The Vermont Renewable Power Supply Acquisition Authority will hold a public hearing on the potential purchase of the dams on the Connecticut and Deerfield Rivers. The hearing will take place on Wednesday, April 7, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the Wilmington Town Hall (2 East Main Street).
The legislature created the Authority to study the feasibility of buying the dams and, if feasible, negotiating to buy them.
The chair of the Renewable Power Supply Acquisition Authority is currently negotiating with a large energy company to form a partnership to buy the dams. Vermont would be a minority partner and get less than half the power.
A little history:
The dams were built in the early 1900s when most Vermonters wanted, but did not yet have electricity. They were built by a group of Massachusetts electric companies which faced growing demand for electricity, but had run out of rivers to dam.
The companies bought up and removed the small dams and mills on the tributaries of the Connecticut River and built the large storage and generation dams still in place today. They also built transmission lines south to Massachusetts and exported all the electricity.
Vermont tried to force the dam owners to sell power in Vermont. The dam owners went to federal court which ruled that it was a matter of "interstate commerce" over which Vermont had no jurisdiction.
The small dams and mills had powered local industry and provided jobs. The big new dams flooded the best valley bottom farmland. Vermonters were left with a damaged economy and without the electricity they wanted.
The loss of what was called Vermont's "White Coal" (because the undammed rivers had white water rapids) was an enormous scandal and hot political issue. It was also one of the biggest economic disasters in Vermont's history. Instead of having access to this cheap renewable energy, we have had to import expensive fossil fuels and electricity and rely on nuclear power.
A few years ago, electric restructuring in Massachusetts forced Massachusetts electric companies to sell their generation, the dams included. Pacific, Gas and Electric National Energy Group bought the entire system but went into bankrupcy last year. The whole generation system, dams included, is now up for sale.
The acceptance of Rockingham's offer to buy the Bellows Falls Dam demonstrated that the dams can be sold separately from the rest of the system.
These dams produce enough power to provide 25% of Vermont's annual electric requirement. This is only the second time in almost 100 years that they have been put up for sale. It could be decades before they are for sale again.
Vermont will lose 80 percent of current electric supply contracts between 2012 and 2016. The dams could replace almost a third of this. The power they produce is particularly valuable because for most of the year, hydropower can be turned up and down to fill periods of expensive peak demand.
The sale of the dams is an historical opportunity to reclaim this valuable natural resource which is our natural heritage. It would also be a giant step toward the use of renewables and energy independence. The power from the dams could lower our electric rates and power economic development and job creation far into the future.
If Vermont does not act now and buy the dams, they will be bought by a large out of state energy corporation that will continue to sell the power into the regional market.
If the Authority continues on its present path, Vermont will end up with minority ownership or no ownership at all. I encourage you to attend this meeting and tell the Authority what you would like to see.
Steve Darrow
sdarrow@leg.state.vt.us
www.stevedarrow.com