MORNING SENTINEL • March 14, 2025
Federal regulators are recommending that four Kennebec River dams receive new licenses, with some additional requirements to enhance endangered fish passage that go beyond what the dams’ operator had proposed. In a final environmental impact statement released at the end of February, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff outlined its recommendation for relicensing the Shawmut Hydroelectric Project near Fairfield and amending licenses of the Lockwood Hydroelectric Project in Waterville, the Hydro-Kennebec Hydroelectric Project in Waterville and the Weston Hydroelectric Project in Skowhegan. The Kennebec Coalition, made up of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, Maine Rivers, Natural Resources Council of Maine, Trout Unlimited and Trout Unlimited’s Kennebec Valley Chapter, criticized FERC’s recommendations.