Environmental groups seek 7-week dam shutdown
Environment Maine and Friends of Merrymeeting Bay are seeking legal action to temporarily shut down four hydroelectric dams they say are killing large numbers of young endangered Atlantic salmon.
The two groups have filed a motion with the U.S. District Court in Portland for a preliminary injunction that seeks to stop operation of the four dams owned and operated by NextEra Energy Resources LLC, FPL Energy Maine Hydro LLC and affiliated companies.
The dams the group seeks to shut down to accommodate the seven-week salmon migration are the Weston, Shawmut and Lockwood dams on the Kennebec River, and the Brunswick dam on the Androscoggin River.
A consultant to the hydroelectric companies estimates that anywhere from one-third to one-half of the young salmon, or smolts, swimming down the Kennebec River would be killed by the turbines, according to the environmental group's injunction motion. Approximately 20,000 of those young salmon are expected to migrate this year, the groups estimate.
The claims are based on a provision in the federal Endangered Species Act that prohibits the taking — including killing — of any endangered species without a federal permit.
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