MONTAGUE — FirstLight Hydro Generating Co. has been fined by the state Department of Environmental Protection for the release of 445 gallons of hydraulic oil into the Connecticut River in June from the Turners Falls dam.
MassDEP issued an administrative consent order, along with a $25,062 fine, for violating surface water discharge regulations and release notification regulations, the state agency announced Tuesday. FirstLight has paid $20,000, FirstLight Communications Manager Claire Belanger confirmed Tuesday, and MassDEP is suspending the remaining $5,062 contingent upon the energy company’s compliance with all terms of the order.
According to the consent order dated July 24, the violations included pollutants being discharged on the surface water without a permit from MassDEP and failure to notify MassDEP within two hours of “obtaining knowledge that a threat of release is present.”
“Protecting our waterways is essential to maintain healthy ecosystems, support recreational activities and protect wildlife,” Michael Gorski, director of MassDEP’s western regional office in Springfield, said in a statement Tuesday. “FirstLight is committing to address the problem in the long-term by investing in evaluating and implementing upgrades and improvements to the dam infrastructure to protect the Connecticut River from future releases.”
“FirstLight is committed to complying with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s (MassDEP) Administrative Consent Order related to the June 2025 Turners Falls Dam Bascule Gate System issue and associated hydraulic fluid release,” Belanger said in a statement. “FirstLight appreciates MassDEP’s engagement on this matter as we advance the shared goal of a complete resolution of this issue.”
The consent order outlines the response to the spill. An alarm indicating low hydraulic oil levels in a reservoir was sounding at around 6 p.m. on June 3. At 8:28 p.m., MassDEP was notified of the sheen on the surface water at the Turners Falls dam, and FirstLight’s response to the oil spill was limited due to water flows and nighttime conditions.
Following the spill, FirstLight identified the leak to have originated from a piston located within Bascule Gate No. 2. FirstLight initiated an emergency drawdown of the Connecticut River above the Turners Falls dam to repair the gate on July 8.
The consent order outlines next steps that FirstLight must take. These include getting a professional engineer to assess the dam’s hydraulic system and alarm system within 60 days who would suggest potential upgrades or changes to prevent future oil releases; and submitting a report within 180 days containing the engineer’s findings and plans to implement any of the engineer’s recommendations, along with a project timeline. The engineering work must be done by a qualified and Massachusetts-registered engineer, and all the recommendations from the engineer must be carried out within one year, unless the department authorizes an extension. Belanger said Tuesday that FirstLight is still waiting for the completion of the professional engineering assessment.
A 25-page “Permanent Solution with No Conditions Statement,” which was prepared by Tighe & Bond on behalf of FirstLight as its waste site cleanup professional, provides details of the June 3 oil spill and FirstLight’s subsequent repairs.
The statement says, based on the July repairs made to Bascule Gate No. 2 where the oil spill originated, there are “no significant risks” to the public or the environment, the threat of a subsequent spill has been eliminated and hazardous materials have been reduced to “as close to background levels as feasible.”
This statement further explains that FirstLight staff observed the oil sheen at 7 p.m., which FirstLight staff believed to mark the start of the legal two-hour notification window to MassDEP. However, MassDEP holds that the start of the alarm sounding over low hydraulic oil levels marked the start of that notification window. Moving forward, the statement says FirstLight will report the “add oil” alarm sound as the threat of release.
In response to a prior oil spill in March 2023 that is thought to have originated from bascule gate pistons, MassDEP issued a notice of noncompliance on Aug. 22, 2023 for the same violation of releasing pollutants on surface water. The department required that an inspection and maintenance program be implemented to “identify areas of the dam’s hydraulic system for defects and plan(s) to remedy potential leaks and releases from the dam’s hydraulic system and associated equipment.”
FirstLight replied to the notice in September 2023, stating it completed piston repairs at Bascule Gate No. 1 and Bascule Gate No. 2 during the summer, with more plans to address the remaining gates for repair while continuing to do maintenance and inspections to detect any possible oil releases. However, the document states that documentation to support these stated repair activities haven’t been submitted to MassDEP.