Just three weeks
before the dam failure, both the state and Boyce Hydro had entered litigation
regarding the energy company’s alleged failure to protect endangered mussel populations within Wixom Lake. The Democrats were claiming that the dam company killed those precious mussels by lowering the water level too much!
Jan. 21, 2020
• Assistant
Attorney General Nathan Gambill wrote to Boyce lawyer Lawrence Kogan to give
him the “courtesy of a heads up” regarding upcoming litigation over the
company’s drawdown of Wixom Lake, launching weeks of negotiation in which the
state argued the damages to local mussels amounted to roughly $300 million.
April 2020
• Under pressure
from residents of Wixom Lake, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy [EGLE] and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Boyce began to raise the level of
the Wixom Lake, with the normal pond level to be reached during the first week
of May. Before Boyce did so, EGLE issued it a permit to raise the lake level,
despite Boyce claiming the EGLE Dam Safety division was “well aware” of the
Edenville Dam’s inability to meet even 50% of the "probable maximum
flood" standard.
April 29, 2020
• Boyce Hydro
filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan
against EGLE the MDNR and high-level officials in those agencies for
"multiple violations arising out of their regulation and oversight of the
Edenville Dam."
April 30, 2020
• Michigan
Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a lawsuit against 10 defendants, including
Boyce Hydro and owner Lee Mueller, claiming Boyce lowered the level of Wixom
Lakes during extended drawdown periods in 2018 and 2019, resulting in the death
of "thousands if not millions" of federally-endangered freshwater
mussels. Among the species mentioned by the state is the Snuffbox Mussel, which
is on both the state and federal endangered species list.
May 19, 2020
• After three
days and a total of 8 inches of rainfall, waters overtook the Edenville Dam,
eventually breaching the easternmost portion structure's embankment wall,
resulting in the worst flooding event in mid-Michigan history, with nearly
11,000 people in Midland County needing to be evacuated.