Since late 2012, the Wilder, Bellows Falls, and Vernon hydroelectric facilities in the heart of the Connecticut River have been in the process of renewing their operating licenses in a process known as relicensing.
The three dams at Wilder, Bellows Falls, and Vernon in New Hampshire and Vermont are owned by Great River Hydro (formerly TransCanada), a subsidiary of Hydro-Québec whose sole shareholder is the government of Québec.
In addition, two Massachusetts facilities - Turners Falls Dam and Northfield Mountain Pump Storage Project - are now separate limited liability companies under FirstLight Power Services LLC, owned by PSP Investments, one of Canada's largest pension investment managers.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last issued licenses for these facilities more than 40 years ago and all five licenses initially expired in April, 2018.
According to a news release from the Connecticut River Conservancy, which has been engaged in advocating for the health of the Connecticut River and the communities in the watershed since 1952 and participates in the relicensing of hydroelectric facilities, "these facilities use a public trust resource - your river - to produce power,"
"In exchange for this privilege and to mitigate for impacts of the dams on recreation, fish and wildlife habitat, migratory and endangered species, water quality, and other resources, FERC requires that hydropower operators provide direct benefits to the public and be protective of the ecological health of the river," the organization wrote, calling a facility's operating license "a public contract."
On Feb. 22, FERC issued a notice indicating that the final license applications have been accepted as complete and ready for environmental analysis. This notice simultaneously initiated a 60-day period to submit comments and interventions for the projects.
The comment period will close on Monday, April 22.
The public is encouraged to submit a comment to FERC outlining concerns about how these dams impact the river, the surrounding communities, or one's ability to interact with the river.
Public comments can be submitted by anyone or any entity that has an interest. This includes individuals, town committees or commissions, regional planning commissions, or recreation clubs.
CRC staff have been meeting with local town committees to update them on the relicensing and to encourage commenting. The organization will file a motion to intervene and, if approved for that designation, will "become a legal party to the proceedings, which grants the ability to request hearings of FERC orders and appeal agency actions," the news release said.
"These three facilities control the water in approximately 126 miles of river in Vermont and New Hampshire, and the license term is expected to be 40 years long," said Kathy Urffer, CRC's river steward in Vermont and director of policy and advocacy, who has been working on this relicensing for almost seven years.
She called it "literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shape how the hydroelectric facilities mitigate for their impact on the river for future generations."
Hydropower relicensing information, as well as a FERC Comment Guide, can be found at ctriver.org/our-work/hydropower.
The CRC will also hold a series of virtual office hours about how to comment on the hydropower relicensing process. During these office hours, Urffer will join river stewards in Massachusetts (Nina Gordon-Kirsch) and New Hampshire (Kate Buckman) to answer any questions and help with your comments.
These sessions will cover issues at stake for fish passage, recreation, erosion, and accountability, as well as instruction on how to submit comments or get involved. The river stewards will also answer any questions addressed to them.
The office hours can be customized based on who attends and what you most want to address. Participants can also submit a question to the speakers upon registration.
The office hours will occur on Thursday, March 14, 5:30 p.m.; Monday, March 18, 11 a.m.; Wednesday, March 27, 8:30 a.m., Wednesday, April 3, 7 p.m.; Thursday, April 11, noon; and Tuesday, April 16, noon.
Register for any of the sessions at ctriver.org/event/hydropower-office-hours.
This News item was submitted to The Commons.