http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/07/national/07DAMS.html
Excerpt:
"OLD TOWN, Me., Oct. 6 — Legions of wild Atlantic salmon once surged through
Maine's rivers, but for decades their numbers have been shriveling to a hapless
handful. Years of efforts to bring them back by banning salmon fishing,
stocking the rivers with millions of fish, cleaning up pollution and even
tracking fish with transponders have failed time and again.
"But on Monday an unusual agreement was announced between a coalition of
environmentalists and the power company that operates dams on Maine's largest
river, an agreement many environmentalists believe stands a good chance of
saving the struggling salmon, along with a dozen other species of faltering
fish.
"Under the agreement, two dams on the sprawling Penobscot River are to be torn
down, removing important barriers to salmon returning from the ocean to the
river to spawn. A third dam will be decommissioned, and a bypass will be built
around the structure so the salmon can pass.
"In exchange, the environmental coalition will pay the power company, the PPL
Corporation, about $25 million. And PPL will be able to increase its power
generation on six other dams on the Penobscot and its offshoots, recapturing
about 90 percent of the power it will lose when the dams are demolished. The
environmentalists also agreed to drop legal challenges to the relicensing of
the dams by the federal government./PP
"'This is the most important effort in 100 years to restore Atlantic salmon in
the United States,' said Gov. John Baldacci of Maine, speaking Monday on the
banks of the steel-gray Penobscot in this river town 15 miles north of Bangor.
"Eric Ruff, a spokesman for the federal Department of the Interior, called the
deal 'a groundbreaking conceptual agreement,' and said it was good for the
environment, energy development and the state.
"Several of those involved in the agreement said Monday that they hoped its
amicable resolution and creative compromise would serve as a template for other
areas of the country where environmentalists and power companies have locked
horns. But others, including Interior officials and those in the power
industry, said it was too early to tell if Maine's formula could apply
elsewhere.
"The Maine agreement will open 500 miles of the Penobscot, the river that
embraces by far the largest remaining population of Atlantic salmon in the
country, environmentalists say."
See also http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/busi...Agreement.html.
Riviera Ratt, PITA
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Click of the Week updated 8/12/03
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