LePage seeks new life for old dams
There could be new life for Maine’s dormant dams and other hydropower facilities if a new utilities initiative sought by Gov. Paul LePage is successful.
The Portland Press Herald reported that the Governor’s Energy Office is planning to hire a consultant for up to $125,000 to inventory the state’s existing hydropower facilities and conceive of new policies that could encourage upgrades there.
“Since [the early 1990s], additional technologies have been developed, some right here in Maine, and numerous studies from the Department of Energy have highlighted significant hydropower potential,” Patrick Woodcock, director of the Governor’s Energy Office, said in a prepared statement to the newspaper. “It is time to review whether we can expand our hydropower resources with these new technologies, in a manner that works for our environment as well as our economy.”
The Press Herald noted that Maine has over 600 dams according to a national inventory managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but there actually could be more than 1,000 in total because the national list does not include smaller structures.
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