With the relicensing of the Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Project and other Connecticut River hydroelectric facilities delayed, an environmental advocacy organization has called for a “thorough alternatives analysis of the operation and design” of the Northfield facility.
The Connecticut River Conservancy, of Greenfield, called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week for the comprehensive analysis to look at alternatives that “will fully mitigate the now amply demonstrated adverse impacts of this facility.”
Pointing to what has been its five-year call for study as part of an Integrated Relicensing Process for several hydro facilities along the river, Conservancy River Steward Andrea Donlon wrote, “With the many study reports now submitted, there is now clear and sufficient understanding of the many adverse environmental effects of the operation of this facility over the last 50 years.”
A “Landowners and Concerned Citizens for License Compliance” group, which is primarily focused on riverbank erosion, wrote to FERC in a letter signed by Gill resident Michael Bathory in support of the Conservancy’s request .
Although comments were due May 1 on updated study reports filed a year or more ago, she wrote, “thus far, there has not been an opportunity to comment on the full body of study results completed under the integrated licensing process,” Donlon wrote.
Other than a proposed study of a possible barrier at the tailrace of the intake where river water — and fish — get sucked up and pumped to Northfield Mountain’s upper reservoir, plant owner FirstLight has not pointed to mitigation options for dealing with problems that have been raised by the Conservancy or other groups, she added.
Through a laborious multiyear process that has included draft and final license applications, stakeholder meetings, and supplemental studies, Donlon wrote, “We are very concerned that parties may not be provided an opportunity to file comments and additional information requests in response to an amended final license application in the future,” and her organization “believes that any amended Final License Application, without an amended draft, will be also incomplete without an alternatives analysis as requested here.”
Calling the request for a thorough alternatives analysis timely and relevant, the Conservancy filing states, “It is abundantly clear to us that waiting to submit this attached additional information and study request until after FERC issues a Notice of Acceptance and Ready for Environmental Analysis would not leave enough time to complete the alternatives analysis being requested here.”
In calling for FERC to “require a rigorous evaluation of mitigation alternatives for continued operations of Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Plant,” the organization says it recognizes the growing need for the kind of storage capacity provided by projects like Northfield Mountain.
Environmental concerns include federally endangered shortnose sturgeon found last fall just below the Vernon, Vt., dam, raising the possibility there may be more in the 20-mile long river stretch affected by the project; migrating adult American eels and juveniles that are attracted to the project’s intake from late summer into fall, as well as dragonflies and damselflies that are affected by quickly rising river levels caused by the plant’s operations.
The Conservancy suggests that an analysis should consider mechanical alternatives including a new adjustable-speed hydropower technology with which Northfield Mountain could be retrofit to allow it to ramp up more slowly during the season when dragonflies and damselflies are emerging, or reduce fish getting swallowed up while also improving efficiency of the plant.
A “closed loop system,” which the Conservancy says should also be considered, could remove most of the environmental effects by drawing water from a new lower reservoir rather than from the entire 20-mile river stretch, or with a “partial closed loop,” by moving river water more gradually through an intermediate new lower reservoir. Such a retrofit for the plant could also help the plant operate more efficiently and with lower erosion-control costs, the Conservancy says.
Donlon goes on to lay out a process for proceeding, with a brainstorming session that would include everyone now involved in the relicensing process, along with staff from the Conte Andromous Fish Research Center to develop a list of alternatives to be considered.
FirstLight’s FERC operating license expired in April.
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