More than two dozen people asked federal regulators Wednesday to seriously consider removing four dams on the Kennebec River.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission sent staffers to Augusta to hear from the public about a draft proposal to relicense the Shawmut Dam between Benton and Fairfield.
And while the hearing was specific to the Shawmut proposal, those who spoke widened their comments to include three other dams: Lockwood, Hydro-Kennebec and Weston.
All four are on the Kennebec between Waterville and Skowhegan, with those in favor of removal arguing that previous efforts to create fish ladders and other mechanisms to allow fish to get to spawning grounds have failed.
“There is only one tried and true method for restoring the enormous fishery that the Kennebec could support and that is to remove the four dams,” said Brownie Carson, former executive director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine.
Brookfield Renewable, which owns the dams, said in a statement last week that it has put forward a proposal to relicense the Shawmut Dam that seeks to balance economic and environmental interests.
The proposal contains “pro-species measures” to help the fish, according to the company.
“This proposal, 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,” according to the statement from David Heidrich, a company spokesman.
The company sent representatives to the hearing at the Augusta Civic Center, but they did not speak. About 80 people attended the hearing, which followed a similar hearing in Waterville on Tuesday.
Over two hours in Augusta, 27 dam opponents urged FERC to remove the dams or at least require Brookfield to take more aggressive measures to help the fish get upstream.
They described engendered Atlantic salmon as being “on life support” and likened the current fish ladders to walking through an automated car wash.
From Trout Unlimited to NRCM to Maine Audubon, they emphasized how hard it is for fish to get up the Kennebec to the Sandy River, which offers “some of the best Atlantic salmon habitat in the state,” said Francesca Gundrum, director of advocacy for Maine Audubon.
She described efforts by the Maine Department of Marine Resources to trap salmon and transport them by truck around the dams to get them to their natural spawning areas.
And she said if FERC won’t consider dam removal, she requests that performance standards be set with specific deadlines; the building of at least two upstream fish lifts at each dam and new screens to keep fish out of turbines.
“These four dams represent only 6% of Maine’s overall hydroelectric capacity and are increasingly unnecessary as the state accelerates the transition to solar and wind energy to combat climate change,” she said.
Only one person who spoke at Wednesday’s hearing said the dams should stay in place. Identified as “G. Hoffman,” he said those working to have the dams removed are doing so because they want to drive Brookfield out of business.
“We need hydroelectric,” he said.
Another supporter of the dams is the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce, which commissioned a study in 2022 that found that the four dams support two paper mills, provide 1,284 jobs with nearly $159 million in employee earnings.
Yet those who spoke Wednesday said solar panels, land-based wind and the proposed offshore wind array are the clean energy alternatives of the future.
“In this age of abundant renewable solar and wind energy, we don’t need these four old outdated environmentally harmful dams,” said Bill Wallace of Minot.
Brad Hager of Mercer said a paddling trip down the Kennebec from Sidney to Augusta following the removal of the Edwards Dam in 1999 featured sturgeon jumping and the return of other wildlife.
“We’re very hopeful that the Kennebec above Waterville can also be similarly restored and we think this hope is realistic based on our experience,” he said.
All written comments on the project are due to FERC by June 4, with a decision expected in September.
