MED Clears Hurdle On Hydro

MASSENA - The Massena Electric Department has cleared a major hurdle in their efforts to build a hydroelectric dam on the Grasse River.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has determined MED's environmental and community impact studies are complete and that the utility is ready to begin drafting a formal application for a federal license to operate their proposed facility.

MED must have a FERC operating license in order to build the dam and eventually produce energy there.

The utility has been studying various attributes of the river and ways their proposed hydroelectric facility might impact those attributes for four years.

Study teams have investigated potential impacts to fish and animal populations - including special studies conducted on mussels, small organisms consumed by fish and threatened species like lake sturgeon - as well as possible shoreline erosion, flooding and ice impacts and the effects the project might have on municipal water and sewer systems, water quality and cultural resources.

FERC requires that those looking to construct an energy generation facility of this type complete such studies prior to submitting a license application in order to ensure projects being considered by the federal agency have been properly vetted.

Agencies and groups deemed to have a interest in the project are also included in this study process. In addition to working with FERC on their studies, MED has involved a number of other stakeholders, including the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe.

Over the past several years, those groups have raised a number of concerns pertaining to MED's studies, requested that additional data be provided on certain topics and asked for more in-depth investigations of certain issues. In a series of letters and meetings with stakeholders and FERC, MED has addressed those concerns and added or expanded studies accordingly.

But in a 27-page report issued by FERC last week, federal officials determined MED's investigations up to this point are sufficient and that any lingering stakeholder questions can be addressed when the utility makes a formal application to FERC for a license.

"The response FERC gave us validates the work we've done," MED Superintendent Andrew J. McMahon said of this month's ruling. "It accepts what we've done as being complete and corroborates that we've adequately characterized the river so we can begin to design the facility.

"Everything that we've been asked to do, we've done."

While FERC officials recognized in their ruling that there were still points of disagreement between MED and some stakeholders on the impacts of damming the Grasse River in Massena, the federal agency has decided not to require that MED add or change the studies they have completed in order to address those concerns.

For example, the DEC was not satisfied with studies done on the impact of the dam on ice flowing through that section of the river.

The dam would be located upstream from the old Alcoa power house, an EPA-designated brownfield area where a section of riverbed is known to be contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls. The DEC argued it was not clear from MED's studies how the dam would impact contaminated soils there and how the ice control opportunities created by the dam would impact Alcoa's plans to remediate that section of the river.

FERC's ruling acknowledges this concern, but points out that, while Alcoa's remediation plans for the site would be useful information to include in MED's license application, a debate about the merits of each remediation option was outside of the scope of MED's required investigations.

Instead, MED will be asked to touch on those concerns, and many others, as part of their license application.

It is still unclear just how long it will take MED to prepare a full license proposal to FERC, which will also need to include more detailed blueprints for the physical design of the dam and plans to prevent or mitigate any environmental or cultural damage caused by the facility, Mr. McMahon said.

MED will need to meet with project partner Alcoa to consider options for moving forward, Mr. McMahon noted. Alcoa has contributed $2.83 million of the $5.34 million spent on the project to date.