Opinion: America’s dam busting is a sign of economic strength, not decline

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 11, 2026

The last 30 years in the United States has been a story not of dam building but removal, with New England leading the way. The 1999 removal of the Edwards Dam on Maine’s Kennebec River, ordered by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, established a landmark precedent that free-flowing rivers should be prioritized. But we’re not rebuilding our decrepit dams after we tear them down, either. And that is because the law began to change in the 1970s owing not just to environmental concerns, but also to the recognition that an undammed river has substantial economic value whether through increased recreation or development. On rivers where big dams have come down, fish have returned at a scale beyond the most optimistic predictions. American strength lies in our ability to change our minds. Our crumbling dams do not signal decline. Instead, our strength as a nation is a dynamism rooted in the law, and in the rivers that sustain us. ~ Scot McFarlane