What i want to know is how much money yearly… will the Dam Folk - TopicsExpress



          

What i want to know is how much money yearly… will the Dam Folk pay Pembroke for the right of way? Pembroke Residents Not Sold On Tidal Power Proposal - Aug. 11, 2014 PEMBROKE, Maine (WQDY) -- Residents of Pembroke and others from nearby communities packed the town office last Friday for a public meeting on a controversial tidal power project. Halcyon Tidal Power wants to build the $125 million tidal energy project . It appears to be a dam -- but they call it a barrage -- a 1,600-foot tidal enclosure where the Pennamaquan River meets Cobscook Bay. Last week, company officials met for two days with federal and state regulators in Bangor to tell them about the research it plans to do on potential impacts. Most who spoke at Fridays public meeting were opposed to the project -- some voices cracked with emotion about what could happen to the bay and the creatures in it -- and around it. This is a type of power production thats been around for probably a hundred years, said Ted Verrell, Halcyons CEO. Its not absolutely new technology, we are proposing advancements. Verrell mentioned some of the attendees at the meetings in Bangor last week. We had representatives of FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) , we had other federal agencies as well as state agencies, Department of Marine Resources, US Fish & Wildlife, US Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers, and possibly several others that Ive forgotten. As a matter of fact, there were several of the citizenry of Pembroke there as well offering their input into the study plan, Verrell recalled. L-R, Halcyon officials Ted Verrell and Dr. Ramez Atiya - WQDY NEWS PHOTO Utah physicist Ramez Atiya is Halcyons Chief Technology Officer. Before the public comment, Atiya urged those present, Before forming an opinion, we would like you to wait until the results of these studies are in fact out, so that we can have a dialogue on an informed basis. Verrill estimated that the project would create about 150-200 jobs during construction and that the facility would employ about 40-60 people to operate it and it could even be a tourist attraction. Two representatives of FERC were present taking down the comments from the meeting. Only two people supported the project but many voice opposition or worry that once changes to eco-system were made they couldnt be undone. Many of the public comments were critical of the project saying it would adversely affect their property values, or impact their property directly. Most who spoke included residents, some originally from the area and some retirees who have settled in Pembroke from elsewhere as well as summer residents. The midday meeting may have had more in attendance had it not been for the fact that it was a work day. One man was critical of information he noted on the companys website telling Verrell and Atiya, Id be quite happy to show you incomplete sentences, misspellings, and poor construction which makes someone like me who has a PhD in chemical physics have difficulty understanding them -- whats going on with this project in terms of the science? Another resident asked, since you want to generate a lot of power, why dont you build a barrage across above Reversing Falls? Theres a lot more water going in, theres a lot more water going out, itd generate more power. Atiya responded, What our purpose in building this is to build the smallest project that we could possibly build -- and this is the smallest commercially feasible project. A resident had been holding this sign but then left during the meeting. He propped it up by the door to the town office- WQDY NEWS PHOTO A summer resident asked, if you put all of this money and all of this energy into building this non-dam, if it doesnt work, and it destroys Cobscook Bay and it destroys the basin, are you going to come back and take it out and fix everything that you ruined? Atiya answered, I ask you to wait for the evidence and ask whether you think this is convincing to you or not. Youre giving up absolutes and specifics, youre giving a lot on certain things, and then when we dig into it we find thats not the case at all, one woman charged. Left: FERC representatives observe scene on beach off Leighton Point Road after Fridays public meeting -WQDY NEWS PHOTO Following the meeting, the two FERC representatives took a field trip down the Leighton Point Road and stopped at a property overlooking Smalls Island and the area where the barrage is planned. They hiked down to the beach to see things from that perspective. After that, they continued on to Reversing Falls Park and hiked down to the waters edge to make more observations. One of the FERC representatives, John Baummer, told WQDY NEWS, that Reversing Falls apparently has some tribal connection to it so we wanted to take a look at that. Baummer said Halcyon is in their study development phase now. Theyll prepare their study plans and then once those are finalized, theyll execute their study plans over the course of probably one to two years and then after that well look at the study results and how applicable they are to looking at the resources affected by the project. Baummer thought it was a good meeting. Everyone got their point across. We took notes during the meeting so were taking all these back to FERC with us, Baummer said. STORY/PICTURES: Tom McLaughlin WQDY-WALZ [email protected]
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 22:11:14 +0000

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