Work to remove the Milltown dam continues on schedule towards the target of finishing in spring 2024, according to the New Brunswick Power Commission.
      The provincial electrical utility announced in June 2019 that it planned to remove this dam across the St. Croix River at St. Stephen/Calais, built in 1881 to power the cotton mill at Milltown. NB Power acquired the dam after the cotton mill closed for the last time in 1957.
      It is Canada's oldest hydro electric generating station, but NB Power decided there was no business case to justify the millions of dollars required to upgrade it to produce 4.5 megawatts instead of the three megawatt capacity at the end, especially with the cost of improving the fishway. NB Power turned down offers to buy the dam, contending that private investors could not recover the capital costs upgrading this station would require.
      Removing the dam could cost as much as $20 million, compared to $50 to $60 million to keep it running, according to figures NB Power released in 2019. Removing the dam allows for restoration of approximately 10 miles of the St. Croix River, opening about five million square metres of spawning habitat for alewives and other sea run fish, NB Power Communications specialist Dominique Couture says. "It will also open the area on the St. Croix River for potential recreational and traditional uses," she writes.
      "NB Power will continue to provide safe and reliable electricity to New Brunswickers using other generating assets, power purchase agreements and interprovincial connections. In addition, we will deliver energy efficiency programs to our customers to help support sustainable clean energy solutions," Couture says.
      Environmental, fisheries and Native groups, including the Peskotomuhkati Nation at Skutik, welcome the plan to get rid of the dam blocking the river immediately above the head of tide.
      St. Stephen Mayor Allan MacEachern argued that NB Power could build a better fishway without losing the emissions free power from Milltown.
      At a committee meeting in May, St. Stephen Municipal District Councillor Brian Cornish told NB Power official Phil Landry that the utility should delay starting this project until it presents a complete plan of what the site will look like next year, including details of a proposed legacy structure or museum, the future of the ballfield next to the dam site and plans to remediate contaminated soil. NB Power originally planned to leave the ballfield, but the discovery of contaminated soil in January and February changed that, Landry said in May. He could not say for certain at that point if the ballfield could stay at that site or not.
      Couture says discussions will continue into the fall on the legacy that NB Power will leave in Milltown but, with regulatory approvals in hand from each side of the border, the project will proceed.
      The Milltown hydroelectric station produced power for the last time on June 30, and decommissioning started on July 1, Canada Day, Couture confirms, the date chosen so that work in the river could take place after the annual river herring run. NB Power picked Pennecon Heavy Civil Ltd. based in Newfoundland and Labrador to do this job, but terms of the contract are confidential, Couture says. NB Power ratepayers will ultimately pay the cost.
      The plan requires coffer dams to force water around work areas, first on the Canadian side, then the American. "Work commenced in July with water control activities. The coffer dams are being built and put in place on the Canadian side. In August the gated spillway was removed on the U.S. side, which allowed the water to flow through on the U.S. side of the St. Croix River. Work will continue on the Canadian side to remove the infrastructure, and the U.S. work will continue in December 2023. The work in the river is planned in such a way that the river will be flowing around the work area at all times," Couture explains. The heavier than expected rains this summer have not affected the schedule or costs, she says. The project should not impact traffic and should cause only "minimal disruptions" to residents, Couture says.
      The two employees working at the Milltown station at the time NB Power announced the decommissioning would transfer their skills elsewhere with the utility and could continue living in St. Stephen, Couture says.
      The Milltown dam, barely above the head of tide, is the one farthest downriver on the St. Croix and the only one owned in Canada. The others, including Woodland, Grand Falls, Vanceboro and Forest City on the main stem forming the Canada/United States border, belong to Woodland Pulp LLC of Baileyville.