By Nick McCrea, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story Two dams have received approval to boost their energy capacity and fill the gap left when three other Penobscot River dams are demolished or decommissioned over the next two to three years. The Department of Environmental Protection cleared Black Bear Hydro Partners LLC, the company Read More
Penobscot River
Historic River Reclamation Impacts All of New England
Dave Sartwell Gloucester Times news story The Penobscot River in Maine is on the verge of an historic reclamation. The Lower Penobscot River Restoration Project has cleared what at first seemed insurmountable opposition to removing dams and restoring the natural flow of the river. Although the implementation will take several years, all of the agreements Read More
Salmon’s Return Means Much to Tribe
By Tom Bell, State House Writer Maine Sunday Telegram news story INDIAN ISLAND – In 1835, when the new dam at Veazie was closed in the winter, blocking all fish passage, the Penobscot Indians protested that the dam would destroy the annual runs of salmon and other sea-run fish. Their complaints went unheeded, even when Read More
Alewives Spark Legal Debate
By Nick Bennett, NRCM Staff Scientist Maine Lobsterman’s Association newsletter August 2011 guest column More than two years ago, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association joined the Natural Resources Council of Maine, the Atlantic Salmon Federation, Maine Rivers and nearly 50 other conservation, sporting, and commercial fishing groups in petitioning the International Joint Commission (IJC) to reopen Read More
Landmark Purchase of Dams Opens New Chapter for Penobscot River Fisheries
Penobscot River Restoration Trust purchases three dams from PPL Corp. News release Old Town, ME: A new chapter begins for Maine’s Penobscot River with the Penobscot River Restoration Trust taking ownership of the Veazie, Great Works, and Howland Dams. This $24 million purchase from PPL is a monumental accomplishment for the historic Penobscot River Restoration Read More
Penobscot River Dam Removal, Fish Restoration Project Approved
by Kevin Miller Bangor Daily News news story AUGUSTA, Maine — State environmental regulators on Wednesday approved the final of three permits sought as part of a historic dam removal and fish habitat restoration project on the Penobscot River. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection signed off on the Penobscot River Restoration Trust’s proposal to Read More
Dam Removal Plan Progresses
Projects would reopen parts of Penobscot River to sea-run fish by Kevin Miller Bangor Daily News news story AUGUSTA, Maine — The historic plan to remove or bypass three large dams in the Penobscot River is inching closer to reality now that state and federal regulators have begun signing off on aspects of the river Read More
Freeing a River
In Maine, buying dams — and tearing them down — may save Atlantic salmon by Madeline Bodin Nature Conservancy Magazine story Summer 2010 In the chill of a late summer morning, Jan Paul leans over the gunwale of a small boat and submerges a plastic jar into Maine’s Penobscot River. In the stern, Dan Kusnierz Read More
10 Years, 430 Dams
New York Times editorial Ten years have gone by since a modest but important moment in American environmental history: the dismantling of the 917-foot-wide Edwards Dam on Maine’s Kennebec River. The Edwards Dam was the first privately owned hydroelectric dam torn down for environmental reasons (and against the owner’s wishes) by the Federal Energy Regulatory Read More
