Swinging Bridge scheduled to refill

Mirant still planning to sell four county reservoirs

By FRITZ MAYER

FORESTBURGH, NY — Linn Williams, the CEO of Mirant, got a much warmer reception from home-owners this time around, because he came to the informational meeting with good news. Williams, who addressed residents on Thursday, July 27 on the company’s progress in repairing the dam at the Swinging Bridge Reservoir, said the reservoir would be full again and open for swimming, fishing and boating by next summer.

Williams said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) had approved the restoration and refilling plan, and the company would start raising the water level in the reservoir in November. The water level, which is currently about 45 feet below its normal height, will be raised by about one foot per day. The process will stop at 10-day intervals to allow for the inspection of completed repairs. With this schedule, Williams said the reservoir should be back to its historical level by spring 2007.

The reservoir was closed, as were the Mongaup and Rio reservoirs downstream, when a sinkhole appeared in the Swinging Bridge dam in May 2005. Since then, repairs have been ongoing, but have taken significantly longer than executives initially predicted.

Still up for sale

Williams also told residents that his company, Mirant, and the subsidiary that owns the reservoir, NY Gen, plan to sell Swinging Bridge and the other three other Sullivan County reservoirs owned by the company. Swinging Bridge, Mongaup and Rio all produce electricity through hydroelectric plants at the reservoir dams. The fourth reservoir in the system, the Toronto, is used solely for recreational purposes. Williams said NY Gen, which is in bankruptcy, has begun a formal bidding process to sell all four reservoirs. He said there is a possibility that they might be sold separately, but that the company would give preference to interested parties who want to buy all four.

Williams said several companies have expressed interest in purchasing the reservoirs, and all of the companies have experience with hydroelectric power and intend to use the reservoirs to generate electricity.

The Toronto connection

Any party who buys the Toronto Reservoir will also be buying into a lawsuit. As part of its license to operate hydroelectric plants, NY Gen is required by FERC to provide recreational access to the Toronto Reservoir to any residents who wish to use it. That access, however, has been blocked by Woodstone Development Corporation, which owns hundreds of acres of land around the reservoir, and has sold building lots there. Mirant, to this point, has not taken action to enforce the access.

Smallwood resident Robert Barrett, however, has sued Mirant, Woodstone and various individuals connected to Woodstone, in an attempt to get access reinstated. Barrett has also sued Woodstone and individuals for harassment and illegal detention. Barrett told The River Reporter that the illegal detention involved an incident in which Woodstone principal Steve Dubrovsky prevented him and his wife from leaving the Toronto Reservoir. Barrett said the harassment aspect of the suit was filed because he was arrested on a false trespassing complaint filed by Dubrovsky. A judge dismissed the trespassing charge because of a lack of evidence.

Attorney Richard Stoloff, who represents Woodstone, said the lawsuit is baseless, and the matter has been turned over to an insurance company.