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.

July 23, 2010 - no Senate energy bill for now; wind gets boosts

A bit of New Meadows eye candy:


Sure enough, the Senate climate bill is dead. Instead, we'll get a weak energy bill addressing the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, promoting building energy efficiency through the HomeStar program, and promoting the use of natural gas as a fuel for large trucks.

In Maine, the Fort Halifax dam removal saga continues. Prior to removal of this dam on the Sebasticook River, the town of Winslow, Maine and residents had voiced concerns about erosion, and had appealed (without success) the Department of Environmental Protection's orders approving dam removal. After the dam was removed, portions of the former impoundment's banks suffered severe erosion. The town had to spend over $725,000 to demolish six homes on Dallaire Street that were threatened by the newly eroded banks. The affected areas also included the river bank below the historic (mid-1700s) Fort Hill Cemetery, eroding the bank back much closer to the cemetery fence and grave sites. Former dam owner FPL Energy Maine Hydro commissioned a study of why this erosion happened. FPLE's study concluded that the dam removal and drawdown "did not play a significant role"; instead, the study pointed to unstable soils, steep slopes, heavy rain, and an earthquake. Both the town and the state expressed doubts about this conclusion. Now the town has officially asked the DEP to perform its own study, and to enforce the conditions in its dam removal order that require FPLE to monitor and remediate erosion.

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has approved Susan Collins's request for $10 million in funding for the University of Maine's development, deployment and testing of deepwater and offshore wind turbines. The funding must now be approved by the full Senate, but the parallel House bill still lacks such an appropriation.

Wind is big in California too. It looks like Terra-Gen's Alta Wind Energy Center near Tehachapi is going forward, as it has placed an order with Vestas Wind Systems for 190 3 MW turbines. The Alta Wind project represents the largest financing of a North American wind-energy development to date. Part of the financial picture includes a 1,550 MW power purchase agreement with Southern California Edison for part of the project output. The project will have domestic economic benefits as well: Vestas will manufacture the blades in Windsor, Colorado, and most of the towers in Pueblo, CO.

A growing storm in the Gulf of Mexico has put BP's efforts at the oil well site on hold.

3/25/10

The big news in this corner of the continent is that Hydro-Quebec and New Brunswick Power have canceled their proposed deal. Details are still coming out, but key factors include the radical unpopularity of the deal in NB -- with some reports of as low as 8% of New Brunswickers supporting the deal -- and "increased costs and risk" for HQ. More to follow for sure.

In Maine legislative news:
The Utilities and Energy Committee has voted out an amended version of LD 1810, the Ocean Energy Task Force bill. This bill, proposed by Governor Baldacci's Ocean Energy Task Force, underwent a significant scaling back during the committee process, largely due to concerns over impacts to electric ratepayers. The Task Force, whose members included former Central Maine Power utility chief David Flanagan, was told to propose legislation that would remove obstacles to building 5000 MW of offshore and coastal wind and tidal energy in Maine. The result was a bill that included mandates to overbuild transmission, loosen the standards for the PUC's approval of transmission lines, have ratepayers finance generator lead lines, and expose all ratepayers to rates of up to 25 cents per kWh in order to pay for long-term contracts for ocean energy. Through extensive questioning by legislators and stakeholder involvement, the result is a dramatically scaled-back bill voted out of the Committee unanimously this evening. As voted out, the amended bill eliminates much of the the pro-transmission prejudices embodied in the original bill, and the provisions that would have had ratepayers backstop generator lead lines. The Committee also transformed an ocean energy RFP process that would have exposed ratepayers to potentially significant cost increases into a voluntary "ocean energy standard offer". This is a good result that will empower Maine's renewable energy industry and economy, without inappropriately exposing ratepayers to costs and risk.

When dam owner FPL Energy got approval to remove its Fort Halifax dam and hydroelectric station on the Sebasticook River in Winslow, Maine, many people voiced concerns ranging from bad energy policy (why remove clean hydro when we're doing all we can to install more renewable capacity?) to bankside erosion causing damage to houses. The naysayers were right about the erosion; yesterday, the town completed its $725,000 buyout and demolition project of the six houses on Dallaire Street that were in peril of falling into the river.

Central Maine Power's $1.6 billion MPRP transmission project runs into new trouble: the Sierra Club says the MPRP will harm wetlands.

3/22/10

A small fire broke out inside a trash shredder at the Biddeford, Maine waste-to-energy plant Maine Energy Recovery Company (MERC). Perhaps the energy content of the fuel was just bursting to be set free.

Remember the battle over whether the Fort Halifax dam and its associated hydroelectric generating capacity on the Sebasticook River in Winslow, Maine should be removed? The 100-year-old dam was breached in July 2008 after lengthy debate and legal proceedings. , In essence, dam owner FPL Energy Maine Hydro (formerly Florida Power & Light, now NextEra) found itself burdened by a fish passage requirement imposed during the Edwards Dam removal proceedings. Under the Kennebec Hydro Developers Group Agreement (or the KHDG Agreement), FPL found itself either required to breach the dam or install a particular fish passage technology. FPL elected to breach the dam. Many people, including state representative Ken Fletcher of Winslow, opposed this decision, arguing that FPL's choice would have dire environmental and cost consequences, and that it was bad policy in light of the overall push for more renewable capacity. Representative Fletcher has now filed a document with the Maine DEP demonstrating costs to taxpayers of between $950,000 and $1.6 million. Key cost components include: $114,997 for the town's share of replacing a sewer line exposed after breach, $30,375 in costs for title and survey work over and above the value the town recovered by selling formerly submerged lands, $800,000 more than previously estimated to replace the Mile Brook Bridge on Garland Road due to erosion, , and $725,396 to demolish six homes on an unstable riverside slope on Dallaire Street.

The "energy corridor" bill in Maine was voted Ought to Pass as Amended by the Joint Standing Committee on Utilities and Energy. Among the issues are how Maine should regulate high-impact transmission lines connecting the massive hydroelectric capacity of Hydro-Quebec to southern New England markets, given that these lines will affect Maine's costs and strategic energy position.

The AP is covering a story about a California water district's proposed use of 47 square miles of poorly-managed farmland -- land that due to bad water use is now very salty -- for a solar photovoltaic farm of up to one gigawatt.

Who wants free money? $1.3 million in energy grants through Efficiency Maine to Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle, Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor, Kennebec Community College in Augusta and Southern Maine Community College in South Portland. $2 million in grants for water projects too.

Wind siting: Thorndike voters approved the siting ordinance. Fort Kent votes tonight.