About Us

Background:  Dam Safety Rule Making
In 1999, the NYS Legislature passed legislation (Chapter 364, Laws of 1999) amending the Environmental Conservation Law (ECL Sections 15-0503, 15-0507 and 15-0511) to “expressly require all dam owners…to operate and maintain such structures in a safe condition. The amendments explicitly authorize DEC to adopt regulations requiring dam owners to prepare safety programs including inspections, monitoring, maintenance and operation, and emergency plans, where failure of the dam could cause personal injury, substantial property damage or substantial natural resource damage.”  (Excerpted from the NYS DEC website) 

As we all Know, if enacted as proposed, the draft DEC regulations on dam safety will have profoundly negative consequences on the owners of dams in New York State.
The regulations propose to shift almost all responsibility for the inspection and repair of dams from government to owners, yet with no assistance to help the owners. Now that the DEC hearings are over, many dam owners have discussed what is next, what they should do to bring about a more acceptable outcome than the one offered by the draft regulations

We believe that now is the time that dam owners should begin a campaign to represent their own interest. These interests are distinct from any other group. Owners need a plan and a forceful presence to advocate for them. Without these, they will simply be buried by the new regulations. While many dam owners just want to enjoy the pleasures of their cottage at the lake, these regulations will likely cause:
            *the abandonment of several hundred dams,
            *the draining of many lakes,
            *the loss of recreational resources,
            *the loss of flood control infrastructure
            *the loss of wildlife habitat,
            *the loss of property values,
            *the bankruptcy of certain dam-owning organizations, and
            *numerous lawsuits.

Much as we would like to think that some state agency or legislator will perceive the needs of society and will champion a solution, this process rarely happens until after an organized citizen lobbying campaign is mounted.

There is no such organization of Dam Owners in New York State.
Therefore we have formed The Coalition of Dam Owners for Fairness and Safety (CoDOFS).

CoDOFS believes the draft regulations are a Concern for You and All New Yorkers:
As owners of dams in NYS, we strongly concur with the need to ensure for the safety of the dams in NYS; they serve multiple public as well as private goods.  By the same token, dams in poor repair risk not only the loss of good served but social, economic and ecological costs to owners, communities, and all in an inundation area.  It is with these considerations in mind that we strongly object to the draft regulations recently shared for comment by the DEC.  It is our contention that if implemented as currently drafted, the regulations will not increase but rather decrease the safety of NYS dams, particularly those in the highest hazard classes.  In doing so, moreover, the regulations are poised to waste significant sums of money on litigation (money that would be better spent on dam maintenance and repair) and bankrupt dam owners, including individual families, lake associations and municipalities.

The most problematic aspects of the regulations include the following: 

1. The regulations represent the privatization of a public oversight role by requiring dam owners to hire engineers to regularly inspect their dams.
2. The regulations provide for no appeal process in situations where they disagree with the recommendations of the dam owner’s engineers (and dam owners have multiple documented instances where we’ve addressed DEC concerns through our own engineers only to be told our actions were unsatisfactory).
3. The regulations relieve the DEC from any accountability for its actions, stating that the DEC cannot be held accountable for dam failures resulting from actions required by the Department.
4.  The regulations place dam owners at the mercy of downstream neighbors and the communities regulating downstream development, in that the hazard classification of a dam and regulatory requirements associated with it, are determined in part by the potential loss of life and property in the event of a dam failure.  Dam owners not only cannot control development downstream of their property but also have no specific rights to influence that development, despite the costs they incur as a result of it.
5. The regulations unfairly place the burden of compliance solely on dam owners, despite the public goods served by dams.  For municipalities, this represents an unfunded mandate.
6. As a result of these costs, private owners will breach or abandon their dams.  Breach dams will have environmental impacts and those that are abandoned will, by default, become the responsibility of the municipalities in which they are located, adding to their growing financial burdens. 
7. With over 5500 dams in the DEC inventory of dams statewide, the regulations have the potential for significant social, economic, and environmental impacts.  Yet, the DEC contends they are not required to do an environmental impact statemen before implementing the regulations.  The irony of this perspective, within a department dedicated to environmental conservation, cannot be overstated.

CoDOFS is working with our state legislators to prevent the imminent impacts of the Dam Safe Rules:

We need to present our views to these legislators and our representatives to sponsor draft legislation which would:

1. Block implementation of the proposed DEC regulations until they are revised in a way that addresses the concerns above; and
2. Provide financial assistance to the owners of dams who want to do their part to comply with the regulatory requirements set forth in the new regulations.