Photo by Jean Falbo-Sosnovich
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal addresses the media during a press conference Friday.
SEYMOUR — U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D‑CT) and some of his fellow colleagues are urging the owners of the Kinneytown Dam to fix it or shut it down because they say it poses a threat to the environment.
Blumenthal held a press conference Friday (Oct. 22) near the banks of the Naugatuck River off Derby Avenue, with the Kinneytown Dam and its failed fish ladder in the background. The fish ladder is a system that is supposed to enable fish to get around the dam. He told a group of Valley officials and environmental advocates that he along with other state lawmakers are pushing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to revoke the operating license exemption held by Kinneytown Hydro Company, Inc. which, in turn, is owned by Hydroland Omega, LLC.
Click here for a previous Valley Indy story.
“Over the last 20 years, the dam failed to make fish passage possible, and the (fish bypass ladder) is a total abject failure,” Blumenthal said. “The owners have known this and failed to do anything about it.”
Last month, three organizations — The Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments, Save the Sound and the Naugatuck River Revival Group — began steps to take legal action against Hydroland, alleging the dam and accessory, electric-generating structures appear abandoned, dilapidated, pose a threat to neighbors and prevent fish from spawning in parts of the Naugatuck River.
Blumenthal, along with U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and U.S. Reps. Johanna Hayes, Jim Himes and Rosa DeLauro, sent a letter to FERC Oct. 21, in support of the lawsuit. Blumenthal said Hydroland has been on notice for several months from FERC, which is responsible for licensing the dam and overseeing its operations, to explain the situation and to comply with directives from state and federal resource agencies, but to no avail.
“The (dam) owner has failed to respond to FERC, and has taken no action, and that’s why we are seeking to revoke its exemption and force the dam to close,” Blumenthal said. “The Naugatuck River is a source of immense wildlife habitat, except with the fish being blocked, it’s effecting jobs, the economy, the ecosystem and well-being of the people that live in these communities.”
The dam currently blocks fish from traveling upstream to spawn. By taking action to allow for restoration of native fish migratory grounds, hundreds of thousands of native fish species would be able to return to native spawning grounds upstream. A $6.3 million fish bypass channel that was built more than 20 years ago at Kinneytown was improperly designed, according to NVCOG Executive Director Rick Dunne, and blocks fish from traveling upstream. And the two small hydroelectric powerhouses associated with the dam in both Seymour and Ansonia are not operational.
Millions of dollars have been expended over the years to remove old Naugatuck River dams along the 45-mile stretch and replace them with fish bypass channels in an effort to restore the river. But it’s money that wasn’t well spent.
“This dam is a very efficient killing machine,” said Kevin Zak, founder of the Naugatuck River Revival Group. “Juvenile fish are preyed upon when they come up to this dam and are unable to pass.”
Zak has spent the last 10 years documenting the plight of fish unable to pass through the dam, including through underwater videography. Click here for a story on Zak’s quest.
Blumenthal said if a fisherman was caught fishing with an out of date license, he’d be kicked off the river, yet he has a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that 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 joint complaint points out that the current exemption should be tossed because the facility isn’t producing electricity — and is doing more harm to the environment than good.
“Taxpayers have invested millions of dollars and that investment has been betrayed by the (dam) owners,” Blumenthal said. “It is the owner’s responsibility to shut down the dam, or fix it, it’s their choice.”
An engineer for Hydroland, who would only give his first name as “Don,” to local media following the press conference, said the request to either fix the dam or shut it down “is reasonable.” He said the company is “making reasonable efforts to do the necessary work,” and will await a decision by FERC “based in fact” about its course of action. He did say the Seymour facility produces 1.5 megawatts of energy, enough to power 800 homes.
“They can either fix it, or take it down,” she said. “Talk is cheap, so they need to put their money where their mouth is,” said Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis.
State Rep. Jorge Cabrera on hand at Friday’s event agreed that Hydroland must act.
“The company must be held accountable, and it is so critical that we continue to hold their feet to the fire and make sure they do the right thing,” Cabrera said.
