A long-awaited environmental impact statement (EIS) regarding plans for fish passage improvements on Maine’s Kennebec River finally dropped on Feb. 28.
Trout Unlimited and our many partners and supporters who are invested in the health of the Kennebec are disappointed that the EIS ignores the best available science and could doom endangered Atlantic salmon to extinction while imperiling other important sea-run species.
After a draft EIS was released in the spring of 2024, concerned citizens spoke out against the draft’s shortcomings.
More than 2,000 anglers, local businesses, scientists and others spoke at public hearings in Waterville and Augusta, submitted comments online or signed a petition calling for a solution on the Kennebec that would result in recovery of millions of sea-run fish, including alewives, blueback herring, American shad, eel and critically endangered Atlantic salmon.
Previous dam removal projects in Maine and across the nation have successfully brought back sea-run fish and supported economic development in local riverfront communities while protecting infrastructure for industry along the river.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) flawed EIS relies on engineered fish passage that has not worked anywhere else in the world where fish must pass four dams in a row. Similar fish passage proposals have led to failures elsewhere in the U.S. resulting in dramatic loss of sea-run fish, including on the Connecticut, Merrimack and Androscoggin rivers.
The Kennebec Coalition––comprised of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, Maine Rivers, Natural Resources Council of Maine, Trout Unlimited, and Trout Unlimited’s Kennebec Valley Chapter––has, along with the Wabanaki Nations and Conservation Law Foundation, long called for removal of the four dams between Waterville and Skowhegan. Those dams block access to some of the best Atlantic salmon spawning habitat in the Northeast, on the Sandy River.
The Kennebec Coalition believes FERC’s EIS ignores the reality on the ground in Maine, where the people who love this great river are observing fish species struggling to survive. Dooming the Kennebec to the same fate as other rivers where sea-run fish have disappeared would have catastrophic consequences for outdoor recreation and commercial fishing industries.
“The federal government’s failure to take the required hard look at the severe impacts these dams have on the Kennebec River’s water quality—especially the ongoing destruction of Atlantic salmon and the continued prevention of their recovery in their native waters— is inexcusable and unlawful,” said Sean Mahoney, Conservation Law Foundation senior counsel and vice president for Maine.
This is not the end. TU, alongside its partners at the Penobscot Nation, Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Kennebec Coalition and Conservation Law Foundation, will challenge this decision through all legal avenues available.
“We will continue doing everything we can to bring Mainers together to craft a collaborative solution that protects endangered Atlantic salmon, restores millions of sea-run fish, promotes economic development and protects industry located along the river,” the Kennebec Coalition said in a statement.
Trout Unlimited and its allies will continue pushing for a real solution––one that restores the mighty Kennebec, supports economic development in local communities and brings back the fish that belong here while protecting industry located along the river.
We’ll keep you updated on what comes next and how you can help.