Utilities and independent power companies with hydroelectric assets sometimes view environmental groups as being unalterably opposed to hydro dams and in favor of removing them.
But the co-author of a new study by The Nature Conservancy and the Northeast Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies said that many dams in the Virginia-to-Maine region play important roles in flood control, water supply and energy production and should remain in place–and in some cases could be expanded to generate more power.
Colin Apse, senior freshwater conservation adviser at The Nature Conservancy and co-author of “Northeast Aquatic Connectivity: An Assessment of Dams on Northeastern Rivers,” said that, with limited funds for dam removal available, federal and state agencies, environmental groups and others should focus their efforts on dams whose removal would provide the most significant ecological benefit.
Apse said that the newly developed Northeast Aquatic Connectivity Tool (NACT) described in the study could help identify those dams, though he acknowledged that additional information on other criteria–including dams’ structural integrity, and the amount of energy hydro dams generate–would need to be added by others to provide a complete picture.
The ecological data included in NACT “is one piece of the puzzle for communities to use as they decide whether to remove or adapt dams,” Apse said. “It isn’t about removing every dam. It’s about removing the right dams, and using limited funds for the greatest benefit.”
The newly released study found that Maine has the largest number of dams whose removal would provide the greatest potential benefits for migratory fish species. Virginia, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Delaware also had significant number of such dams, particularly when river length is considered, and all 13 states in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions considered in the study have one or more dams that rank high for the potential benefits of fish passage restoration, as do each of the major river basins in the Northeast.
Apse, who is based in Brunswick, Maine, said that his hope is that agencies, NGOs and others will work with hydro dam owners to use NACT to help develop river basin-wide plans to ethically balance energy production with ecological and community needs.
He pointed to the ongoing Penobscot River Restoration Project as a model. The project, which involves Maine’s largest river basin, is the result of years of study and negotiation among the Penobscot Indian Nation, the Nature Conservancy and other environmental groups, and the owner of several hydro dams in the basin.
The Penobscot River Restoration Trust, which includes the Penobscot tribe and the environmental groups, purchased three of the dams in 2010 and plans to remove two of them and install a fish bypass on the third. Meanwhile, Black Bear Hydro–a subsidiary of ArcLight Capital and owner of five dams farther upstream–was permitted to expand the capacity of several of its remaining hydro facilities in the river basin, resulting in a small net increase in basin-wide energy production.
The agreement, which will result in about 1,000 miles of restored fish habitat, “really is a great example of collaboration” between environmental groups and the owner of hydro dams, said Apse. “It’s a model outcome” that, if duplicated in other river basin, could dramatically improve fish habitat while maintaining–or even increasing–hydro generation.
–Housley Carr