The Southern Lakes community is planning to come up with its own solution to find more energy that doesn’t require raising the lake levels, says a community spokeswoman.

Deb Fulmer of the Southern Lakes Water Level Committee said this morning it’s abundantly obvious there is solid opposition to Yukon Energy’s proposal to increase the maximum storage level by another 30 centimetres.

Though the final tally of who’s opposed and who’s in support of the proposal won’t be official until the results of the survey are in, opposition has been the voice of the Southern Lakes region so far, she explained following last night’s public meeting.

Fulmer said the communities of the Southern Lakes – Marsh Lake, Tagish, Carcross – have already begun the process of finding the energy that the publicly owned corporation wants from raising the storage level.

Alternative generating options to supply the individual communities with their own source of energy to reduce demand on the grid are very real, and discussions to explore them have begun with the Yukon government, she said.

Fulmer said the Southern Lakes are already artificially high because of Yukon Energy’s storage requirements, and it’s clear most area residents don’t want to see them go any higher.

“We do firmly believe there are other ways to find this energy instead of increasing the level of the lakes,” she said.

Yukon Energy has proposed the increase so that it will have a larger volume of water at its disposal for the Whitehorse Rapids Dam during the winter months when the demand for electricity is highest.

Where once there was a surplus of hydro even in the winter, with growth in the Yukon, the surplus has dried up and Yukon Energy frequently uses diesel generation to service the load during periods of peak demand.

The Crown corporation has proposed a series of what it calls the most affordable options to increase hydro availability in the winter, including raising the storage level of the Southern Lakes, a proposal it has spent $5 million researching so far.

Yukon Energy president Andrew Hall, who is relatively new to the job, said this morning he was at last night’s meeting and did not see support for the proposal, but was also told by staff that those who’ve voiced favour in the past weren’t there.

Hall said the corporation will wait for the final report from the Southern Lakes Water Level Committee and the survey results to determine where to go from here.

It is, however, his intent to make a formal recommendation before the end of 2015 to Yukon Energy’s board of directors regarding whether they should continue pursuing the Southern Lakes initiative.

Hall noted Yukon Energy is committed to helping residents of the region that have experienced problems with high water in the past, and is prepared to take measures to prevent any negative impacts that may arise from raising the storage level another 30 cm.

Even with all those commitments for mitigation, the cost per kilowatt hour of electricity would still only be 10 to 12 cents per kilowatt hour, he said. (Diesel generated power is estimated at 30 cents per kilowatt hour, and the new natural gas plant will produce power for about 18 cents per kwh.)

Fulmer said residents of the Southern Lakes recognize the value of Yukon Energy’s promise to help with problems from the past and its commitment to prevent more problems in the future.

Even still, she said, the issue is bigger.

“What we are seeing is the community looking deeper than that,” Fulmer said. “They are looking at the First Nation land. CTFN (Carcross-Tagish First Nation) has a lot of land around these lakes, they are looking at that traditional territory, they are looking at heritage lands.

“The community in general is very concerned about what is going to happen on the land, what is going to happen to the shoreline, and what will be the impact on the animals.”

Fulmer said Yukon Energy has paid for the community’s request for their own experts to review the corporation’s technical research into hydrology, flooding, erosion, ground water, fish, wildlife, habitat and the implications of climate change.

The experts have explained the science and identified information gaps, and all that will form part of the committee’s report to Yukon Energy, along with the survey results, she said.

Fulmer said what the Southern Lakes community doesn’t know is what the natural high water mark once was. The first control structure was built in 1920 at the site of today’s control structure next to the Yukon River Bridge, she explained.

She said back then they’d raise the lake levels so that in the spring they could let it all loose, sending a flush of river water down to Lake Laberge, to hasten the break-up of lake ice and open the passage for riverboats.

Stumps of conifer trees up to 18 inches in diameter can be found today underwater in the M’Clintock River, she pointed out.

Fulmer said conifer trees don’t grow in water.