The US Federal Energy Reg-ulatory Commission (FERC) has for the first time ordered a company to remove a dam after refusing to extend the operating licence of the associated power plant.
Under the ruling, Edwards Manufacturing Co., which owns the 160 year-old dam, has one year to devise a plan to remove the barrier across the Kennebec river. The Maine-based company intends to appeal against the ruling.
Removal of the dam will allow salmon and other species to reach spawning grounds upstream. Environmentalists have applauded the decision. One FERC commissioner, who voted against the decision, claimed the agency was using authority it did not possess.
There are believed to be hundreds of hydropower projects in the USA which will require extensions to their operating licences in the coming years. The new ruling raises the possibility of further decisions to remove dams in the near future.
FERC has stressed that this was a special case where the power from the plant, costing around twice the average rate in the region, could easily be replaced from other sources.
