Senators want feds’ help on dam project

Maine’s two U.S. senators hope the federal government will pick up 65 percent of the $25 million price tag to remove and bypass three Penobscot River dams if and when the ambitious habitat restoration project is fully funded.

Late last week, the Bush administration announced that its fiscal year 2008 budget request includes $10 million for a project to reopen more than 500 miles of habitat in the Penobscot and its tributaries to such sea-run fish as Atlantic salmon and shortnose sturgeon.

While far from a guaranteed payout, the administration’s budget request delighted project supporters, who are racing to raise roughly $25 million to purchase the three dams from PPL Corp., the power generation company, by June 2009.

Earlier this week, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both Republicans, submitted legislation that would authorize the Army Corps of Engineers to carry out the second phase of the project: demolition of the Veazie and Great Works dams and construction of a fishway at the Howland Dam.

The federal government would pay 65 percent of the Phase 2 costs – estimated at roughly another $25 million – if the Army Corps conducts the work, according to the Penobscot River Restoration Act. The remainder of the money would come from private, state or local government sources.

“Growing federal support of the Penobscot River restoration project and the continued work and dedication of private groups in the state have brought the completion of this historic project within sight,” Snowe said in a statement. “Through this legislation and the completion of this restoration effort, the Penobscot River will continue to be a fixture of Maine’s economy and culture.”

Laura Rose Day, executive director of the Penobscot River Restoration Trust, the nonprofit coalition group set up to implement the project, called the Army Corps a “logical partner” given the Corps’ experience in removing and renovating other dams nationwide.

Of course, removing and bypassing the three dams is contingent on the river coalition’s ability to raise the first $25 million.

To date, the coalition has collected more than $7.5 million in private donations plus $4.5 million in federal funds. Of the $10 million proposed in President Bush’s budget, $8 million would go toward dam acquisition. The remaining $2 million would go toward technical assistance, pre- and post-dam removal studies and engineering.

That means project supporters would need to raise an additional $4 million to $5 million to purchase the dams if Congress approves the request.

Congress’ appropriations committees historically dealt with such budget requests during late spring or early summer before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1, according to staff members in Collins’ and Snowe’s offices.

But appropriations timelines are anything but predictable these days. For the second consecutive year, lawmakers are headed into February without completing work on the appropriation bills for the budget that began in October.

Democrats also control Congress – and, therefore, the budget-writing committees – for the first time in the Bush presidency. But members of Maine’s congressional delegation have pledged to work to keep the money in the budget.

Day said she recognizes that project supporters will have to work hard for the money but that she is nonetheless optimistic. The project involves so many different federal agencies that it is ripe for federal investment, she said.

“The federal interest in this project is enormous,” she said.

The Penobscot restoration agreement was negotiated over several years and includes federal agencies, PPL, the Penobscot Indian Nation and such conservation groups as the Atlantic Salmon Federation and Maine Audubon.