MAINE PUBLIC • July 6, 2021
Federal energy regulators say the Kennebec River's population of endangered Atlantic Salmon can be protected without removing four hydroelectric dams, and conservation groups are dismayed by the finding. The regulators say that the fish can be protected and brought back to a population of at least 2,000 even if the dam impoundments and turbine injure or kill as many as 4% of them. That's a lower bar than both conservationists and Maine's Department of Marine Resources have called for. "It's really bad. It's incredibly bad," says Nick Bennett, a staff scientist at the Natural Resources Council of Maine. He says the FERC assessment also fails to meet fish passage standards recommended by its sister agency, the National Maine Fisheries Service.