NATURAL RESOURCES COUNCIL OF MAINE • March 6, 2023
The owner of the Milford Dam on Maine’s Penobscot River, Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE: BEP; TSX: BEP.UN), is actively breaking federal environmental law by harming endangered Atlantic salmon, according to documents obtained through the state’s Freedom of Access Act. In the documents, a federal biologist confirms that most Atlantic salmon are not able to migrate upstream past the dam in a timely way, which is in clear violation of standards set under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Some fish were left stranded for weeks below the dam. The Milford Dam is the first obstruction that salmon and other migratory fish, including shad and river herring, must pass on their journey from the ocean to spawn. This lack of safe, timely, and effective fish passage at the Milford Dam continues to stall recovery for endangered Atlantic salmon and other fish species in the Penobscot River.