The New Brunswick Power Corp. plans to decommission and remove the oldest hydroelectric dam in Canada. NB Power announced late in June that it will seek approval to remove the Milltown Generating Station, which has blocked the St. Croix River at Salmon Falls between St. Stephen and Calais since about 1881.
     Staff with the provincial utility planned to send representatives to St. Stephen Town Council committee meetings on July 10 and for an open house at the Royal Canadian Legion hall on July 11. "We are very conscious of the fact that it's been there for 140 years," NB Power Executive Director of Generation and Engineering Phil Landry says in an interview. However, the dam, generators and fishway need major capital investments that would never pay for themselves, he says. "You're talking about tens of millions of dollars. There's no business case there at all."
     The dam was built to power the Milltown cotton mill through a series of pulleys and line shafts. A rope‑drive electrical generator was installed in 1887 to provide lighting to the mill. Generation expanded to provide power to surrounding communities on both sides of the border, according to information compiled by local historian Darren McCabe. NB Power took over the generation station after the cotton mill closed for the last time in 1957.
     The dam has seven generation units -- three of them not working -- providing 0.8% of NB Power's hydroelectric production capacity, Landry says. NB Power has net generation capacity of 3,790 megawatts comprised of 1,716 MW of thermal, 889 MW of hydro and 525 MW of combustion turbine capacity, plus 705 MW from nuclear power, according to information on the utility's website. Against this small amount of emissions‑free generation, Landry sees a bigger environmental gain in allowing 16 kilometers of the St. Croix River to run free again.
     Landry says he might not come to the same business and environmental conclusions about reinvesting in the Mactaquac Dam on the St. John River, which provides much more emissions‑free power but wreaks havoc with what was once a major salmon river.
     Removing the Milltown dam would restore Salmon Falls and open five million square meters of spawning areas for diadromous fish, Landry says.

Community reactions mixed
     “Initially, shocking. It's an important piece of history in our community," St. Stephen Mayor Allan MacEachern says. "It's one more thing Milltown's losing." However, the mayor says he might be convinced if NB Power can present hard facts showing that the benefits of removing the dam outweigh keeping it. "I think it's a huge loss, but I'm a numbers guy," he says.
     Eastern Charlotte Waterways Executive Director Donald Killorn needs no convincing. "The ecological implications are very positive and the stakes are very high," he says. "I think it shows that NB Power took a fair and balanced approach to the future of the dam. I think they arrived at the correct decision."
     So does Nathan Wilbur, director of New Brunswick Programs with the Atlantic Salmon Federation. Removing the dam would open fish passage leaving "one less industrial relic on the river," he says. Salmon people would remove all dams if they had their way. "Yep, we would. If there's no case to be made that it's absolutely necessary, what we want to see is dam removal," he says.
     Passamaquoddy people also want the dam gone, says Hugh Akagi, chief of the Peskotomuhkati Nation at Skutik. He explains, "This will help the return of 11 sea run fish species such as the alewives, shad and eels. These fish have traditionally used the Skutik [St. Croix] river watershed to swim past the current dam site to spawning grounds and their habitat. This has been challenging since the dam was built in the late 1800s, but now NB Power's plan will restore this portion of the river to its natural environment."
     "We have continuously advocated for the health of our rivers, wildlife and the people who use them. We look forward to seeing the return of Salmon Falls to its original state. This has been a priority of our ongoing discussions with the federal and provincial governments and is a positive example of the reconciliation process. We are pleased with this demonstration of respect for Peskotomuhkati rights and beliefs. It acknowledges our traditional territory and the nature we have lived in harmony with for thousands of years."
     He adds, "We are looking forward to more discussions with NB Power over the coming weeks and months. We also look forward to learning how this restoration effort can reestablish the entire circle of life and be a benefit to nearby residents who fish and tourists who enjoy New Brunswick's natural beauty."
     McCabe the historian admits to "mixed emotions." He says, "It's kind of like a bomb gets dropped on the community. I think it caught everyone by surprise." The dam is "the last remnant of the cotton mill" from Milltown's glory days. However, the notion of seeing Salmon Falls as it was intrigues him, and he sees a chance for rapprochement with the Passamaquoddy. "In seven generations we've never seen a run on the river," he says. "Salmon Falls has got a history that goes back thousands of years before the cotton mill was built."
     The Passamaquoddy came up the river every year to fish at Salmon Falls millennia before Europeans arrived. This border community, certainly Milltown, sits literally on top of Passamaquoddy history. "What I would like to see is a win‑win for everybody," McCabe says, suggesting a "demonstration site" highlighting both power generation and ancient history at Salmon Falls. "I don't know what that falls would even look like," he says. "I think there is a whole lot of opportunity there once that run of the river is opened." He wants a plan to "respect the total history of the site," he says. "We're both here; you know, that's the way the world is."
     The St. Croix International Waterway Commission, which operates a counting trap at the Milltown Dam, reported 485,699 river herring -- alewives and blueback herring -- headed upriver to spawn this year as of July 4, well above the 270,568 reported to the same date last year but far below the tens of millions in the 19th century.
     Woodland Pulp opened the fishway on the West Grand Lake Dam on June 5, opening more of the St. Croix watershed to river herring and other sea run fish. The company intends to keep and operate this dam as well as ones at Woodland, Grand Falls and Vanceboro, but still hopes the state can take ownership of the Forest City Dam, according to Scott Beal, Woodland Pulp's environment and security manager.
     The International Joint Commission's St. Croix Watershed Board will stay updated on the proposal to remove the Milltown Dam, Senior Water Quality and Ecosystems Advisor Robert Phillip in Ottawa says in a written statement. The commission, which administers the Canada/United States Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, wants more details on impacts on the river's ecosystem, water levels and flows, he says.

Next steps
     NB Power plans to register the project this summer for a provincial environmental impact assessment, a first step towards approval. Once registered, the project must go through a determination review to identify and evaluate environmental issues and concerns, according to Erika Jutras of the Department of Environment and Local Government. The proponent must submit a document describing the project, anticipated environmental impacts and ways to mitigate them.      
     The proponent must provide opportunity for the public, First Nations and others to comment, she says.
     The minister ultimately decides whether to allow the project, possibly subject to conditions; order a comprehensive review if the minister feels the proposal needs more study; or recommend that the government deny the project.