State Considering Big Buy

Details

Created on Wednesday, 04 May 2016 14:00

Written by Mike Raimondi

VERMONT- Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin has created a special "task force," whose members are assigned to research whether or not the state should purchase 13 hydroelectric dams along the Deerfield and Connecticut Rivers.

The group has met only a few times, as they try to come up with questions that they need to answer in order to decide on whether the purchase would be worth it for the state.

"Is it economically feasible, is it environmentally sustainable, and is it operationally reliable," group member Michael Dworkin said. "It's a multi-week, detailed process of hard, serious analysis, its not a quick do it on the fly."

The 13 dams are owned by TransCanada, who are looking to sell their hydroelectric dams, which produce power for the surrounding area. Although it may be a more eco-friendly method to create renewable energy instead of burning coal or gas, the process of generating the power could be improved.

"The goal is to reduce the ecological foot print of these dams as much as possible, while still providing for them to generate electricity, and obviously their owners have an appropriate or reasonable return on that," Executive Director of the Connecticut River Watershed Council Andrew Fisk said.

Fisk presented the environmental aspect of owning a dam to state lawmakers back in April. There are over 20,000 acres of land along the dams, showing that there is a lot of responsbility of an owner to the ecosystems around the dams.

"You have eroding river banks, and obviously that has an affect on people's property, but that erosion also degrades the banks, trees, and vegetation will collapse. We don't care who owns them, they just need to know their going to have significant obligations to operate in a 21st century way, not a 1960's or 1970's way."

Fish would also affected by the dams, especially during migratory season. Fisk added that dams may have avenues for fish to swim back up river to re-produce, but some are not strong enough to make it past the dams. Some also will get mixed in with the turbines if they are heading down stream.

The special group is lead by Secretary of Administration Justin Johnson, who is the chairman for the group. He says the state is considering all aspects of owning the dams and how having control of the dams may benefit everyone and everything involved.

"We would not be in it just simply for revenue from electric generation, we'd be looking at fish habitats, and erosion control on the river."

This isn't the first time the state has considering buying dams, as back in 2004 the state went through a similar process. After a few years of analysis, the state did not purchase the dams. The difference this time through, is the amount of time Vermont Lawmakers have to decide.

"TransCanada have indicated that they'd like to have a sale by the end of the year, so I'd say timing is a challenge for us," Johnson said.

According to Johnson, the purchase would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. However, the state would be in control of the power created, and the flow of water through the dams, which is something that interests the state.

The Comerford Dam in Barnet, Vermont and the McIndoe Falls Dam in Monroe, New Hampshire are two local dams that are part of the package. The Comerford Dam is one of the tallest in the state, standing at 170 feet high.

The group will continue to meet, and hopes to start answering questions in the upcoming weeks, which will hopefully lead to more concrete conclusions.