow.

Town officials say the brush problem may be traced to when the McGregor Dam, located upriver from the powerhouse on state land occupied by the Mohawk Indians of Ganienkeh Territory, gave way in May 2006. They contend that the state should provide more help to them because this dam -- located on state land -- helped cause the problems at the LaSell.

They are also unhappy that the state is now spending $3 million to restore the McGregor Dam at Ganienkeh, with no benefit to town residents, and doing nothing to rescue the LaSell Dam.

DEC Region 5 spokesman David Winchell said that's because the McGregor Dam is on state land, so the state is obligated to repair it.

"The remains of the (LaSell) dam consists of deficient concrete, which is unstable and a potential safety danger," he said. "The current condition of the dam prohibits it from meeting state dam-safety requirements."

He said the dam would have to be rehabilitated to meet safety codes and regulations, or it could be removed so that it can no longer act as a dam, or block debris, under any circumstances.

He said lowering the spillway and preserving the towers and the rest of the structure, which the town originally hoped could be done, wouldn't work because it would leave the remaining portions to still act as a dam and collect debris.

Winchell said there are no exemptions from dam-safety codes and regulations due to the historic value of a structure.

The Town of Altona has been designated to receive 75 percent of the cost of dam rehabilitation for the LaSell, he said, up to $220,000, under the dam-safety portion of the 1996 Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act.

But, with the McGregor Dam restoration costing $3 million, town officials say there is no way this could even begin to pay for restoration, and the money will have to be used to tear the structure down.

Ross said there are pressing problems with the dam's current condition. If nothing is done, people downriver could be in danger, and the town can't get the dam insured and is saddled with the liability risks.

So, he said, the town is currently working on the permit for demolition.

Winchell said the decision to repair the McGregor Dam at Ganienkeh was based on an analysis of alternatives, including removal, rehabilitation and replacement.

"McGregor Dam impounds Miner Lake, which is a valuable resource for the local residents both for the recreational opportunities and for the fish and game that it provides," he said. "The breaching of the dam was strongly opposed by local residents, including Native Americans."

However, locals who aren't Ganienkeh residents point out that while there is some advantage to keeping the dam in place to control flooding and debris washing downriver, recreational use of the lake is restricted to them because it is on Ganienkeh land. Also, if the LaSell Dam is gone, debris washing downriver wouldn't collect behind it anyway.

Avoiding a showdown with the Mohawks was also factored into the decision to restore the McGregor Dam.

"Any attempt to breach the dam may have been physically blocked by residents, either causing a potentially volatile situation or, if successful, resulting in the dam continuing to slowly deteriorate and causing an unsafe situation," Winchell said.

The design for McGregor Dam is basically a rehabilitation of the existing structure and includes repairing and replacing concrete, increasing the spillway capacity and the addition of rock anchors to provide additional stability to the dam.

All work is in compliance with current dam-safety regulations, Winchell said.