2001 Maine’s driest year ever Paper mills that use hydropower scramble to find other sources

AUGUSTA – It’s official – 2001 was by far the driest year recorded in Maine, the only state in the nation to have a record dry year, according to figures presented to the state’s drought task force on Wednesday.

The state received only 29 inches of precipitation last year, 2 inches less than the previous driest year on record, which was 1965. Records have been kept for 107 years.

And no relief is in sight, according to National Weather Service projections, which show only average rainfall for the state for the next 15 months.

The lack of water has left rivers and lakes far below normal levels, while paper mills that generate their own hydroelectric power scramble to find alternative sources. In addition, companies that generate power from hydroelectric dams for sale to the general public have seen their revenues decrease because less water flow means less electricity is generated.

A power generation facility owned by Great Northern Paper Co. at North Twin Lake on the West Branch of the Penobscot River near Millinocket has shut down completely because there is not enough water in the lake, said Dana Murch of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

In an effort to balance current and future needs, the DEP has worked with hydroelectric generators to reduce the flow of water on the state’s major rivers to ensure that as much water as possible is stored in the lakes above the dams at their head.

For example, the amount of water now flowing in the Kennebec River is less than half its normal level, and Moosehead Lake is nearly 5 feet below its normal level.

If the river flows had not been reduced, some lakes would be completely dry by next summer, Murch told the task force of officials from a dozen state and federal agencies. To ensure that this does not happen, dam owners and hydroelectric generators have voluntarily reduced the flows over their dams to levels well below the minimums required in their state and federal licenses.

Less water flowing means less electricity to use, in the case of mills, or to sell, in the case of power generators.

Scott Hall of PPL Maine, which owns seven hydroelectric plants in the Penobscot and Union river drainages, said in an interview that his company sold 27 percent less electricity than it expected to last year. A dam on the Union River in Ellsworth generated 55 percent less power than its target for 2001.

Dick Fennelly, the company’s manager of generating assets, said in an interview that it is hard to quantify the economic impact of such a shortfall because the price of electricity constantly changes on the New England market.

Hydroelectric power now accounts for 15 percent of the electricity generated in Maine. The state generates twice as much electricity as it uses, according to the Public Utilities Commission.

Madison Paper Industries, which generates power for its mill from the Kennebec River, has had to buy power from other sources. While not divulging how much it has spent, a company spokesman said the expenses have been significant.

“It has been very expensive,” Mike Luciano said in an interview.

The company’s power generation is down by 30 percent to 40 percent, yet the Madison mill has been able to maintain full production. The company is looking into ways to use less energy and less water to make paper, Luciano said.

It would take phenomenal amounts of rain and snow in the coming months to replenish the state’s lakes and streams and underground water supplies, state climatologist Greg Zielinski told the task force.

For the drought to end by June 1, when demands for water increase significantly, Maine would have to receive between 20 and 40 inches of precipitation. There’s a 4 percent to 12 percent chance of the state getting what would amount to 11/2 times its normal precipitation, Zielinski said.

Weather predictions don’t show this happening, said Hendricus Lulofs of the National Weather Service. No above-normal precipitation is predicted for the Northeast through April 2003.

The only good news at Wednesday’s meeting is that since the ground is not frozen, water from rain and melting snow is flowing into the state’s rivers and lakes. However, while this helps maintain water levels now, it could mean that levels will drop in the spring because there will be less runoff then.

Temperatures are predicted to be above normal in February and near normal for the next two months.