Deal Would Keep Dam, Build Fish Passage By Craig Crosby, Staff Writer Kennebec Journal news story WINSLOW — A Boston company is primed to purchase Fort Halifax Dam with the intention of saving it from destruction. Essex Hydro Associates has reached a deal in principle to purchase the dam from FPL Energy, said Barry Flynn, vice Read More
dam removal
White House Requests $10 Million from Congress to Restore the Penobscot River
Press Release from the Penobscot River Restoration Trust The Bush Administration today announced that it is requesting $10 million from Congress to restore the once-abundant sea-run fisheries of the Penobscot River in Maine, the second largest river in the Northeast. The announcement includes details of the FY2008 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) budget providing Read More
200 Years of Troubled Waters for Atlantic Salmon
By Kevin Miller, staff writer Bangor Daily News news story Atlantic salmon did not disappear from New England rivers overnight. Rather, North American populations of this resilient fish beloved by anglers for its fight and by food aficionados for its flavor has suffered what some describe as “death by a thousand cuts” over the past Read More
Fort Halifax Dam: SOS Can’t Stop the Unstoppable
Kennebec Journal editorial Things changed after the 1970s, when passage of the Clean Water Act resulted in the cleanup of pollution that flowed into the rivers. And over the last 20 years, a series of legally-binding agreements were entered into by state and federal regulators, citizens and owners of several dams along the Kennebec and Read More
Removal of Dam Ready to Begin
By Larry Grard, Staff Writer Kennebec Journal news story NORRIDGEWOCK — Breaching of the Sandy River Dam, a project designed to restore salmon and other sea-run fish from the Kennebec, is scheduled to begin this morning. Contractors will begin the removal of the dam located between Norridgewock and Starks on the Sandy River. The dam Read More
Sturgeon Returning to Penobscot
Comeback good news for endangered fish Bangor Daily News news story Researchers at the University of Maine have discovered the first population of endangered shortnose sturgeon in the Penobscot River in nearly 30 years, offering scientists hope that habitat conditions in the river are improving. During the past week, a research team has pulled 23 Read More
Largest Fish Recovery Project in the East Gets Powered Up
Portland Press Herald editorial One of the largest and most innovative river-restoration projects in American history took a significant step forward last week by, oddly enough, increasing power generation at a dam on the Penobscot River. Dams on this, New England’s second-largest river system, were in large part responsible for decimating the astounding runs of Read More
Penobscot Power
Bangor Daily News editorial A project former Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton called “perhaps the most significant step to restore the Atlantic salmon in the past century,” aims to restore fish habitat in New England’s second largest watershed without significantly reducing hydro-electric power generation. With the president and other leaders pushing for more renewable Read More
Three Dams to Get Power Upgrades Along Penobscot
Bangor Daily News news story A Pennsylvania power company plans to increase generation soon at three dams on the Penobscot River as part of a two-year-old deal to help restore historic runs of Atlantic salmon and other fish in the famed waterway, officials said Tuesday. In June 2004, PPL Corp. signed an unprecedented agreement with Read More