SAVE THE DATE!
Thursday October 10 6:00 pm
Shea Theater, 71 Avenue A Great Falls MA
The public will have a very important opportunity to state their objections to the relicensing of Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage by participating in the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP)’s “Public Information Session” on Thursday October 10,
6:00 pm at the Shea Theater, 71 Avenue A, Great Falls MA. Mass State officials will make presentations and answer questions from the public. (See the DEP at the end of this announcement).
YOUR ATTENDANCE at this event is critical! Our river needs a mass of people to show up to let them know that we hold them accountable to make a factual and honest determination
about whether FirstLight is in violation of the Clean Water Act and other environmental laws, as it is. Based on their studies they decide whether to grant a water quality certificate (WQC) to FirstLight.
We know that the Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Facility is a false solution to climate change. It uses electricity generated by dirty energy to pump river water uphill with all life trapped in it to the upper reservoir with a magnitude of force that yanks the river upstream, killing river life, eroding the banks and destroying the ecosystem. All this worsening our ability to mitigate the onslaught of lifetimes: climate and biodiversity emergency.
Recently, rare and endangered sturgeon have been rescued as they were found struggling and suffering in the vicinity of the Turners Fall Dam on the Connecticut River. It is our job to put a stop to this inhumane project and protect the river and its ecosystem from these abuses.
WE CAN SPEAK LOUDLY FOR RIVER! STAY TUNED for information about how we will make our voices heard at this event. CRD position has been clear; SHUT IT DOWN NOW! RESTORE the RIVER, and LAND BACK.
Here is the info from DEP’s website (for the complete page see
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/401-wqc-for-the-firstlight-hydroelectric-re-licensing-project)
Public Information Session
a. As the second opportunity for public participation, MassDEP will hold a public information session on October 10, 2024, starting at 6:00 pm at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls. The public information session will be an opportunity for MassDEP to present preliminary information about the WQC and answer questions from the public. The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and Massachusetts Department of Recreation will also present information and take questions.
b. The public information session will also have a virtual component with an opportunity to watch the session and submit written questions (there will be no ability to ask questions verbally). This webpage will be updated to provide registration information. which is required for virtual participants and optional for
Spring 2024 Action Update
What’s Happening Now!
Abbreviations:
- FERC = Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
- WQC = Water Quality Certificate
- MassDEP = Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
- FL = FirstLight Power
- NMPS = Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station
FirstLight has filed a WQC with the MassDEP, a FERC requirement for licensure. MassDEP is required to review this application to determine how FL intends to operate NMPS in the future and crucially, whether FL meets the standards of the Federal Clean Water Act. NMPS was given its first 50 year license to operate prior to the passing of the Clean Water Act in 1972. FL’s present application is the first licensing sought for NMPS under the requirements of the Clean Water Act.
Connecticut River Defenders and those we have spoken to who are knowledgeable about this matter do not believe that NMPS can operate within the mandates of the Clean Water Act. It’s time for MassDEP to hear from us! It is those of us, the people who live here, who experience first hand the impacts to the river by FirstLight. We must inform MassDEP of our opposition to FL’s relicensing application and demand that the WQC be denied. The Clean Water Act, among other things, requires that the natural flow of waterways not be interfered with. NMPS does not meet this requirement!
MassDep offers two ways to submit our comments: Online, and/or at a Public Hearing where we can speak directly to them in the “Public Comment and Public Hearing Period”. This is the time for us to make known to the DEP the truths about NMPS and demand that FL be denied a WQC.
HOW TO SUBMIT WRITTEN COMMENTS: For instructions, go to DEP’s website: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/401-wqc-for-the-firstlight-hydroelectric-re-licensing-project#public-involvement-in-401-wqc-process- The deadline for these comments is June 3, 2024
HOW TO ATTEND A HEARING AND REGISTER TO SPEAK: There are two hearings currently scheduled; use these links to sign up:
May 29, 2024 beginning at 1:30 p.m. — Remote Only
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_n2c7s5dJQqSJZ1ebMhWKNw#/registration
May 29, 2024, beginning at 7:00 p.m. — Remote Only
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TTGkjrLOT_qBnjxtUiDWmg#/registration
SUMMARY OF THE CLEAN WATER ACT: https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act#:~:text=33%20U.S.C.%20%C2%A71A251%20et,quality%20standards%20for%20surface%20waters.
Want help submitting comments or speaking? Here are some suggestions. Also, see our Media page.
- NMPS violates the Clean Water Act. The Connecticut River is used as the bottom reservoir for NMPS’s daily operations (First Light calls the 20+miles from the Turners Falls Dam to the Vernon Dam the ”lower pond”) Local ecologists refer to this area as the “dead river” due to the impact on the river ecosystem which relies on a downstream current to thrive.
- The action of 4 huge Francis bi-directional turbines located in the center of a carved out mountain pumps 7 to 8 three story houses filled with river amid aquatic life per second to a commodified hilltop reservoir on Northfield Mountain. The massive force to pulls the river 3 miles backwards and 850 ft uphill using energy it takes from the grid. It kills countless numbers of fish, larvae and aquatic denizens in the process. Of the 26 known fish species only several are monitored (among them American shad and eels).
- When NMPS is “generating”, redundant or reproduced energy is returned to the grid at a net loss of 34%. It takes more fossil and nuclear energy to operate the pump storage than it gives back. The lost energy alone is enough to light up several towns.
- Between the damage to the ecosystem from the severe pulling and release, causing erosion to the banks and the displacement of silt off the river bottom by the action of the turbines, the river is impeded in its natural functions. Living Rivers Flow Downstream!
- When NMPS releases water, it surges and adds silt and debris to the water, changing the temperature and penetration of sunlight and oxygen exchanges in the water. This erosion damages prime agricultural lands and covers sensitive Tribal gathering and spiritual sites.
- NMPS produces no net or virgin energy. In the final analysis NMPS loses 34% of the energy it took from the grid to operate the pumps, using fossil fuels. Think of the number of houses and businesses that could run on all that wasted energy. This is not green. Why would we do that for another 50 years?
- FL is making enormous profits that have been shielded by registering it in Delaware. When required to report one year of profits to FERC, FL reported profits of $158m for 2019. FL is also awarded forward capacity payments, which are large sums of money to be available to provide energy to the grid in times of peak emergency demand. The public, which pays for this, is not allowed to know when or for how long FL is being asked to be available for peak demand, nor how much the NMPS is actually used during these times, bringing into question the economic abuse of destroying the Connecticut River. How often and how much power is generated are unanswered questions.
- After 6 plus years of operating with an extended license FL offers a net barrier at the intake to be used during migration and spawning. In the accepted agreement with FERC they have 10 years before installing the proposed net which has not been studied well and will collect silt and still allow smaller fish eggs and larvae to be dragged up to the grinding turbines.
- We need truth and transparency from FL, the regulating agencies and the elected officials that are charged with serving the public. This river destroying operation is not clean energy and should not be advertised as such. Since it went online in 1972 it has been in violation of the Clean Water Act.
- Until this treacherous outdated behemoth NMPS is decommissioned and river restoration is prioritized we are at heightened risk of losing this life line of New England, promoting loss of endangered species; short nose sturgeon for one, and contributing to climate chaos by the deadly hidden and ongoing use of fossil fuels and nuclear power.
- FirstLight essentially parceled out the river to shareholders. Recreation, Tribal Rights, Fish, Water, Nature conservancy, CT. River conservancy, Town of Montaque, etc. Further FL added a silence clause so they could not talk to each other or press about details, later in an amended principal of agreement FL added that signers voice support for FirstLight when engaged with the public. Some did not sign on including tribal and river con for their own reasons. Connecticut River Defenders are the only group that are saying no-compromise. Shut it Down. No to another 50 or 30 years would kill the river.
Our state and federal governments continue to maintain policies which aim to meet the desire for “energy on demand”; policies which are as unsustainable today as they have been for a long time. Our governments have failed to provide transparent and realistic policies with guidance and incentives toward energy reduction.
For all of these reasons FL’s WQC should be denied by MassDEP. Our governments, public agencies and FL have failed in their due diligence with regard to the Climate Emergency. The risks to the river, its ecosystem and ourselves have not honestly nor transparently been evaluated and MassDEP must responsibly deny the relicensure of the NMPS.
For the complete “Public Involvement Timeline see: https://www.mass.gov/doc/massdep-firstlight-water-quality-certification-public-involvement-timeline/download
Comments can still be submitted to FERC. See below.
ONGOING ACTIONS: Things you and I can do NOW to SAVE the Connecticut River from destruction:
#1 Send letters to FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) to let them know you strongly oppose relicensing Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station. Let them know what a living river means to you. SEND e-comments to FERC: www.ferc.gov. Go to: eFile, then to eComment. Make sure you use the FERC Project number, P-2485, for the Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station. Use it exactly as printed. Continue through the FERC registration and make your on-the-record position clear vs. Northfield Mountain, P-2485. (For any issues regarding FERC Online, please contact ferconlinesupport@ferc.gov or call 866-208-3676)
#2 Write to Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
NOTE: IN THE CRITICAL WATER QUALITY CERTIFICATION PERIOD, PLEASE SEE OUR SUGGESTIONS ABOVE (“Spring 2024 Action Update”)
DEP’s website states: “Our mission is to protect and enhance the Commonwealth’s natural resources—air, water, and land, to provide for the health, safety, and welfare of all people, and to ensure a clean and safe environment for future generations” WE must hold our public officials accountable. FirstLight’s impact on the river is in direct violation of the Clean Water Act of 1972. MassDEP activities have been insufficient over the past 50 years in fully evaluating the vital signs of the Connecticut River Ecosystem as the life has literally been sucked out of its waters.
Our Demands: Hold MassDEP Meetings both online and in-person, in Western MA, near Northfield. Local individuals are most affected and must have a right to easy access to comment in an open forum. Second, uphold all aspects of the Clean Water Act (CWA), including: fish and flows passage, NO erosion and silt columns, NO disruption of Native Nations’ lands and Sacred Sites, NO death to aquatic life pulled into the deadly turbines including endangered species such as the short nose sturgeon, NO oil spills, and NO disrupting the natural downstream flow of the river and its ecology.
To access DEP’s 401-WQC website go to: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/401-wqc-for-the-firstlight-hydroelectric-re-licensing-project
#3 Write letters to state officials: Write to David.hilgeman@state.mass.us and include (cc): Melissa Hoffer, Climate Chief: Melissa.Hoffer@mass.gov and Stephanie Cooper, Undersecretary for the Environment, Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs: Stephanie.Cooper3@state.ma.us For a listing of state senators and representatives, see https://www.mass.gov/topics/legislative-branch to find their contact information.
Let them know that Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage (NMPS) is a false solution to our Climate Emergency. It is dirty energy and does not bring us closer to Net Zero by 2050. NMPS sacrifices a river to destroy our futures.