FORT HALIFAX DAM NEEDS BUSTING.
Mr. Clinton B. Townsend of Canaan, Maine.
Number One Friend of the Kennebec River.
September 2, 2003
Honorable Pat Wood, Chairman
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20426
Re: P-2552, Fort Halifax Surrender Application.
Comments on FERC's Order of July 28, 2003
Dear Commissioner Wood:
These are my comments on the improvidently issued Order by FERC further
delaying the decommissioning and removal of the Fort Halifax Dam.
Please refer to my comments previously submitted in connection with the
Scoping process and the Draft Environmental Assessment.
I live in the town of Canaan, Maine, about 20 miles from the location of
the dam. I have hunted waterfowl and fished on the impoundment and the vicinity
both upstream and downstream of the Fort Halifax Dam on many occasions over
the past 30 years. I paddled the entire length of the five and one-half
mile impoundment in a canoe as recently as 2001, into a head wind at that.
I have spent literally hundreds of hours fishing in the approximately one-quarter
mile stretch of the Sebasticook River downstream from the dam to its confluence
with the Kennebec River, as well as the Kennebec River itself, since the
removal of the Edwards Dam in 1999.
In short, I am thoroughly familiar with the location of the dam and with
its environs. There is no question in my mind that the dam should be removed.
Item: I myself have caught (and released) American shad in the Kennebec
River from deep holding pools in the vicinity of the dam. From my own observations
and from discussion with other anglers, it is my opinion that there are
significant numbers of spawning shad at the confluence of the two rivers.
The Sebasticook River below Fort Halifax Dam is shallow and without deep
pools.
During daylight hours the shad are primarily in the Kennebec where they
have the benefit of deep water pools as a refuge and a haven from predators
such as ospreys, cormorants, gulls and other fish-eating birds. They are
hard to locate in that big water. But they are there. In the evenings their
spawning ritual displays are spectacular
Item: The water quality in the impoundment formed by the dam is abysmal.
Your record is filled with information showing that the impoundment fails
to meet water quality standards for long periods of time. I'll leave it
to your staff to collect that information from your own record and furnish
you with it.
My own comment is that on the late summer day in 2001 when I paddled the
length of the impoundment, the acres of green algae at the surface were
disgusting, to put it mildly. Why Kenneth Fletcher and the other supporters
of keeping the dam want to retain that open cesspool in front of their homes
completely defies rational explanation.
Item: Which leads me to my next point. Mr. Fletcher and his sycophants
have repeatedly referred to me and the literally hundreds of others who
support removal of the dam and restoration of native species of anadromous
fish to the entire Sebasticook River eco-system as "special interests."
In fact, it is he and his cronies with their narrow tunnel vision of preserving
their supposedly desirable property values by keeping the dam in place who
are the special interests. Their NIMBYism is appalling. Restoration of native
species of anadromous fish to the entire Sebasticook River watershed is
a long term project of the State of Maine. The State and its agencies support
removal of the dam. Other communities in the watershed have actively taken
measures to prepare for the reintroduction of free-swimming alewives and
other anadromous species to the lakes above the Fort Halifax Dam. Notably,
the Town of Newport has removed one dam and installed modern state-of-the-art
fish passage in another dam at the outlet of Sebasticook Lake, in anticipation
of the large numbers of alewives which will ascend the Sebasticook River
once the Fort Halifax bottleneck is removed. One small group of people should
not hold an entire watershed hostage to their misguided views.
Item: Lastly, the Town of Winslow and Mr. Fletcher ignored a long
and highly publicized process dealing with the future of the entire Kennebec
River watershed, of which the Sebasticook River is a major tributary. Why
they should be permitted to come in at the last minute and upset a process
which they knowingly ignored defies explanation. Many other communities
in the watershed took the time and effort to understand what was going on
and to participate in the proceedings. But the Town of Winslow has publicly
admitted that while it was aware of the process, it chose not to participate.
To allow them to get away with last minute objections to proceedings in
which they had both the right and the opportunity to participate is a blatant
injustice to all the individuals, communities and State and Federal agencies
who did take the time and trouble to help shape an outcome which benefits
an enormous geographic area, from the headwater lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.
For the reasons stated, I urge that you rescind the July 28, 2003 order,
or alternatively grant the request for rehearing and reconsideration submitted
by the State of Maine.
Respectfully submitted,
Clinton B. Townsend
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