U.S.-Ordered Demolition of Dam Starts
As church bells pealed Thursday, a torrent of water was unleashed through a man-made gap in the 162-year-old Edwards Dam in the first U.S. government-ordered demolition of a dam in the name of conservation.
The removal of the hydroelectric dam opens an upstream stretch of the Kennebec River to Atlantic salmon and other fish for the first time since the 1830s. It is seen as a precedent for other projects, particularly in the West, where some dams have been targeted for similar fates.
The 917-foot-wide Edwards Dam is made of timber, rock and concrete. It will take until November before the demolition is complete.
The dam, which produced only a small amount of electricity, is the first to be forcibly removed under a policy that weighs power needs against environmental protection.
“I just watched a river being reborn. You don’t get to see that every day,” said Margaret Bowman of American Rivers, which urged the dam’s removal.
Energy groups were not so moved.
“Our concern is the level of celebration and whether we’re going to get caught up in a sort of dam hysteria that would lead to the removal of other projects without doing the thorough analysis that’s necessary,” said Linda Church Ciocci, executive director of the National Hydropower Assn.
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