MAINE MONITOR • March 12, 2023
An eight-year fight over relicensing two Ellsworth dams owned by Brookfield Renewables will drag on at least a few months longer because of a backlog in the courts. Brookfield filed the case in Kennebec Superior Court last year after being denied a crucial certification by the Maine DEP, a decision that was upheld by the BEP. At issue in the case is the water classification standard of Leonard Lake, the body of water between the two dams. Advocates like Downeast Salmon Federation want to make it easier and safer for fish, including alewives and Atlantic Salmon, to pass the dams without getting killed. Brookfield wants to generate and sell electricity. Homeowners on the shores of the lakes don’t want to live on mudflats. And state regulators want to make sure the water has the proper balance of oxygen and nutrients for all of the aquatic life. At the moment, most of those things aren’t happening.