Local Groups Fighting to Protect Hildebrand and Opekiska Locks and Dam System

WBOY TV
27 July 2012
By Stacy Moniot, Anchor/Reporter

Local groups are fighting to protect the upper Monongahela River from being shut down to traffic by the US army corps of engineers.

The USACE plans to close the Hildebrand and Opekiska Locks and Dam systems and cut back on service in Morgantown.

Now, local groups are stepping in to show how much they need the waters to remain open to the public.

"The corps is looking for approximately 500 lockages on each of the locks and that is essentially a cutoff for them and what we are now encouraging and we're working with the bass federation and the bass nation and other groups to increase the number of lockages so we can at least come close to that number," said Barry Pallay of the Upper Monongahela River Association.

There's also an online petition to keep the lock and dams open.

URL for online petition:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/465/902/530/keep-the-hildebrand-and-opoekiska-locks-and-dams-open/?cid=FB_Share