Miami Town Hall meeting provides flooding updates
MIAMI, Okla. – About 60 Ottawa County residents attended a town hall meeting on Thursday to hear about the latest developments in preventing future flooding problems facing Miami and the surrounding area.
Miami closer to resolving flooding issues
The two-and-half-hour meeting was broadcast live on Facebook and is currently posted on the city's social media page.
Walker Stanovsky and Shannon O'Neil, Davis, Wright, and Tremaine lawyers provided an overview of hydroelectric licensing by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, also known as FERC.
The group provided a brief overview of hydroelectric licensing by informing the audience regarding the ongoing relicensing process for the Pensacola Project.
Miami residents were warned they would live with the outcome of relicensing for generations.
Log Jam at Twin Bridges State ParkOttawa County Environmental Group Wants Multi-County Community Participation in Pensacola Dam Relicensing
In addition to the city's attorneys updating the residents, Larry Bork, a Topeka-based lawyer representing more than 200 Ottawa County residents in a 17-year-old civil suit against Grand River Dam Authority, also addressed the crowd.
The civil lawsuit filed in Nov. 2008 involves 300 properties.
Eight test cases will likely go to trial in Ottawa County between May and June, Bork said. GRDA said they would appeal any adverse judgments, he said.
Negotiations continue with the Federal Emergency Management Agency on subrogation liens for flood insurance benefits.
September 2022
GRDA claimed it completed the required pre-application studies
December 2022
Stakeholders disagreed that studies are sufficient (FERC decision pending)
GRDA filed a draft license application
March 31, 2023
The public and stakeholders submitted comments on a draft license application
May 31, 2023
GRDA filed the final license application
May 31, 2025
The expiration date for the current license
By End of Year 2025 (or likely later):
Public and stakeholder comments are due on the final license application (but only after FERC says it has all the information it needs)
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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