MAINE PUBLIC • April 18, 2024
Staff at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) are recommending the relicensing of four dams along the Kennebec River that have been at the center of a fight over the restoration of endangered salmon and other species. Commission staff recommended relicensing as part of a plan that would include proposals from Brookfield, including turbine shutdowns and construction of new fish lifts, as well as other conditions from staff and federal and state agencies. But Nick Bennett, a staff scientist with the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM), said the proposed measures are inadequate and haven't worked on other rivers, including the Merrimack and Connecticut Rivers.