Maine Fly Fish
There are four dams above Waterville that is owned by Brookfield Renewable Power, that are up for renewal. The four dams are:
Here are two resource about the dam removals:
The Kennebec was once the most productive river in Maine1, supporting vibrant Atlantic salmon runs in the hundreds of thousands2, and runs of shad and river herring in the many millions. Today, the future of the Kennebec River is at a critical point. Atlantic salmon are on the brink of extinction, and their survival depends on further restoration of the Kennebec more than any other river in the United States.
Four dams above Waterville, owned by the international energy giant Brookfield Renewable Power, stand in the way of a free and healthy Kennebec, blocking access to many miles of historic spawning habitat.
Federal and state agencies have identified these dams as the key impediment to restoring the Kennebec and have called for significant action: the removal of the Shawmut Dam and potentially others in order to save endangered Atlantic salmon and other sea-run fish.
And
State officials and conservationists want one or more of the Canadian-owned dams removed to let salmon reach the Sandy River.
While Maine and the world have been focused on the pandemic, a fight over the future of Maine’s second largest river system is raging inside the electronic docket of an obscure federal relicensing proceeding.
At stake in the drawn-out proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission relating to whether and under what terms to relicense a 106-year-old dam that stretches across the river between Benton and Fairfield are the fate of river-run fish in the Kennebec River watershed and quite possibly that of Atlantic salmon in the United States.
