Erosion, federally endangered sturgeon spark debate over Connecticut River dams

[NNadir]

Erosion, federally endangered sturgeon spark debate over Connecticut River dams

Vermont Public | By Abagael Giles

Excerpts:

Three major hydroelectric dams on the Connecticut River between Vermont and New Hampshire could soon see a change in how water flows through them for the first time in more than four decades.

Great River Hydro, a subsidiary of Hydro-Quebec, owns the Wilder, Bellows Falls and Vernon dams, and has agreed to operate them as “run-of-river” facilities — where just as much water comes into the dam as flows out.

Environmental groups negotiated with Great River Hydro to secure this change, and the dam operator says it views the shift in operations as a positive one.

“This is a great and wonderful change, and we're in support of it,” said Kathy Urffer, with the Connecticut River Conservancy.

Right now, the dams are operated as “daily peaking facilities,” which pool water above them and release it when demand for power is high — usually once in the morning and once in the evening.

These sorts of facilities are very good at supplying on-demand, low-carbon power to the electric grid, and are widely viewed as critical backstops for keeping the lights on across New England.

But they are also notorious for creating erosion, altering river ecosystems and impacting water quality...

It appears that farmers lose land to erosion in the use of these dams as peaking sites, or site in use - in the absence of increasingly prevalent droughts - when the wind isn't blowing, the sun isn't shining and when all those magic solar cells are covered with snow, dust, or wildfire ash.

Personally, I'm a free river kind of guy. I'd just like the dams gone, but that won't happen.