ONE HUGE STEP CLOSER TO FISH PASSAGE ON THE PRESUMPSCOT

WE WON—AGAIN!  SAPPI’s court challenge to the Maine Water Quality Certification for the new licenses on five Presumpscot River dams was emphatically denied by the Maine Supreme Court.  In a long awaited decision issued on February 15, 2005, the Court rejected all of SAPPI’s arguments concerning the Clean Water Act Section 401 provisions in the State’s water quality certification.  This was the final hurdle for FOPR and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection in defending the license provisions in our state courts.

These provisions mirror the new federal licenses and require SAPPI to install fish passage on all five dams, as well as provide passage for the American eel and needed flow changes to improve water quality in the river.  While the trigger for installation of these fish  passage improvements is still passage at Cumberland Mills dam, this decision now opens the way for the petition to require that passage through a proceeding with the Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.