MORNING SENTINEL • March 12, 2021
The Department of Marine Resources is recommending that eventually all the dams on the Kennebec River between Waterville and Madison be removed to allow Atlantic salmon to reach the Sandy River, which was part of their historic spawning grounds. I disagree with removal of the dams. Brookfield LLC has spent millions of dollars upgrading the generating facilities at these dams and they continue to provide clean hydropower to thousands of homes throughout central Maine. Brookfield has submitted plans to build state-of-the-art fish passage facilities at all their dams, costing millions of dollars. I strongly urge the DMR to work with Brookfield to come up with a fish passage plan as part of their river management plan rather than simply believing that dam removal is the only solution. ~ Catherine M. Nadeau, Winslow