News stories tagged with "st-lawrence-river"

(03/08/12) U.S. Representative Bill Owens says environmentalists shouldn't be concerned about his stand on a new water level plan for Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.

The International Joint Commission started controlling high and low water levels in the 1950s. While that's kept a stable water level, the agency now says it's bad for the environment. The new plan allows water levels to reach higher highs and lower lows.

The IJC has yet to release all the plan details. Congressman Owens recently wrote to the agency, urging closer attention to shoreline property damage along Lake Ontario. He says that damage could exceed $3 million annually. more

(02/27/12) On Friday, we reported that New York state is pushing Federal officials to toughen proposed new standards for ballast water pollution on freighters using the St. Lawrence Seaway.

In that report, we mistakenly reported that the Cuomo administration is still planning to implement its own set of ballast water regulations, scheduled to go into effect next year.

But officials in Albany say they've decided to scrap the state rules, a move that's drawing mixed reviews from industry groups and environmentalists. Brian Mann has our update.

(02/21/12) When spring comes, water levels rise. The spring thaw naturally fills-up lakes and rivers. But you might not know it by looking at Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. For fifty years regulators have been tempering extreme high and low water levels. And shoreline property owners, shippers, and dam operators like it that way. They don't like big fluctuations.

But now a new proposal by the International Joint Commission recommends a more natural approach. Julie Grant reports. more

(08/24/11) A new book offers a slightly different view of life in the Thousand Islands region of the St. Lawrence River. What started as a hobby collecting old photographs for Tom French has grown into a fascination with historic stereographs--antique 3-D photographs--and a passion for preserving Thousand Islands history. French was raised on Thousand Island Park. He teaches English in Massena and splits his time between the St. Lawrence River and his home in Potsdam.

The amateur historian has compiled and edited a book of old stereographs of the region. River Views: A History of the Thousand Islands in 3-D, includes more than 100 sepia-toned stereograph cards that illustrate the history of the Thousand Islands. But he told Todd Moe that it was also the stories behind the old photos that intrigued him.

(08/23/11) For the first time, a top official with the US Environmental Protection Agency has publicly embraced New York's tough new ballast water rules. Those regulations, scheduled to go into effect next year, are designed to stop invasions of non-native animals and plants, like zebra mussels and the spiny water flea.

Industry groups, members of congress and some Federal officials are pushing back hard, arguing that the regulations set standards that can't be met by existing technology. The want New York's rules scrapped. And they're lobbying the EPA to create national ballast water guidelines that are far less strict.

But as Brian Mann reports, the top EPA administrator in New York says new regulations should push the shipping industry to do more to help stop invasives. more

(08/19/11) It's been a year of uncertainty for boaters along the St. Lawrence River. The U.S.-Canada border snakes down the St. Lawrence through the Thousand Islands past Massena, NY. When Canadian border agents seized an American fishing boat earlier this season, they upset a long held understanding of U.S. boaters. Roy Anderson hadn't docked or anchored. He had simply drifted across the international border.

Canadian border agents said Anderson hadn't checked in at a port of entry. They forced him to pay $1000 or have his boat seized. American boaters were shocked. They didn't know they needed to check in with Canada when drifting.

Anderson has since gotten most of his money back from the Canadian government. And politicians on both sides of the border are trying to provide some clarity about what is and isn't OK. Charter boat captains hope something can be done. They say the dispute is bad for business. Julie Grant went to Clayton to see firsthand the challenges of boating the border. more

(08/19/11) Bruce Horne is captain and owner of Horne's Ferry. His family has carried passengers from Cape Vincent, New York across the St. Lawrence River to Wolfe Island, Canda since 1802. Bruce has made hundreds of trips across the St. Lawrence. He told Sarah Harris about a particularly memorable one in today's Heard Up North.

(08/09/11) Billy Bishop Goes to War is running in the Firehall at the 1000 Islands Playhouse in Gananoque through September 3. Resident theatre critic Connie Meng was at the opening night and has our review. more

(08/08/11) Twelfth Night is running in rep with All's Well that Ends Well at the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival through August 13. Resident theatre critic Connie Meng was at a recent performance and has this review. more

(08/02/11) Crane School of Music professor of piano Paul Wyse has mastered two art forms. He's a classically trained concert pianist and also paints portraits. Two of Wyse's recent portraits of pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher have become part of the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian.

He's performed at the piano on the concert stage around the world, and his oil portraits hang in public and private collections and appear in national publications.

So, how does a classically trained concert pianist become an award winning visual artist? "It's hard to explain," says Wyse. But he adds that it's not uncommon for musicians who study the structure of a symphony to use those same skills in the visual arts.

During a visit to his portrait studio in his home near Prescott, Ontario, he told Todd Moe that the mystery of transforming cloth and pigment into something that is looking back at you is powerful, alluring, and part of the compulsion to paint.