New York state will sue the international organization responsible for managing Lake Ontario's water levels after two years of massive flooding on the coast left thousands of residents with property damage.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday afternoon that he was directing the state Department of Environmental Conservation to file the suit against the International Joint Commission.

"The facts of the matter are plain: The IJC's function is to manage the Lake Ontario water levels, and they failed—period," Cuomo said. "They have been wholly unresponsive and have taken no action to make the situation better."

The state plans to allege in the lawsuit that the IJC was negligent when it didn't take steps to curb flooding on the shoreline in 2017 and 2019 and that it caused a nuisance when the flooding encroached on state land.

Aside from the millions of dollars in damage caused to property owners along the shoreline, the state has apparently suffered $4 million itself from the flooding, according to Cuomo's office. That damage hasn't been repaired yet.

The legal challenge is also planning to argue that the flooding from Lake Ontario constituted an invasion of property and that the IJC failed to prevent it by increasing outflows from the lake.

When the flooding first happened two years ago, the state set aside $117 million to help communities along the Lake Ontario shoreline rebuild. Water levels on the lake that year broke previous records and resulted in millions of dollars of damage.

Cuomo said the lawsuit will seek to have the IJC pay for the damage caused by the flooding, rather than the state.

"We will not shoulder the burden of the destruction that is a direct result of the IJC's gross mismanagement of Lake Ontario water levels, and the IJC needs to compensate New York for the severe damage to the homes and businesses along the shoreline," Cuomo said. "That's what this lawsuit is all about."

A spokesman from the IJC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The complaint is being finalized by attorneys for New York and is expected to be filed in the near future. Cuomo's office didn't say whether the challenge will be filed in federal or state court.

The lawsuit will be brought by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, according to Cuomo's office. DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos pointed to the alleged negligence of the IJC in a statement Wednesday.

"Time and time again, Governor Cuomo has called on the IJC to put the safety and integrity of New York's shoreline communities ahead of shipping interests," Seggos said. "And repeatedly, the IJC failed to act."

It's not the first time the state has tried to put pressure on the IJC to address flooding on Lake Ontario. In a letter to the organization in June, Cuomo asked the IJC to change its water management protocols to prevent, or at least mitigate, the level of flooding seen in recent years.

Cuomo's letter also asked the IJC to reimburse the state for the investment it's made in rebuilding communities across Lake Ontario's shoreline, and provide other funds to protect against future flooding.

The IJC, according to Cuomo's office, hasn't responded to any of those demands, and recently reduced the outflow from Lake Ontario.

Some have blamed something called Plan 2014, which was a new water level management plan developed by the IJC and took effect in 2017. The IJC has stood by Plan 2014.

The binational organization, which is shared between Canada and the U.S., has said in recent years that the flooding wasn't its fault. Instead, the IJC said, it was due to a record amount of rain in the region, which raised lake levels both in 2017 and earlier this year.

That excuse may not necessarily change the state's legal strategy. According to Cuomo's office, their argument centers around a failure by the IJC to address flooding on Lake Ontario, both before and after water levels began to rise.

The state anticipates that it will have spent $45 million to respond to flooding this year and help repair any damage caused.

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