Local officials to call for lower water levels as storm approaches

PHOTOGRAPHER: Edward Munger Jr.

Federal, state and local representatives are calling a press conference for 1 p.m. in Schoharie to announce demands being made to lower water levels in anticipation of fallout from Hurricane Sandy.

The conference will take place in front of the Schoharie County Courthouse on Main Street, one of hundreds of buildings undergoing flood restoration work following last year’s disaster wrought by Tropical Storm Irene.

Officials from the offices of Congressmen Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam and Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, state Assemblyman Pete Lopez, R-Schoharie and local leaders intend to detail calls for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection to release water from the Schoharie Reservoir, according to a release from Lopez.

Held back by the Gilboa Dam that’s undergoing a multi-million dollar reconstruction project, the reservoir holds approximately 17.6 billion gallons of water.

The group will also detail calls for the New York Power Authority to release water from the Blenheim-Gilboa pumped storage power project which holds two reservoirs each with roughly 5 billion gallons of water.

Hurricane Sandy is rolling its way northward after claiming several lives in the Caribbean on Thursday. Forecasters fear the storm could hit the East Coast, bringing both a nor’easter and tropical storm-force winds and severe rainfall to the region by next week.