UPDATE on 3/5/2014: Great news! The Hunter Dam resolution failed to pass the Springfield City Council. Thank you to all who spoke up to stop this wasteful, destructive project. The dam building era is over!
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Please attend the City Council meeting this Tuesday!
Tell the City Council we do not need this expensive and destructive project!
Tuesday, March 4 at 5pm
Springfield Municipal Building – West
7th and Monroe Streets (Southeast corner)
The Springfield City Council will debate a proposed ordinance to resurrect the expensive, destructive Hunter Dam project. Sponsored by Aldermen Edwards, Theilen, and Simpson, it authorizes Springfield City Water Light & Power (CWLP) to re-apply for the EPA and Corps of Engineers permits that were rejected in 2010.
Your help and presence at this meeting is needed to let the Aldermen know that opposition is still out there. Please sign up to speak at this City Council meeting. Even if all you say is “I am here because I oppose Hunter Dam,” that’s a help.
You need to fill out and send in a simple form to address the Council. Here is the form:
www.springfieldcityclerk.com/citycouncil/forms/AddressingCityCouncil.pdf
Talking Points:
The pipe dream of a second reservoir has been around for 60 years.
- It’s way too expensive to construct, maintain water quality, and perpetually dredge
Dam building is a thing of the past; the nation has moved on.
- Dams degrade water quality, destroy beautiful valleys, and don’t last forever
- People are actively taking out dams across the country at great expense
CWLP has been dishonest or misleading in their evaluation of alternatives.
- That’s why permits were rejected
- The ordinance claims a 2013 consultant report “ruled out” use of the gravel lakes, but in fact it found that they could meet three-fourths of Springfield’s “need” for more water.
There are plenty of smarter and cheaper ways to get the water Springfield needs.
- Water efficiency measures
- Gravel lakes
- Fix already-existing broken infrastructure (CWLP has been a poor steward of existing public infrastructure)
- Repair water pipes, mains – 15% of treated water is “unaccounted for”
- Maintain Lake Springfield – needs to be dredged
It’s time to stop wasting money pursuing this destructive project!
