A Sustainable Future for the Four Lakes

The Four Lakes Task Force responded, by letter to FERC, to Boyce's March 15 Motion asking FERC to reconsider revoking the Edenville License and proposing the subsequent transfer of the license to Wolverine Hydro, LLC. You can find it in our Document Library.

The letter was authored by the Sanford Lake Preservation Association, which was renamed, "Four Lakes Task Force" last year. The Four Lakes Force consists of members from all four of the lake communities. Since the original filing to FERC was by SLPA and WLA in this matter, we used the former name, SLPA, to author the response letter.

To be very clear: this is not Sanford speaking for Wixom. It is the Four Lakes Task Force speaking on behalf of all four lakes, as delegated by Midland and Gladwin County.

In summary, the position of the FLTF regarding the Boyce motion is that it should be denied, for three key reasons.

1. FERC ended their jurisdiction and passed it to Michigan DEQ. FERC cannot use authority they no longer have to reinstate the license on the Edenville dam.
2. The path proposed by Boyce was done without any public engagement or transparency.
3. Boyce's plan is wholly unacceptable as it assumes Boyce would negotiate an agreement with Consumers, expect the community to help with repairs, and then do major construction on the Dam requiring it to be down below normal lake levels for at least two years. Additionally, the license would be transferred to Wolverine, however Boyce would still own and operate the dams, and have a power purchase agreement.

Our message is very clear: the path sketched out by Boyce, wrapped in a blanket of “public interest”, has skipped any dialogue with the public, and is all about Boyce’s interest not the public’s. We also have made it clear to Boyce, Consumers Energy and now FERC that the request to reinstate the license is a diversion that should not have occurred and will not stand.

The Court Hearing to enact Michigan Legal Lake Levels for all four lakes is still scheduled for May 3rd, and we are still negotiating with Boyce on the acquisition of the dams (lake level assets).