2024/2025 Connecticut River Report

From its beginning in 2022, the Connecticut River Committee has been focused on the relicensing of five hydroelectric facilities in the Connecticut River. Two of those facilities are in Massachusetts: the dam at Turners Falls and the Northfield Mountain pumped storage facility. In April 2024, LWVA submitted a statement to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), a statement based on our existing regional League Connecticut River position, was adopted in 1965/1966 yet still amazingly relevant to many of today’s issues.

The next focus was on the work of the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) which needed to respond to the relicensing request by FirstLight under federal Section 401 water quality provisions. LWVA submitted a statement, again based on our existing position, to DEP in February 2025. DEP approved FirstLight’s application, with conditions, in March 2025. That decision has been appealed by Connecticut River Conservancy. Stay tuned for a future decision in that case.

In the course of dealing with the relicensing projects, it became increasingly clear to the committee that while the 60-year-old position was still relevant to many of today’s issues, there were two major gaps. First, because climate change was not much of an issue in the 1960s, the adopted position did not deal with it. Second, the pumped storage facility did not exist in the 1960s (it was constructed in the 1970’s). The League committee has been working this year on updating the existing position and making it more relevant to today’s and future issues. We aim to have consensus meetings in the fall. Please stay tuned.

Contact Elizabeth Davis for more information.