Lake Free­man News

Looks like the US Fish and Wildlife Ser­vice is look­ing to expand its author­i­ty over some U.S. and Indi­ana rivers includ­ing the Tippeca­noe. Todd Roki­ta, now Attor­ney Gen­er­al of Indi­ana and 17 oth­er Attor­ney’s Gen­er­al are say­ing it’s an unlaw­ful pow­er grab. ​“We need com­mon­sense poli­cies that con­serve both wildlife species and con­sti­tu­tion­al gov­ern­ment,” Attor­ney Gen­er­al Roki­ta said. ​“We can pro­tect jobs, the econ­o­my and wildlife all at the same time.”

The pro­posed rules would enable the Fish and Wildlife Ser­vice to des­ig­nate land parcels as indis­pens­able habi­tat for endan­gered species — even if no such species inhab­it the parcels.

“We all want to save endan­gered wildlife,” Attor­ney Gen­er­al Roki­ta said. ​“And we all want to pre­serve the crit­i­cal habi­tat where they live. As it turns out, these new rules don’t pro­tect wildlife — and they lit­er­al­ly vio­late the Endan­gered Species Act.”

In a let­ter, Attor­ney Gen­er­al Roki­ta and oth­er state attor­neys gen­er­al press fed­er­al offi­cials to with­draw their ill-advised plans which will poten­tial­ly put local busi­ness­es in peril.

“We are tak­ing action because these pro­posed new rules rep­re­sent a pow­er grab,” Attor­ney Gen­er­al Roki­ta said. ​“These new rules infringe on Indiana’s con­sti­tu­tion­al author­i­ty over our own nat­ur­al resources and fail to pro­vide addi­tion­al mean­ing­ful pro­tec­tion to endan­gered wildlife species.”

Attor­ney Gen­er­al Roki­ta has a long his­to­ry of defend­ing Hoosiers and the Indi­ana econ­o­my against fed­er­al over­reach in mat­ters involv­ing habi­tat and wildlife.

“If these reg­u­la­tions were to go into effect, the busi­ness­es and econ­o­my of places like the Twin Lakes would be in greater dan­ger,” Attor­ney Gen­er­al Roki­ta said. ​“Look what the cur­rent reg­u­la­tions have done to con­tribute to dra­con­ian actions that have ruined the local econ­o­my dur­ing some years.”

When he served in Con­gress, Attor­ney Gen­er­al Roki­ta fought fed­er­al poli­cies that forced the drain­ing of Lake Free­man and Lake Shafer in north­west­ern Indi­ana as part of U.S. Fish and Wildlife efforts to pro­tect endan­gered mus­sels in Tippeca­noe Riv­er. Such fed­er­al man­dates wreaked hav­oc on the sea­son­al economies of Mon­ti­cel­lo and sur­round­ing communities.

“We need com­mon­sense poli­cies that con­serve both wildlife species and con­sti­tu­tion­al gov­ern­ment,” Attor­ney Gen­er­al Roki­ta said. ​“We can pro­tect jobs, the econ­o­my and wildlife all at the same time.”

It’s nice to see our local, state and fed­er­al politi­cians awake and angry. A copy of the let­ter is attached to read and download. 

Also in break­ing news, the Indy Star report­ed yet anoth­er fresh­wa­ter mus­sel is being pro­posed for addi­tion to the fed­er­al endan­gered species list. The Sala­man­der Mus­sel which is basi­cal­ly starts off as a par­a­site! Can’t make this stuff up, amazing.

Much more to come.

Here is access to the letter—

https://​con​tent​.gov​de​liv​ery​.co…

What’s all the talk about Lake Free­man Lake Levels?

Back in 2012 the US Fish and Wildlife Ser­vice man­dat­ed the Oak­dale flow rate be a min­i­mum of 500 cvs to some­how pro­tect endan­gered clams and mus­sels. In dry times this can cause a drop in lake lev­els. For more infor­ma­tion on the flow rate from NIP­SCO vis­it https://​www​.nip​sco​.com/​a​b​o​u​t​-​u​s​/​h​y​d​r​o​-​p​o​w​e​r​/​c​urren… We have all been hop­ing for a com­mon sense solu­tion to this sit­u­a­tion. Recent­ly the SFLECC peti­tioned the Fed­er­al Ener­gy Reg­u­la­to­ry Com­mis­sion (FERC) to study the sit­u­a­tion. They just released their report, which seems pos­i­tive. for more infor­ma­tion on that vis­it http://​www​.sflecc​.com. In the mean­time do your rain dance!