Bear Lake Watch
General Membership Meeting
Saturday, August 18th 2001 at 10:00 a.m.
Canyon Cove Motel in Garden City, UT
The meeting was called to order by the president, Dick
Motta.
He welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming.
Jim Kimbal was called on to talk about the meeting held in Montpelier,
ID on August 16, 2001 regarding the proposed dredging of Bear Lake.
There were around 200 people present at this meeting. In summary, Jim
said, "we got blown away!" What he meant is that we had no political
presence - no government officials to represent us. Our local officials
who might be willing to represent our perspective were either not there
or were in attendance but were afraid to speak because of potential
political repercussions. PacifiCorp had government representatives,
politicians, and irrigators to represent their side of the proposed
dredging. Jim said "We're not against the rights of the irrigators,
but we need to have an environmental impact statement done to protect
the future of Bear Lake".
Warren Lee cited a recent article printed in the Salt Lake Tribune reflecting
some of the Utah elected political officials point of view regarding
the proposed dredging. He stated that he has never known a paid government
employee to make such biased statements and stay employed. Some elected
officials from Utah may have some trouble getting votes in the future
because of their alliance.
Membership report and financial report were given by BLW Treasurer,
Lyle Tapper. We have 305 current members, of that we have received checks
from 86 of them. Checks are still coming in. Current balance in our
checking account $4418.06, current balance in Dean Witter approximately
$28,000.00. Lyle announced that DeAnne Hanson and Ann Johnson will be
joining him on the membership and work real hard to recruit new members.
BLW President, Dick Motta met with The Bear Lake Yacht Club, Bear Lake
West, Azure Cove and Sweetwater homeowners associations. Preliminary
indications are that all will join Bear LakeWatch as Corporate members
Claudia Cottle talked about the website for Bear Lake Watch, Inc. The
address is www.bearlake.com
She asked how many have looked at the website - only two had looked
at it. She passed out a questionnaire regarding the website asking everyone
to respond to the questions and return the sheet to her. The website
will be updated and the suggestions incorporated into the site.
A gentleman stated that everyone at Sweetwater who owns a condo should
be notified of our organization. DeAnne and Ann will be working on getting
in touch with of all of the different associations near/on Bear Lake.
Jim Kimbal spoke again, this time regarding the relicensing of the five
power plants downstream fromBear Lake without considering Bear Lake
in the process. One of the plants has already been licensed. We are
now asking for FERC to consider Bear Lake when relicensing the remaining
four. Our attorney, Randall Weiner, has asked for a stay in this process.
We did this as a result of the fact that FERC may choose to go ahead
with the relicensing and issue licenses without ever responding to us.
The addresses of our officials are on the website and we are asking
each individual to write a letter to their local and federal officials
displaying their concerns regarding this relicensing matter. All
letters are to be postmarked by September, 6, 2001. We need to get our
local officials to take a stand and respect this lake. Rich County and
Bear Lake County officials need to get involved.
Jack Barnett, the Bear River Commission Engineer-Manager, gave a history
of Bear Lake. He brought charts reflecting the water levels at different
times. He stated that the proposed dredging has no impact on the condition
of the lake. There is a sand bar approximately 2 feet wide that they
want to remove. His feeling is that this has been done before with no
harm to the lake and what is the difference of doing it now?
Duncan King wanted to know what is happening above the lake. He feels
what is happening above the lake has an impact and it is being overlooked.
There must be some scientific way to regulate what is happening upstream.
Phil Olsen suggested a paid public relations person or executive. Dick
responded that all we need to do is have ongoing money. We do not have
the ongoing funding without some more representation.
Stewart Hanson gave a plea for everyone to make contribution, as large
of a contribution as you possibly can.
Merlin Olsen reminded everyone to put their letters together and get
them sent in by September 6, 2001.
Meeting was closed.
