The utility that operates the Green River Reservoir’s dam announced plans last week to stop using it for electricity, adding another layer to the reservoir’s future, which has remained in question for years.
The reservoir, described by many as a jewel of Vermont wilderness, is located in Hyde Park and is part of one of several hydroelectric facilities operated by Morrisville Water & Light.
At a public meeting last week, representatives from Morrisville Water & Light said they had notified the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Nov. 1 of plans to decommission the dam.
More than 100 attendees tuned into the virtual meeting Wednesday, and many expressed concern about the reservoir’s future. While a range of possibilities exist that would keep the reservoir intact, it’s also possible that the reservoir could be drained — though state officials say that wouldn’t happen soon.
The utility — along with nearly 3,500 people who have signed a petition called “Save the Green River Reservoir State Park” — is urging the state to purchase the dam to help avoid that fate.
“It is our hope that by beginning the decommissioning process, we can have the state purchase the dam,” Penny Jones, manager of Morrisville Water & Light, said Wednesday. “We believe that the influx of federal dollars into Vermont provides the state with a unique opportunity to do this.”
Morrisville Water & Light, a not-for-profit utility that serves around 4,000 customers, must relicense the dam with the federal commission every few decades. When they went to relicense about a decade ago, Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources introduced several regulations that the utility said would make operation financially impossible.
The license expired in 2015, Jones said Wednesday, but the utility has been litigating issues related to the water quality regulations since 2016.
“While we cannot ask Morrisville Water & Light customers to pay for a projected $4.8 million loss to operate the hydro facility, the dam ownership, preservation of the reservoir and the State Park is an appropriate role for the state of Vermont,” Jones said. She added that Washington Electric Co-op uses a dam owned and operated by the state.
Maggie Gendron, deputy secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, said the state needs more information before it could consider purchasing the dam, including a safety assessment that’s scheduled for May 2022.
“In order for the state to consider any sort of investment, that evaluation needs to be completed and presented,” she said. “Absent that engineering assessment, the state cannot have informed discussions, let alone make significant investments.”
The regulations at play define how the utility manages the water that flows from the reservoir into the Green River, and state officials have said the regulations are necessary to keep the ecosystem healthy — it’s home to a number of fish species, including brook trout, brown trout and rainbow trout, along with several nesting loon pairs.
“The federal Clean Water Act requires our Agency of Natural Resources here in Vermont to adopt regulations and implement those that are essentially designed to protect and improve habitat for fish organisms that are in streams,” Gendron told VTDigger.
The utility, however, has argued for years that the regulations go too far, and the litigation reached the state Supreme Court.
The utility had been lowering the water level of the reservoir by 10 feet in the winter, but the state would only allow a 1.5-foot drawdown, drastically reducing the facility’s capacity to produce energy.
The state already owns more than 5,000 acres surrounding the dam — Green River Reservoir State Park — where more than 18,000 people camp every year. With no motorized boat traffic allowed, the reservoir is considered a rare slice of wilderness.
The decommissioning process could cost as much as a million dollars, Jones said Wednesday. It could take several shapes: partial removal of the spillway, which would allow the dam to reach a safe year-round level; opening the gate and allowing the dam to return to its natural condition; or removal of the dam altogether.
Any forthcoming decision will take time, Milford Cushman, who co-founded the Friends of the Green River Reservoir, a nonprofit with 500 members dedicated to its protection, wrote in a recent op-ed in the News & Citizen.
“Decommissioning of the dam will take federal and state permitting, financial analysis and public input — perhaps taking years to resolve,” he wrote Nov. 4. “Turning the dam over or selling it to the state would also be a long and involved process.”
The issue is emotional for many who visit and live near the reservoir. Derek Hallquist, who attended the call Wednesday, said he grew up on the lake.
“I know there’s thousands of people out there who have been positively affected by this reservoir and its natural state,” he said. “It’s an interesting place — an unnatural creation that created a wonderful natural habitat.”
