Caledonian-Record: Missisquoi, Trout Rivers Slated For Protection

Reposted here from the Caledonian-Record.

Robin Smith

Staff Writer

LOWELL — A committee preparing for the protection of the upper Missisquoi and Trout rivers in northern Vermont wants to know if anyone wants to build a hydroelectric facility there.

If so, now is the time to come forward.

The committee of area residents meets Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Lowell Graded School gym to discuss what the designation of the Missisquoi and Trout as a federal Wild and Scenic river system with extra protections would mean for future power projects.

The protection area would not affect the proposed dam in Troy already being considered for recertification by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said Shana Stewart Deeds, coordinator of the study committee. Jonathan Chase of Derby is proposing to restart that dam.

The Wild and Scenic designation also won’t affect Enosburg Falls dam, because the designation area ends just upriver of that dam, Deeds said Friday.

But the designation would mean the end of any large dam and hydroelectric power plant on the rest of the river system, she said.

That’s why this meeting has been called, she said. “We definitely want to know if anyone is interested in a dam that we don’t know about.”

The meeting will provide information about the designation itself and its impacts.

Joining Deeds will be Jamie Fosburgh, a New England team leader of the National Park Service’s Northeast Region Rivers Program. He will talk about what the designation means for new and existing dams and hydroelectric facilities.

And Brian Fitzgerald, a stream-flow protection coordinator with Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, will talk about how state regulation affects dams and hydro projects.

In a document sent out recently, Wild and Scenic officials explain the designation and seek information.

“If you know of existing or potential hydro sites which were not listed above, please contact the study committee immediately at 802â?393â?0076 or info@vtwsr.org. These sites need to be identified prior to designation when there remains some flexibility on new dams and hydro projects.”

The impact could be significant, and only a change in the Wild and Scenic Act might allow the construction of a new hydro-facility.

State officials note that the best hydro sites have already been developed. Very small hydro projects that would not provide electricity to the grid are probably not affected because they wouldn’t require a federal certification. But they still would need state permits.

“The origin of the Wild and Scenic Act, in 1968, was at a time when largeâ?scale dam building was occurring in the U.S.,” according to the informational document. “The Act was established to try to create a balance between the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) licensing of hydropower facilities and freeâ?flowing rivers.”