$800K oil spill settlement may fund Penobscot River restoration at 4 sites
Courtesy / Penobscot River Restoration Trust
A view of the Penobscot River, where funds from a 2016 oil-spill settlement may fund environmental restoration at four sites.
An $800,000 legal settlement in response to oil spills on the Penobscot River may now fund four environmental restoration projects there.
According to a news release Tuesday, state and federal officials plan to use the money to help pay for improved fish and wildlife habitats at the Kenduskeag Stream, in Charleston; Sucker Brook, in Hampden; and the Bagaduce River, in Sedgwick and Brooksville.
The settlement was reached in 2016 with Chevron Corp. and other former owners of a defunct oil terminal in Hampden, responsible for “multiple releases of oil” into the Penobscot over the course of decades.
As part of the planned restoration work, seven road culverts will be replaced and two fishways will be installed. In total, the projects will open up more than 17 miles of river and stream habitat to benefit Atlantic salmon and other migratory fish, according to the release.
The projects were selected by a panel of agencies including the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which solicited public input on the restoration in 2017.
The projects are outlined in a draft restoration plan, available here and open to comment through Aug. 30. Officials said they will release a final plan after that.
According to a 2011 study by the Fish and Wildlife Service, every mile of river opened can contribute more than $500,000 in social and economic benefits once fish populations are at their full productivity.
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