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March 1, 2021
The lawsuit was filed on Friday against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
A Michigan-based law firm, Pitt McGhee Palmer Bonanni & Rivers, is representing Sanford residents Dan and Cathy Allen.
Lawyers accuse the FERC of failing to monitor Boyce Hydro and the dam’s operations. They say the dam has been listed as a “High Hazard” by the FERC since 1993 and dam owners ignored mandates for maintenance and upgrades.
Co-plaintiff Dan Allen said in a statement, “It’s hard to believe that this dam has been considered dangerous for 26 years, and other owners during that time were allowed to sell their interests without making any improvements. They just left the community to suffer since we couldn’t just sell our ‘interests’ and leave. We want to rebuild our lakes and our lives.”
Victims of the Michigan’s Edenville Dam catastrophe are suing the federal agency that oversees hydropower dams, alleging its regulators never should have granted Boyce Hydro a license to operate the dam.
In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, lawyers for Dan and Cathy Allen of Sanford argue the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission showed “gross incompetency and deliberate indifference” by negligently giving then-dam owner Boyce Hydro LLC permission to generate power without first making sure the company could safely operate the dam.
Had the agency scrutinized Boyce more closely, lawyers claim, it would have known Boyce lacked “the financial ability, competency or good faith motivation to make the dam safe or to protect the residents and property owners living downstream.”
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Officials push for $15M Edenville Dam fine, cite ‘blatant’ safety disregard
Updated Feb 04, 2021;
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WASHINGTON, DC Senior investigation and enforcement officials with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) are urging the agency to follow through with a proposed $15 million fine against the former owner of mid-Michigan dam that collapsed last spring and unleashed catastrophic flooding.
In a Feb. 3 filing, five top FERC officials, including LarryParkinson, Office of Enforcement director, argue that former dam owner Lee Mueller and his company, Boyce Hydro, deserve the huge fine and that complications caused by a bankruptcy case can be easily sidestepped.
“There is no excuse for Boyce Hydro’s lengthy disregard of its dam safety obligations and the safety of its dams’ neighbors,” they wrote, adding that arguments raised by Boyce attorneys against the fine in January are “either irrelevant to this proceeding or wholly without merit.”