News stories tagged with "hydropower"

(07/27/11) State environment officials won't remove stop logs from the village of Croghan's historic dam - at least for now. As David Sommerstein reports, the delay comes as Croghan won a $100,000 grant to begin rebuilding the dam. more

(06/20/11) The Lewis County village of Croghan is mounting a last-ditch effort to save its dam on the Beaver River as well as the historic sawmill it powers.

The dam is crumbling and is considered a high hazard by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. State officials said they'll remove the stop logs next month and may breach the dam completely. Local officials say that will leave shoreline residents high and dry, and hurt a grassroots effort to rebuild the dam. David Sommerstein reports. more

(06/08/11) In southwestern New York, a battle is shaping up for one of the Northeast's great hydropower complexes. The Kinzua dam was built 45 years ago by the federal government. In the process, dozens of homes and sacred sites belonging to the Seneca Indian Nation were flooded.

Today, the Seneca Nation is making a bid to take ownership of the dam. It's created an energy company from scratch. And it's investing heavily in its bet to beat out the company that currently runs the dam in the federal dam relicensing process. As the Innovation Trail's Daniel Robison reports, tens of millions of dollars are at stake. more

(03/23/11) Our series on New York's aging infrastructure continues this morning with a look at a crumbling dam in Lewis County and why it threatens a community's identity and culture.

There are more than 5,000 dams in New York State. They're mostly used for flood control, to provide drinking water, for hydropower, and to create lakes and ponds for recreation.

Even dam safety officials don't know how many need repair. But they do know 50 of the most potentially hazardous ones need to be fixed or dismantled.

One of those is on the Beaver River in the village of Croghan. If it can't be fixed, it may force the closure of one of the state's last water-powered sawmills. David Sommerstein reports. more

(03/23/11) David Sommerstein spent some more time with John Martin, the owner and operator of the Croghan Island Mill, and went on a tour. Martin specializes in custom windows and doors...things you can't get at Lowe's or Home Depot.

Martin says his father bought the mill from Lehman & Zehr, the original owners, in 1969.

(03/07/11) Northeast states are increasingly looking to Canada to meet a growing demand for low cost hydro electricity from renewable sources.

But the energy imports are stirring controversy. In northern New Hampshire, local activists are fighting a power line that would send the electricity south. And questions are being raised about whether big hydro is really green.

As part of a collaboration of Northeast stations John Dillon of Vermont Public Radio reports.

Northeast environmental reporting is made possible, in part, by a grant from United Technologies. Northeast environmental coverage is part of NPR's Local News Initiative. more

(02/01/11) The resumption of production at Alcoa's east smelter in Massena is a huge boost to a region that's been battered by the recession. 120 people are back on the pot lines. Alcoa's planning to invest millions of dollars in modernizing the facility.

But there's a sliver of bad news. Alcoa's share of low cost power was going to businesses and farms across the North Country. Yesterday, the New York Power Authority announced those discounts will be phased out. David Sommerstein reports. more

(12/07/10) An historic North Country sound is in danger of disappearing, the rhythmic sound of the wheelhouse of the Croghan Island Mill, one of the only operating mechanical sawmills left in New York. It's dam has been crumbling since the 1980s. And the Department of Environmental Conservation says it needs to be removed. But local residents and St. Lawrence University students are teaming up to try to save it. more

(12/03/10) Forty-five years ago, the federal government built the Kinzua dam on the Alleghany River, just south of the New York border in northwestern Pennsylvania. The government said it was needed to control flooding in the Pittsburgh area.

150 families from the Seneca Nation were forcibly removed from the area. Their homes were burned and bulldozed. Their sacred longhouse and burial grounds were flooded by the rising waters.

This week, the Seneca Nation made a bid to become owner of the Kinzua dam. The federal license of the current operator, FirstEnergy of Akron, Ohio, expires in 2015. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will decide who gets a new 50-year license.

Robert Odawi Porter is the Seneca Nation president. He told David Sommerstein granting the Senecas the license to operate the Kinzua dam would correct what he calls a "grotesque injustice." more

(08/05/10) A program that boosts jobs by giving employers a break on electric bills was left out of the last minute action in the state legislature.

Power for Jobs helps support thousands of workers at hundreds of companies across the state. Funding for the program has run out, and it expired in May. Lawmakers haven't agreed on a new way to keep the supplements going. And they didn't pass a temporary extension as expected either.

One hang-up is potential loss of a small break enjoyed by ratepayers near the state's big hydroelectric facilities in St. Lawrence County. Martha Foley has more.