-----Original Message-----

From: Rusty Fleming [mailto:rustyfleming@wavelinx.net]

Sent: Saturday, June 10, 2006 2:15 PM

To: 'Waterbug'

Subject: RE: cc- Protecting Grand Lake water.. (Brady)

There he goes again. Just as predictable as the summer heat, is a Brady tirade and attack on the GRDA when he doesn't get his way. The fact the board didn't condemn habitable docks at last Wednesday's monthly meeting, and they might do so yet, set Mr. Brady off once again. Short of making Mr. Brady assistant general manager of lake operations, I'm sure there's nothing the authority could ever do that could be perceived by Brady as positive. I won't delve into the accusations, but merely repeat my opinion about Brady with respect to water quality. The only time it is a concern to him is when it might delay or kill some commercial endeavor on Grand Lake. And now he's the champion of the ducks and geese, which can only mean there can't be that many of you left out there who share his views.

Cheers

-----Original Message-----

From: Waterbug [mailto:dhrs@sbcglobal.net]

Sent: Friday, June 09, 2006 8:25 PM

To: Recipient list suppressed

Subject: cc- Protecting Grand Lake water.. (Brady)

From: <sales@dominionequip.com>

To: "David Averill" <davidaverill@tulsaworld.com>

Subject: RE: cc- Protecting Grand Lake water quality

Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 17:22:09 -0500

Dear David Averill and Waterbug Readers

You are only telling the bright side of the story on Grand Lakes water quality efforts. There is a dark side, as well, and it differs greatly from the one you tell. More importantly, it is a story of self-inflicted damage to the water quality and environment by the very same individuals you tout--- Dr. Darrell Townsend, Manager of Ecosystem Development, and his Boss, previous Senator Kevin Easley.

Fuel Spills at commercial Marinas.

Two years ago, there were two major fuel spills at the same marina on Grand Lake within weeks. Less than a year later, when the Corporation Commission's newest standards for double wall and fuel spill prevention standards for on-water, commercial marinas were to have gone into effect, Dr. Townsend couldn't find his telephone, his car keys or his keyboard. I made personal phone calls and even sent letters to Dr. Townsend w/ copy to Mr. Easley asking them to weigh in on this, since the marina operators were down in the Capitol with their lobbyists trying to get emergency relief from the protective standards for which they had already had three years to prepare. (Grand Lake sells ten to fifteen times the amount of fuel that all other state marinas sell) DEAD SILENCE. Result---postponement for another three to five years under the older, less stringent standards for protecting the environment and recreational users.

Floating Habitable Structures With Toilets and Showers on Public Water

GRDA has allowed as many as 100 floating living quarters on Grand Lake without ever inspecting their toilet facilities, pump-out logs, holding tanks, etc. The homes do not even have permits allowing the living quarters to exist. They are permitted, if at all, simply as "Docks". When, two years ago, Thunder Bay Marina (Ugly John) built two of these illegal structures within their new Commercial dock, (again w/o permits), a public protest was filed, first with GRDA, and upon receiving no corrective action whatever from Easley's staff, the protest was sent "upstairs" to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Private, residential living quarters within the Project Boundary (public lands and waters) are expressly prohibited in federal regulations 18CFR4.41., for the very same reason that it would be illegal for you or I to construct a private home in the middle of the Rose Gardens at Woodward Park----It Belongs To The Public. The two "Dock-o-Miniums are still there today.

Last week, the Board of Directors made their second attempt to legitimize these infringements and unnecessary risks to water quality and recreational users by putting the item up for a vote of the Directors, even though there is a federal regulation prohibiting such personal and risky uses of public property and water quality. The Board took this action, I might add, even after GRDA's own Comprehensive Shoreline Management Working Committees had spent months studying the issue and VOTED on both committees NOT to allow the structures on the lake in the future and "grandfather out" all of the old ones. GRDA's Chairman of the Board, Jim Frasier, Tulsa attorney, is the legal counsel of the offending Thunder Bay Marina, and as such is able to limit or even disallow public comment on these issues. He is also able and morally bound to recuse himself from any such discussion and voting himself on the basis of his obvious conflict of interest. He did neither. Instead, he publicly insulted one of the protesters from his elevated Director's bench.

Fish Kills-GRDA style

GRDA is under federal regulation in their license agreement to replace dissolved oxygen in the water leaving the lake below the dam. This is necessary because generation turbine intakes are far below the surface and the oxygen found there is insufficient to the needs of the fish in streams below the dam. GRDA is under mandate to artificially replace this dissolved oxygen, but fails to meet these minimum standards over 60% of the time. Fish dying from inadequate oxygen in the water as a result dwarfs all fish EVER killed in any tournament on Grand. Countless letters and reports from ODWC and US Fish and Wildlife have not been sufficient to get GRDA to spend the money to put in the necessary aerators to get into compliance with the minimum standards. GRDA has resisted this "Wastage" of water to only generate oxygen for the benefit of fish in the same manner they have resisted the waterfowl millet seeding program. Unfortunately, the fish and geese don't buy any electricity and they don't attend Board meetings. They have to depend on us.

The Tulsa World had a reporter present in the room on Wednesday and I challenge him to find one molecule of this letter to you and the Tulsa World to be inaccurate.

Mike Brady

From: "MAMBO" <mambo@joplin.com>

Subject: Re: cc- Protecting Grand Lake water quality (TW)

Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 17:47:57 -0500

The GRDA environmental efforts on the surface seem impressive until you learn about the Missouri Factor. At least it is a bipartisan effort, Former Dem Sen. Easley and Repub Sen. Inhofe, both seem uninterested in all the chicken***t and ecoli rolling on into Grand Lake from the Elk and Spring River watersheds in SW MO. With 160 million poultry in these two watersheds I guess it just makes sense for these politicians to ingnore the industrial animal factory contributions to Grand Lake's pollution/algae presence. If I were a mega animal factory owner I know where I would set up shop. In fact, after conversations with a number of realtors in the upper Spring River watershed recently, I got confirmation that out of state investors and companies were buying up farm land and existing animal factories(chicken, pig, dairy) to install new operations and expand existing facilities because of the "business friendly" environment provided by Missouri these days. In discussions with attorneys on this issue it becomes apparent that setting up an animal factory shop near a border, where externalizing the cost of litter removal can be achieved with the help of federal dollars(your money) and watersheds to take the waste out of the area, can be a good business move. With the huge costs of state to state lawsuits and state budgets experiencing fiscal restraint more and more the chance of significant oversight becomes a mirage on the horizon. Good for Missouri's booming economy and let's see how much OK will take. If you are looking for a good return on your investment dollar, and do not care how you get that return, I would invest in Cargill, Premium Standard Farms, Land-OLakes', Tyson, ButterBall or any number of mega animal producers. Makes good dollars and cents right? There might be some that disagree in this area and around Grand Lake but do not have the money or the voice in our elected officials to make any difference anyway. You know the old saying in Missouri, "Show Me the Money!"

Mark Neosho, MO

Tulsa World, Sunday, June 4, 2006

Tourists spend nearly $94 million a year in the Grand Lake counties - Ottawa, Mayes, Delaware and Craig, generating 1,500 jobs and $8 million in tax receipts.

Protecting Grand Lake water quality

By DAVID AVERILL Associate editor, 6/4/2006

A major bass-fishing tournament winding up its four-day run on Sunday brought national attention to northeastern Oklahoma's Grand Lake, thanks to TV coverage by ESPN.

The ESPN/BASS Elite Series tournament drew 212 anglers in 106 boats, plus the boats and camera crews necessary to televise the event. The tournament gave spectators at each day's launch and weigh-in festivities the chance to see the sport's biggest names in person.

While the tournament brought new attention, Grand was hardly a secret to begin with. For many people in the region, "going to the lake" means going to Grand Lake. Grand is a popular spot for weekend anglers and pleasure boaters. Its shores are increasingly lined with commercial developments and the residences, from modest to super-luxurious, of those who seek weekend and vacation retreats or year-round lake living.

It's often said that on three holidays -- Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day -- the population at Grand Lake is third largest in Oklahoma, behind only Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

It's not just swimmers, anglers and boaters who are attracted to Grand. An ad hoc off-road vehicle course that has evolved below the east end of Pensacola Dam attracted an estimated 4,000 four-wheelers over the recent Memorial Day weekend.

Tourists spend nearly $94 million a year in the Grand Lake counties -- Ottawa, Mayes, Delaware and Craig, generating 1,500 jobs and $8 million in tax receipts.

The heavy lake use and development, on top of agricultural (poultry production) and industrial (former lead and zinc mining) operations in the Grand River watershed, have put environmental pressures on Grand Lake. Ironically, not to address the environmental issues -- and for much of the lake's 70-year history they were largely ignored -- is to risk killing the golden-egg-laying goose. Who would want to fish, water ski or own a summer home on Grand Lake if it became a cesspool? [waterbug note: color added.]

In the past couple of years the Grand River Dam Authority, the state agency that operates Grand and Hudson lakes, has begun to step up its efforts to protect the water quality and fish and wildlife habitat.

In 2004, in one of his first actions after he was hired as GRDA's chief executive officer, former state Sen. Kevin Easley established an Office of Ecosystems Management. Easley hired Darrell Townsend, an Oklahoma State University-trained fisheries and wildlife biologist with a Ph.D. in conservation and restoration ecology, as head of the office.

Among the efforts that are underway on Townsend's watch:

Septic analysis. GRDA is using helicopter-mounted infrared technology to locate effluent discharges from failing septic systems or from pipes that may be discharging directly into the water on Grand and Hudson lakes. The agency is testing water monthly for phosphates, nitrates and E. coli and fecal bacteria, contaminants that can come from untreated sewage. Enforcement of rules pertaining to septic systems is the responsibility of the state Department of Environmental Quality.

Heavy metals study. The abandoned lead and zinc mines in the tri-state area are in the Grand River watershed. In fact, Tar Creek, whose name is given to the nation's most polluted EPA Superfund site, is a tributary of the Neosho River, which joins the Spring River to form the Grand. Testing for heavy metals and acidity, conducted in the fall of 2004, found high readings at the Twin Bridges area near the Neosho and Spring confluence. But average readings on the two lakes indicated that heavy-metals contamination of sediments in Grand and Hudson was negligible. Townsend believes the heavy-metals testing ought to be repeated every five years.

"Clean Marina" program. GRDA initiated a voluntary program designed to encourage marina operators and their employees to learn and use best management practices. Those include best ways to refuel boats, how to clean up fuel spills that might occur and how and where to wash boats. (Soap is on the list of sources of phosphorus in lake water, along with chicken litter, untreated effluent and over-applied lawn fertilizers.)

Fish and wildlife habitat improvement. The agency is installing several kinds of artificial fish structures in the waters of Grand, Hudson and the Salina pump-back reservoir that parallels Hudson. These structures provide cover for fish and places for fry to hide from predation. It also is planting aquatic plants, in cages or wire pens to protect them from hungry turtles and carp, at several sites on Grand and Hudson. And this spring it began construction of a waterfowl refuge on an undeveloped area at the upper end of Duck Creek.

Fish mortality study. Bass tournaments, in which fish are caught, kept all day in boat live wells, weighed and released, are a big deal on the GRDA lakes. There are about 150 of them a year on Grand and 70 on Hudson, attracting about 8,000 boats and 16,000 anglers. The vast majority are small one-day club tournaments.

A fish kill following a tournament last summer prompted the agency to consider new rules for conducting tournaments or even prohibiting them during hot-weather months. It backed off after a huge outcry from marina operators and bass clubs. However, a fish mortality study, employing volunteer anglers in three mock tournaments, should provide data needed to write rules governing how hot-weather tournaments are conducted.

Meanwhile, GRDA's fisheries department launched an educational program, Tournament Education on Angling Mortality, or TEAM, to make anglers aware of how to avoid over-stressing the fish they catch and release.

Derelict dock enforcement. The agency is attempting to locate old, abandoned docks -- 160 have been found so far -- and target them for removal. These docks, some of which are half-sunken, are more than an eyesore; they sometimes break loose from their moorings.

These are just some of the environmental efforts newly under way on Grand and Hudson lakes. Their aim, to protect the water quality of two of the state's favorite recreation spots, would seem to be obvious. The problem is that every environmental step taken offends one interest group or another. It is complicated by the fact that the hiring of Easley, a high-profile Democratic politician, was controversial. It was also galling to many Republicans, including a prominent Grand Lake property owner, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe who launched an investigation of the GRDA.

Hopefully at some point all the divergent interests will realize that everybody loses if the things that make Grand Lake popular and a valuable resource -- the quality of its water and its fish habitat -- are not protected.

-----------------------

David Averill, 581-8333

david.averill@tulsaworld.com