Natural Resources Council of Maine honors Scott Hall, Richard Fennelly
Two PPL Maine employees who were instrumental in a landmark project to restore fish habitats on the Penobscot River while maintaining hydropower generation received an award Wednesday (10/7) from the Natural Resources Council of Maine.
PPL Maine’s Scott Hall, manager-Environmental Services, and Richard Fennelly, manager-Generating Assets, were honored with the council’s Environmental Award at its 50th anniversary meeting in Portland.
The award cited their leadership and collaboration in the Penobscot River restoration agreement, a historic effort to restore Atlantic salmon, American shad, river herring and several other native sea-run fish while maintaining clean, renewable generation on the river.
The agreement, to which NRCM is a party, will result in the sale of three dams currently owned by PPL to the Penobscot River Restoration Trust. Two of those dams will be removed, and a fish bypass will be built around the third.
At several dams, there will be improved fish passage and the opportunity to add generation capacity at remaining plants to increase the amount of clean, renewable hydroelectricity in Maine.
“Everyone at PPL is proud of the leadership efforts Scott and Dick have demonstrated on this project working with our partners, including the NRCM, and we sincerely appreciate the recognition they, and PPL, have been given,” said Dennis Murphy, vice president and chief operating officer-Eastern Fossil and Hydro for PPL Generation.
“This project touches many people, from the Penobscot Indian Nation, conservation and sporting groups, and residents of the state of Maine,” he said.
Brownie Carson, the council’s executive director, said Hall and Fennelly helped to envision and negotiate “an extraordinary agreement” that will restore access to about 1,000 miles of habitat for 11 sea-run species of native fish.
“With their leadership and the support of PPL Maine, Scott and Dick helped to find common ground in a decadeslong debate over the relicensing of multiple dams on the Penobscot,” Carson said. “Their leadership marked a sea change in efforts to better balance sea-run fisheries with hydropower production. The benefits to wildlife, the Gulf of Maine, and the recreational, cultural and economic health of our communities will be felt for generations.”
PPL will sell to the Penobscot River Restoration Trust its Veazie, Great Works and Howland hydroelectric plants on the Penobscot River. The sale is part of a June 2004 agreement with the restoration trust — a coalition of environmental groups, government agencies and the Penobscot Indian Nation.
PPL has agreed to sell the remaining dams it owns in Maine to Black Bear Hydro Partners, LLC, an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners, LLC, subject to the receipt of various state and federal regulatory approvals and consents.
PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL), headquartered in Allentown, Pa., owns or controls more than 12,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States, sells energy in key U.S. markets and delivers electricity to about 4 million customers in Pennsylvania and the United Kingdom.
Established in 1959, NRCM is the leading environmental advocacy organization in Maine with 12,000 members and activists. It is based in Augusta and works on healthy watersheds, clean energy, North Woods conservation and toxic chemical reduction. NRCM is a founding member of the Penobscot River Restoration Trust, which includes the Penobscot Indian Nation and American Rivers, the Atlantic Salmon Federation, Maine Audubon, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, The Nature Conservancy and Trout Unlimited.
NRCM presents its environmental awards annually to individuals and organizations that have made extraordinary contributions to protecting Maine’s environment.