In what has become all-too-predictable, Brookfield Renewable’s Ellsworth Dam has again killed hundreds, if not thousands of recently-spawned Union River baby alewives heading for the ocean at its Ellsworth Dam on the Union River.
Acknowledging these deaths, Brookfield has notified agency officials these turbine deaths will continue and that the public should accept that as many as 14,000 outmigrating alewives may be killed daily before Brookfield is prepared to alter its turbine operations.
State agencies are recognizing that there are problems with how Brookfield Renewable's uses the Union River.
Brookfield is standing in the way of Atlantic salmon recovery across the State of Maine, not just here on the Union River.
Thank you for your continued support of our important work to protect and restore the Union River and Graham Lake. There's lots more to do, but we believe change is coming.
All "renewable" energy source have their problems whether its killing Alewives in dam turbines or killing birds and bats with wind, the ongoing quest for more and more energy is ridiculous. Why are we not encouraging reducing energy consumption, then identifying the best, most efficient and least harmful energy sources when we need power? The approach we have taken is absurd, often politically based and certainly not thoughtful and well planned. Unfortunately, it appears re-establishing native fish in Maine's rivers will be more complicated as it will take changing the mindset on energy consumption, too. Can the dams use fish stairs or the equivalent such as used in the Pacific NW? Admittedly, I am not very knowledgeable in this area.