Federal regulators are recommending that four Kennebec River dams receive new licenses, with some additional requirements to enhance endangered fish passage that go beyond what the dams’ operator had proposed.

Vehicles approach the Margaret Chase Smith Bridge at the Weston Dam on the Kennebec River Monday in Skowhegan. Federal regulators are recommending that four Kennebec River dams, including Weston Dam, receive new licenses, with some additional requirements to enhance endangered fish passage that go beyond what the dam’s operator had proposed. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

In a final environmental impact statement released at the end of February, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff outlined its recommendation for relicensing the Shawmut Hydroelectric Project near Fairfield and amending licenses of the Lockwood Hydroelectric Project in Waterville, the Hydro-Kennebec Hydroelectric Project in Waterville and the Weston Hydroelectric Project in Skowhegan.

The four dams are operated by subsidiaries of Brookfield Renewable, itself a subsidiary of a massive global investment firm based in Toronto.

The future of the four dams has been the subject of debate in Maine since Brookfield began the relicensing process for the Shawmut dam in 2020. Business advocates and some politicians have underscored their importance to the local economy, including to the Sappi paper mill in Skowhegan. Environmental advocates, meanwhile, say they threaten endangered fish populations in the Kennebec River and have been advocating for their removal.

The staff recommendation is not final but will play a key role in the commission’s decision on the licenses.

FERC is currently waiting for a water quality certification for the Shawmut dam from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, which is required under federal regulations to make a decision on Brookfield’s application by Oct. 20.

A FERC spokesperson, Celeste M. Miller, said in an email recently that she could not speculate about when the commission will act on Brookfield’s application.

Brookfield is seeking a new license to operate the 8.65-megawatt Shawmut dam, for which it applied in January 2020. In June 2021, the company also requested amendments to its current license through an interim species protection plan for Atlantic salmon until FERC makes a decision on the relicensing.

Also in June 2021, Brookfield submitted a final species protection plan for the 6.915-megawatt Lockwood dam, the 15.433-megawatt Hydro-Kennebec dam and the 15.98-megawatt Weston dam for Atlantic salmon, Atlantic sturgeon and shortnose sturgeon.

Candace Dotolo of Skowhegan crosses the Margaret Chase Smith Bridge near Weston Dam on the Kennebec River Monday in Skowhegan. Brookfield Renewable is shown next to the dam. Federal regulators are recommending that four Kennebec River dams, including Weston Dam, receive new licenses, with some additional requirements to enhance endangered fish passage that go beyond what the dam’s operator had proposed. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Other species of concern for FERC include alewife, blueback herring, American shad, American eel and sea lamprey.

Brookfield’s proposal for new upstream fish passage facilities included a volitional fishway and an access road for maintenance of it at the Lockwood dam, as well as fish lifts at the Weston and Shawmut dams.

Brookfield’s proposed modifications to downstream fish passage facilities included resurfacing spillways at all four dams, installing trash rack overlays to protect adult salmon from turbine entrapment at all powerhouses and installing two new guidance booms at the Shawmut dam.

Brookfield also proposed a set of operating procedures and monitoring measures to ensure fish passage at certain levels.

FERC’s staff recommendation largely follows Brookfield’s proposal but adds other measures, such as extending hours and dates of operations of certain fish passage infrastructure.

FERC staff developed the final environmental impact statement after considering feedback from various sources, including public input sessions held in Waterville and Augusta in May 2024 that followed the release of a draft of the document two months prior.

A Brookfield spokesperson said in a statement that the company appreciates FERC’s “diligent work.”

“We look forward to completing our review of the final document and turning our attention to the water quality certification process overseen by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection,” the statement said. “The relicensing of the Shawmut Dam, like all of our relicensing proposals, is the product of many years of study and consultation with federal and state resource agencies, as well as the public, and is intended to carefully balance public, economic, energy, and natural resource interests.”

The Kennebec Coalition, made up of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, Maine Rivers, Natural Resources Council of Maine, Trout Unlimited and Trout Unlimited’s Kennebec Valley Chapter, criticized FERC’s recommendations.

The coalition, along with the Penobscot Nation, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and the Conservation Law Foundation, said in a joint statement that the document “ignores the best available science and could doom endangered Atlantic salmon to extinction while harming recovery of other sea-run fish.”

Similar engineered fish passage has not worked on other rivers with several dams in a row, the coalition said. Rivers in the Northeast where proposals have failed include the Connecticut, Merrimack and Androscoggin, according to the group.

Weston Dam is shown on the Kennebec River near Brookfield Renewable Monday in Skowhegan. Vehicles cross the Margaret Chase Smith Bridge at the top. Federal regulators are recommending that four Kennebec River dams, including Weston Dam, receive new licenses, with some additional requirements to enhance endangered fish passage that go beyond what the dam’s operator had proposed. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

“Dooming the Kennebec to the same fate as other rivers where sea-run fish have disappeared would have catastrophic consequences for our outdoor recreation and commercial fishing industries,” the statement said. “We will continue doing everything we can to bring Mainers together to craft a collaborative solution that protects endangered Atlantic salmon, restores millions of sea-run fish, promotes economic development, and protects industry located along the river.”

The environmental groups in the coalition, however, did celebrate a small victory last year when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled against Brookfield in its objection to Maine DEP’s denial of a water quality certification. The certification is a key requirement for Brookfield that remains pending.

While the federal government, though FERC, issues licenses, the Clean Water Act gives states the opportunity to approve or deny certification for a project.

Brookfield first applied for the necessary certification in August 2020, and Maine DEP issued a draft rejection in August 2021. Brookfield withdrew its application and re-applied in October 2021.

In September 2022, a month before Maine DEP’s deadline to act on the application, Brookfield revised it significantly. The next month, Maine DEP issued a final denial without prejudice, meaning it was not based on judgment of the application and allowed Brookfield to re-apply.

Brookfield argued to FERC, and then the appeals court, that the denial constituted a waiver of Maine’s certification authority because the state failed to comply with certain regulatory requirements. FERC ruled, and then the court upheld, that Maine did not waive its authority.

Maine DEP’s draft rejection of Brookfield’s initial application in 2021 had caused some political uproar because of the implications to the Sappi Somerset Mill in Skowhegan.

The mill, which employs about 750 people, relies on the Shawmut impoundment for its water intake and wastewater discharge systems. The dam’s removal would make water levels too low for the mill to use, company officials have said.

Amid the uncertainty, Gov. Janet Mills said, in an open letter to Sappi employees, she would not allow the Sappi mill to close and urged all parties to find a solution.

The Waterville-based Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce commissioned a study in 2022 that found the dams contributed directly to 1,284 jobs with associated employee earnings of almost $158.5 million. The dams also were generating millions each year in property and sales taxes, the study found.

Skowhegan Town Manager Dawn DiBlasi said in remarks to the town’s select board last year that the dams are crucial to central Maine’s economy. They contribute to jobs at Brookfield and Sappi; increase property value of some homes that sit next to the water, rather than mud flats; allow for the development of the town’s proposed River Park; and produce clean energy that keeps electricity rates down, she said.

DiBlasi said she was discouraged after sitting in on a meeting last summer during which she said FERC officials appeared unwilling to work with Brookfield. Now, with FERC’s recommendation to move forward with the licensing, DiBlasi said she is more optimistic about the dams’ future.

“We need these dams to stay,” DiBlasi said Monday. “A lot of the economy depends on it.”

As the licensure process continues, one rumor circulating in recent months has been that The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental nonprofit, was in talks with Brookfield to buy the dams and would work with Sappi to address its water needs.

The Bangor Daily News reported the possible transaction in October. That newspaper’s report was based on information shared by state Sen. Brad Farrin, R-Norridgewock, and did not confirm what Farrin said he had heard with any representatives of Brookfield or The Nature Conservancy.

A Brunswick-based spokesperson for The Nature Conservancy said in an email Monday that the organization had nothing to share on the topic. A Lewiston-based Brookfield spokesperson did not answer a question about whether the company was discussing selling the dams.