SEYMOUR FD FILE PHOTO
A Seymour firefighter approaches a dog stuck in a clogged canal in 2020. The canal is part of the Kinneytown Dam system. The incident is mentioned in a complaint filed with FERC.
SEYMOUR — Three organizations are taking legal action against the owner of the Kinneytown Dam in Seymour, alleging the dam and accessory structures appear abandoned, dilapidated, pose a threat to neighbors, and prevent fish from spawning in parts of the Naugatuck River.
The Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments, Save the Sound, and the Naugatuck River Revival Group want the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to revoke the operating license exemption held by Kinneytown Hydro Company, Inc. which, in turn, is owned by Hydroland Omega, LLC.
A 35-page complaint released to the public Thursday (Sept. 30) essentially says that while millions upon millions (upon millions) of dollars have been poured into the restoration of the 45-mile Naugatuck River as a local natural resource — a waterway once so contaminated it caught fire in Ansonia in 1943 — Kinneytown sticks out as a gangrenous sore thumb.
“In recent months I have personally visited the location and have been greatly disturbed by the condition of the entire KHP facility, which gives the appearance of total abandonment,” according to a statement in the complaint from Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments Executive Director Rick Dunne.
The Kinneytown Dam is more than just a dam. It includes a “fish ladder” that is supposed to allow migratory fish to bypass the dam.
There’s also two hydroelectric facilities — one at the dam in Seymour, and another down the river in a canal in Ansonia off North Fourth Street.
The problem is that the whole system isn’t working and hasn’t been maintained in years, the complaint and a litany of government filings allege.
“In short, the Kinneytown Project and its owners have consistently and continuously ignored most, and now all, of their obligations for over a decade,” according to the complaint.
The Seymour facility isn’t currently producing electricity.
The Ansonia hydroelectric facility hasn’t worked since a fire there in 2010. It’s allegedly become a blighted nuisance to the densely-populated residential neighborhoods nearby.
From a statement in the complaint from NVCOG’s Dunne, talking about the Ansonia structure:
The plant is “open to the elements, has been vandalized, and is a clear hazard to the public, who apparently enter the site from the adjacent neighborhood.”
The condition of the Kinneytown Dam fish ladder — a contraption meant to get fish around the dam — doesn’t work and prevents fish from migrating in the Naugatuck River. That’s a poke in the eye to taxpayers, the complaint alleges, because the government has spent untold millions to remove old Naugatuck River dams left over from the Valley’s industrial times and constructed so-called fish bypasses as part of the effort to restore the river.
Example — Seymour has a gorgeous $6.3 million fish bypass channel at the Tingue Dam under Route 8. While it opened in 2014 with great fanfare, the fish can’t get to it because they can’t get through Kinneytown’s fish ladder, which was apparently designed incorrectly in addition to being allegedly ignored by its owners (Hydroland Omega is the latest owner, having taken over in 2020).
The fish need to get north of Seymour to access spawning places.
“The fish ladder (at the Kinneytown Dam) has been regularly blocked with debris on the impoundment side and does not appear to function effectively as any kind of passage for migratory fish,” according to the complaint.
The environmental groups Save the Sound and the Naugatuck River Revival Group offer comments in the complaint and offer data showing the condition of the Kinneytown Dam system is having a terrible impact on migratory fish.
“Each year, thousands of fish, representing the array of species targeted for restoration by the State of Connecticut (including American shad, alewife, blueback herring and sea-run brown trout) remain stranded at the foot of Kinneytown,” according to comments attributed to the groups in the complaint.
Kevin Zak, of the Naugatuck River Revival Group, actually shot footage of fish stuck at Kinneytown. The footage is about 2 minutes and 22 seconds into this explainer video Zak posted to YouTube (article continues below the video):
If the fish stuck at Kinneytown can’t spawn, there’s a larger ecological impact to the food chain, according to an affidavit from Queens College biology professor John Waldman.
“Certain fish species that would reproduce in the Naugatuck such as river herring are critically important prey fish in Long Island Sound and other marine waters for recreational and commercial species that include striped bass, bluefish, tuna, and weakfish, plus whales and their relatives. However, river herring are unable to attain ecologically meaningful population sizes in the Naugatuck because their upriver migrations are blocked by Kinneytown Dam,” Waldman said.
NVCOG represents 19 towns and cities. The Naugatuck River passes through eight communities in NVCOG’s jurisdiction, including Seymour and Ansonia.
The Kinneytown Dam area became so choked with garbage in April 2020 a large dog wandered onto the water and was able to stand on debris. The Seymour Fire Department shared an image of a firefighter approaching the dog that looked like the trash compactor scene on the Death Star in ‘Star Wars.’
“As recently as September the canal was once again filled with trash. I raise this issue with FERC because it demonstrates the total lack of attention or investment in this facility by KHC that is not only dangerous to aquatic resources, but to the neighboring and downstream public as well,” according to Dunne.
Federal regulations allow the Kinneytown Dam and its hydroelectric facilities to operate without a full-fledged FERC license. It operates with an exemption because it was a small generator of electricity. The complaint points out that the current exemption should be tossed because the facility isn’t producing electricty — and is doing more harm to the environment than good.
The complaint filed with FERC hopes to essentially create a new exemption, with language that clearly spells out how the Kinneytown Dam system should operate. The complaint also demands immediate repairs to the system.
“Let’s face it, these generating plants have been off-line for some time — one for more than a decade. Without the generation of power, we need to question the role played by this abandoned facility that damages our restored river,” Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary said in a prepared statement. “We are asking FERC to take more direct action against this operator.”
FERC essentially operates as the court system for this complaint. The Valley Indy reached out to Hydroland Omega for comment.
The web slideshow below was produced by NVCOG and the Naugatuck River Restoration Coalition. It walks the reader through the issues at Kinneytown.
