McNamara: Can’t give out information on French Landing Dam

At the beginning of the June 2 virtual Zoom meeting of the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees, Supervisor Kevin McNamara said people have been asking a lot of questions about the safety of the French Landing Dam in Van Buren Township in the wake of the dam collapses near Midland and the draining of Wixom Lake.
He said because it produces electrical power, the French Landing Dam is regulated by a federal department, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and is “non-FOIA-ble,” which means people cannot get information through the Freedom of Information Act.
“If I had reports, I can’t give out information – positive or negative,” Supervisor McNamara said. “It is crucial … critical infrastructure.”
He said, in the spirit of transparency, he is tasking the township’s Environmental Commission to do research and come up with ways to get information on the dam. Eagle Creek, which operates the dam owned by the township, may be asked to come in and give a presentation, he said.
He said information needs to be gathered without breaking the rules in the book.
“There’s nothing more important than the safety of the dam and the existence of that lake,” McNamara said of Belleville Lake.
Trustee Sherry Frazier said it is detrimental to not have transparency on the dam, “to allay our residents’ concerns.”
She said not only those who live near the lake, but the whole township needs to know.