September 3, 2010 - Elwha dam removal; Northwest Passage

Hydroelectricity: I'm continuing to follow the removal of two dams on the Elwha River in Washington.

Here is a map I created showing the two dam sites.

Here is the Bureau of Reclamation's information on sedimentation behind the Elwha River dams: nearly 18 million cubic yards of sediment behind Glines Canyon Dam and Elwha Dam.  The Bureau gives this history:

Private companies constructed two large dams on the Elwha River during the early 1900’s. Elwha Dam, constructed during the period 1910-13, is a 105-foot high concrete gravity dam that forms Lake Aldwell 8 miles upstream from the river's mouth. Glines Canyon Dam, built in 1927, is a 210-foot high concrete arch dam that forms Lake Mills 13 miles upstream from the river's mouth. When the dams were first built, they were significant producers of electricity on the Olympic Peninsula. Today, the dams are operated in a run-of-the river mode and generate about 40 percent of the electricity needs for the Diashowa America paper mill in Port Angeles, Washington.

The Bureau also has interesting information on erosion after drawdown.  As we've seen before, drawdown can be done to minimize harms but can also cause serious problems if the newly exposed slopes of the impoundment or riverbank are unstable.




Meanwhile, in Maine, a graphic example of how business climate can make a difference: an entire lumber mill, closed for the past four years, is up for sale and might be moved piece by piece to Siberia.  People often talk about how jobs move overseas; here, not only the (already lost) jobs but the workplace may move.
The situation on the Sebasticook River continues to brew after the Fort Halifax dam removal; now, town officials are considering a renewed investigation into erosion of the riverbanks after drawdown and dam breach.

An interesting bit of fisheries news: Native Americans from the Passamaquoddy Tribe continue to fish federal waters, despite being cited for lack of permits and certain mandatory safety gear during a scallop fishing trip off Nantucket.  The natives point to their indigenous fishing rights.

Arctic news: I have a special interest in the Canadian Arctic, including the fabled Northwest Passage.  Today comes news that a fuel tanker has run aground along that shipping route on a sandbar near Gjoa Haven.

August 27, 2010 - restoring old dams? sunken treasure

Storm over the Kennebec River near Dresden

Earlier this month, I wrote about the situation at Scribner's Mill on the Crooked River in Maine.  The Scribner's Mill Preservation Project is doing a great job of restoring the old sawmill located on the banks of the river.  Formerly, the sawmill was paired with a nine-foot dam that was breached in 1972; prior to dam breach, the impounded water fell through water wheels to power the mill directly.  The mill preservationists are again proposing to build a dam on the site to allow the mill to regain its status as a working water mill.  Two years ago, they proposed putting up a 4' dam; the Maine Department of Environmental Protection rejected their efforts.  Now they're proposing a 3' dam.

Arguments against rebuilding the dam include ones based on the importance of the Crooked River to the entire Sebago Lake ecosystem.  The Crooked River is the principal spawning habitat for the famous wild landlocked salmon in the lake.  Landlocks are the same species as Atlantic salmon, but spend their entire lives in fresh water.  Maine has a special fishery for wild landlocked salmon, and Sebago Lake is one of its most accessible waterbodies.  In addition to fisheries concerns, the Crooked River is also the principal surface inflow of water into the lake, which is the drinking source for about 200,000 people in Maine.

Last night, Maine Public Broadcasting Network ran a good story on the debate.

In other renewable news: following on the recent ORPC tidal energy turbine installation at a Coast Guard facility in Eastport, today the Coast Guard is raising a wind turbine at a Southwest Harbor facility.


Who doesn't love a tale of a forgotten shipwreck holding a sunken treasure?  During a blizzard in February 1944, the British freighter Empire Knight foundered on a covered reef near Boon Island off York, Maine.  The ship broke up and sank.  In 1990, the Coast Guard learned that the ship contained over 17,000 pounds of mercury.  Divers recovered a small portion of the mercury and contaminated material, but found that 16,000 pounds had escaped and was loose in a cargo hold.  The Coast Guard closed the site.  Now, a treasure hunter wants to recover the mercury in an environmentally responsible manner -- and also what he believes may be copper-platinum wire worth $200 million (a bit more valuable than the copper wire commonly stolen!), plus a "secret cargo" that could be worth from $10 million on up.