DEFENDING A RIVER UNDER SIEGE
On this winter solstice I am reminded of a time in June, during the longest days, when the Connecticut River Defenders formed to be a resounding voice for the river we all love. A small eager lifeline was tossed.
We cannot separate the demise of our rivers, forests and delicate ecosystems from the impact of European colonizers and the predominant economy which favors exploitation, extraction and huge profit over all else. Even life itself. The historic suffering and torture on this river is wide and deep and persists into today. Now it is our turn, our call to answer, and to join together.
The river defenders are an outgrowth of decades of work which many of you have led or taken part in over more than a decade on bridges and in the streets. We are grandparents, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, researchers, scientists, journalists and all those who love what is natural and free. We yearn for our river, our planet, and in turn ourselves to be healed to recover.
Since becoming a group we have gone to public events to educate and inform local folks about our troubled waters; the shady deal being hammered out that would relicense North Mountain Pumped Storage Facility, and the carnage it brings to the river for another 50 years. This is not green energy, it’s three dams from Montague to Bellow Falls, along with the daily operations of the pumped storage wreaking havoc on delicate ecosystems and ravaging biodiversity. It takes dirty energy from off the grid to run these deadly mechanisms. Ms. Alicia Barton, CEO of FirstLight Power, Inc. is somehow allowed to call this clean green energy? And even earn brownie points for what? We have begun our work with other groups and individuals seeking to raise the alarm and to define what is truly green energy.
We speak boldly to an energy giant such as FirstLight and to ISO New England, which runs the power grid; It comes as no surprise that their CEO earns more than $2 million a year in salary and benefits working for a nonprofit, and voices support of coal and other fossil fuels, while our river dies. We cannot make a deal with these false arbiters of the river’s well being. We celebrate the integrity, decency and respect returned to Klamath River in Oregon, and hope the same for our very own National Heritage River.
Since forming in June we now have a website (CTriverdefenders.org) and a petition which garnered over 135 electronic signatures that were recently submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission demanding no re-licensing. We are growing and learning about the rights of nature separate and whole from human activity or demand. The sense of our power as individuals to rise as a collective voice cannot be diminished or overlooked.
As we join our passion, our hearts and minds; the force of our collective efforts like the river can change the course of what seems impossible, impenetrable and overly funded. We have a chance of stopping the deadliest monster on the Connecticut River from re-licensing. We can right this wrong, and take one more step forward for the river, for ourselves and for the creatures who generously share this planet with us.
As a way to keep grounded and strong in this struggle I literally wear my grandson’s shoes. This reminds me for whom we have a mandate: to leave a better legacy; a viable livable future. On these darkest of nights a sense of hope is kindled, our rivers are being heard!
Dorothea (dodi) Melnicoff lives in Greenfield.
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11/01/22 Priscilla Lynch Statement to Board of Directors of ISO New England
Board of Directors, ISO New England
Directors,
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. We are speaking on behalf of the Connecticut River and in response to the ongoing devastating Climate Emergency, both of which we believe you have a responsibility to prioritize and act upon in your capacity as Directors of ISO New England. We are speaking in opposition to ISO’s engagement with FirstLight and its Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station.
The Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station has been destroying the ecosystem of the Connecticut River for over 50 years. As we are certain you know, the facility sucks the river backwards, in order to force the river up the mountain holding it in a reservoir to be released downhill, thereby providing energy. At least 20+ miles of the rIver are negatively affected in this process, killing millions of fish, eggs and larvae in huge turbines. This complete entrainment of life on this stretch of the river is ECOCIDE and is acknowledged by FirstLight, as well as those who have and are participating in studying this project.
We are all aware that there is an undeniable Climate Emergency which can not and must not be ignored any longer. Swift and determined action must be taken by you in your capacity as Directors of the New England grid to assure that necessary actions are taken to save the planet. Contrary to FirstLight’s greenwashing claims, Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station is a fossil fuel operation. FirstLight’s operation is not hydro power. It is not clean energy. Northfield Mountain is, in effect, a highly inefficient fracked-gas fueled battery. It utilizes fossil fuels, especially so-called ‘natural” gas, to suction the water backward and to pump the water up the mountain. In fact it uses 1/3 more dirty, climate-destroying energy to do this pumping than is obtained by the release of the water. FirstLight purchases the power, to run this project at low prices and then holds the water for peak electricity use times, thereby maximizing its profits, while the river, people and planet suffer from this method and its use of fossil fuels. It is a travesty that people and the ecosystem of the great Connecticut River are allowed to suffer, while using fossil fuel to create profit for a private entity. This is totally nonsensical and absurd. It is a false solution to global warming and in fact contributes to the Climate Emergency. We are killing a river and in the process, we are killing all life including ourselves.
FirstLight is making no significant investment in addressing any of these problems. It has put forth plans to install an ineffective temporary net for fish flow, but will not do this work until nine years following its relicensure. In the meantime, FirstLight continues to “skim the cream” and rake in high profits from its acts which accelerate Ecocide.
You, as Directors working in the name of the people, have a mandate to assure that the contributors to our grid are responsible and trustworthy partners in the provision of services and the protection of the environment and our future. FirstLight does not meet these standards. FirstLight is a profiteering enterprise. It is a Canadian venture capital investment giant which purchased the Northfield Mountain facility in 2016 at a price far below what the previous operator paid in that same decade. Within months of the expiration of its “license to kill” in 2018, FirstLight reregistered the facility into a limited liability tax shelter in Delaware. In 2019 FirstLight reported $158 million in sales in Northfield alone and paid only $100,000 in state taxes. FirstLight prioritizes profit over its responsibilities for the ecological health of the river and for operations in the best interest of the people. As the world community confronts Ecocide, the profit maximization which this irresponsible company prioritizes is disgusting and unacceptable. Directors who shirk their responsibility to stand against this Ecocide are equally complicit.
Lastly, we would like to address the issue of “forward capacity.” It is a failure of ISO and thereby you, its Directors, to be relying on “forward capacity” entities such as FirstLight to provide for power needs at peak times of use. We all know that these times are just a small number of days throughout the year. The Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station can only provide approximately 6 hours of power on these days. This does not justify the killing of a river and the use fossil fuels. There is no daily power emergency on the grid. There is however, a daily deadly aquatic pillage of an ecosystem that is part of a daily planet emergency. ISO should not be relying on and supporting the continuance of fossil fuel infrastructure in order to meet the needs of the grid, including peak times. It is very unsettling that you have not moved beyond this point.
Decentralization of the grid is necessary. It is not productive nor ecologically sound to move electricity from long distances to power facilities nearby. Conservation measures by corporations as well as the public are necessary at peak times and can be instituted and strengthened, if there is a will for such. It is very unfortunate that you are not leading in expressing and implementing this will. We urge and expect you to do so.
Further, we earnestly demand that you remove FirstLight as a providers for the grid. We urge that you inform FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) that you do not support relicensing of the Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station; citing its destruction of the Connecticut River ecosystem, the impact on the overriding Climate Emergency and FirstLight’s irresponsible and unacceptable financial exploitation of people and planet.
Thank you for your time,
Connecticut River Defenders
“Living Rivers flow Downstream”
FirstLight should not be allowed to get its license renewed.
- More than two dozen protesters showed up on the Greenfield Common Saturday morning to protest the Northfield Mountain Pumped
Published: 11/19/2021 10:45:00 AM
My name is Shayla Freeland, I’m 14 years old and I live in Gill. As some of you might know there is a power plant in Northfield called the Northfield Pump Station. There have been many people trying to prevent FirstLight, the owner of the pump station, from renewing its 50-year license to continue making electricity at the expense of our river.
On the bridge over the Connecticut River, crossing into Turners Falls, there have been two protests against this license. Many people have invested their time and energy to try and convey how bad this process is for the environment. Personally I agree with everyone who is trying to prevent this.
I live in Gill right next to the river and the dam (FirstLight also owns) so I can see firsthand the destruction the station is causing. I am able to see and smell the problems. The stench that comes from that part of the river can be absolutely horrendous. The turbines of the pump station suck in life and throw out death.
When they put up the dam, the other side gets very low in water and the sun fries up the bits of fish creating the horrible smell. Below the Turners Falls dam there is also an ancient shortnose sturgeon spawning ground and the same thing happens to them as the bits of fish. They fry. They rot. They go rancid.
As you can probably tell, this is not a naturally occurring problem, it’s a problem caused by FirstLight. In the night they suck water from the Connecticut River up the Northfield Mountain when electricity is cheap. To get the water up the mountain they have to burn fossil fuels to power the pumps. Not only are they polluting the earth with this dwindling resource (because they made a choice between easy money and protecting our home) they are completely killing and destroying our rivers ecosystem.
During the day when demand is high, they let the water back down the mountain. As it does this, it is going through turbines (which creates the electricity) chopping and killing animals. Twenty-four species have the wonderful chance to meet the deadly blades of the turbines.
Now FirstLight is about to renew their fifty year license. So they pollute the earth, kill the animals and the river’s ecosystem, but hey they’re making easy money and we’re getting electricity so it’s okay right? No, it’s not. And the electricity they are making doesn’t even get used by the people in this area. It’s getting stored as backup for some city.
Not only is the electricity not being used by the local population, but FirstLight is not paying any taxes to the town. They are an LLC based in Delaware so they are not obligated to pay us taxes. This pump station has no benefit to the people living in this area. We are not getting electricity or taxes.
It’s deadly turbines are killing fish and preventing them from helping our river prosper. FirstLight should not be allowed to get its license renewed because all they do is pollute the planet, kill animals and destroy the Connecticut’s ecosystem, which in turn will affect us too.
Shayla Freeland lives in Gill.