MAINE MONITOR • July 26, 2024
Like floodwaters released during a breach, dam news in Maine seems to come all at once. In the past month, a federal court reasserted Maine’s role in the relicensing of a major Kennebec River dam, a Downeast town secured funding for the removal of its aging ice retention dam, and the owners of three Bucksport-area dams announced intent to forfeit their ownership. These shifts in the long-term management of all five dams lead back to a question that the state is addressing more and more often: What futures lie ahead for the structures that have shaped Maine’s environment and communities for centuries?