MAINE PUBLIC • November 30, 2023
The relicensing for two Union River dams is delayed once again, after a superior court justice backed the Board of Environmental Protection's decision to not issue a water quality certificate. The two dams, owned by a subsidiary of Brookfield Renewable, are covered by one federal license, which expired in 2018. The dams need the water quality certificate as part of the relicensing program. "This is excellent news, and it reinforces what both the DEP and BEP and many of the people within the public have said for quite some time, that the water quality has degraded as a result of the dams," Shaw said. He says the dams are over 100 years old, and Brookfield should be required to modernize them in the relicensing process.