NEWFANE, N.Y. -- For roughly a month, the Lake Ontario shoreline has been hammered by rapidly rising water levels. It showed no signs of letting up Thursday in Niagara County.
"Up until the last couple days, we'd still been rising and now today with a mild northeast wind, it's pushing the lake up into our end and pushing it up even higher," Newfane Town Supervisor Timothy Horanburg (R) said.
Local leaders, like Horanburg, attribute the erosion and flood damage to Plan 2014, an agreement between the U.S. and Canada to manage the levels of Lake Ontario of the St. Lawrence River.
"I don't know what we do. We're at the mercy of what the IJC did. We can't find a way out of this," Horanburg said.
Now they're exploring a different route: a lawsuit.
The Newfane Town Board passed a resolution Wednesday asking the Niagara County Legislature to pursue litigation against the International Joint Committee to repeal Plan 2014.
"I'm not a lawyer, but there's got to be a way to stop this," Horanburg said. "If the governor and the federal people can't stop this, we're out of luck."
Town leaders believe the county, as a larger entity, is better positioned to sue the IJC and may be able to form a coalition with other counties along Lake Ontario that are considering similar options.
"It has strong merits, trying to build consensus not just within the town of Newfane but the entire county of Niagara. Look to, perhaps, the county of Orleans, Monroe, just build a huge base," Niagara County Legislator John Syracuse (R-Newfane) said.
Syracuse plans to personally bring the resolution to the county attorney and the legislature's chairman.
"I'm sure, at a minimum, it's going to be an uphill battle and the frustrating part is here we have a government entity perhaps engaging in a lawsuit against another government agency and it's really sad," he said.
Horanburg and Syracuse admitted litigation is a bit of last gasp and still believe a solution is more likely with assistance from their federal representatives.
"Put everything down," Syracuse said of his federal counterparts. "Stop attacking each other and look at us. Save this Southern Shore of Lake Ontario."
They said while much of the damage is already done this year, communities could face an even worse situation in 2018 if the IJC doesn't make a change.