HYDRO SITES GET SECOND LOOK

A Massachusetts company has applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build hydroelectric plants on the Black River at Felts Mills and Great Bend.

Free Flow Power Corp., Gloucester, Mass., has applications under Qualified Hydro 22 LLC and Qualified Hydro 23 LLC to take over the sites previously considered by Brookfield Renewable Power, Toronto.

Brookfield surrendered its preliminary permits for the sites Sept. 30.

"Through our screening processes, it has been determined that this site is no longer compatible with our interests," Brookfield engineer Jeffrey M. Auser wrote in a letter to FERC.

Free Flow Power Corp. filed preliminary applications, basically placeholders while site investigation is done. FERC will determine whether those applications are complete and then open the request for public comment.

According to the commission, a preliminary permit allows the developer only to conduct feasibility studies. Construction and operation of a project require a license, which cannot be granted until after a separate process.

Jon Guidroz, director of project development at Free Flow Power, said the developer will use the preliminary permit to investigate the sites, if it is granted.

"Free Flow Power will be studying many facets of the project, including ways to incorporate hydrokinetics into the plans," he said in an e-mail. "I think this is a key difference from any previous proposals."

Hydrokinetics uses turbines that are driven by the natural movement of water instead of water released through a dam.

The company will evaluate the existing structures, look for the best project configuration, determine the best equipment, fine-tune energy production projections, identify environmental impacts and mitigation measures, determine which structures can be rehabilitated and estimate costs for economic feasibility.

The applications said the two projects would have a total capacity of 13 megawatts and are expected to produce about 64,500 megawatt-hours per year.

In Great Bend, the electricity producer is applying to build a dam at the site of the partially breached dam just upstream of the Route 26 bridge over the Black River. The reservoir created by the dam would cover 220 acres and extend 2.3 miles upstream, two miles short of the Deferiet hydroelectric dam.

In Felts Mills, the company said its plan is to rebuild the partially breached Felts Mills dam at Mill Island. The reservoir created by the dam would cover about 140 acres and reach 2.5 miles upstream almost to the Great Bend project.

The two could connect to a National Grid 115-kilovolt line at a substation on Fort Drum or at a new substation.

According to Times archives, opposition to similar projects began as early as 1992. Some environmental groups, state agencies and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have opposed projects based on the threat of environmental damage.

Kevin Colburn is national stewardship director at American Whitewater, a North Carolina-based river conservation group.

"American Whitewater generally does not support the construction of new dams. We do often support additions of hydropower generation to non-hydro dams, capacity additions to existing dams, and efficiency upgrades at existing dams," he said in an e-mail. "There is simply no need to sacrifice free flowing rivers for small amounts of hydropower."

Watertown resident Steven S. Massaro has been a strong supporter of more recreational opportunities on the Black River for at least 20 years and is the director of New York Rivers. He said he wants to see that section of the Black River declared a wild, scenic or recreation river under the state's Wild, Scenic and Recreation Rivers Act. The program is managed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

The law protects "designated rivers in a free-flowing condition, protecting them from improvident development and use."

"I'm not against hydropower," Mr. Massaro said.

But he said there are about 28 dams on the Black River. He said the old dams in the river should be removed.

"They're eyesores and navigation hazards," he said. "Right now, they're a big problem because you have to portage around the impediments."

He said that section of the river is prime recreational water, partly because of its proximity to Fort Drum and Watertown.

"We need to keep it free-flowing, wild and scenic so our children and grandchildren can use it and enjoy the scenery," he said.

ON THE NET:

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission filings: www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/

elibrary.asp