MACHIAS, Maine — Two separate proposals to build dam structures in the greater Cobscook Bay to harness tidal currents to generate power continue winding their way through the federal regulatory process.
Proponents of both projects are seeking new preliminary permits with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Pennamaquan Tidal Power is seeking approval for a $120 million project to build a 1,616-foot tidal “barrage” or low dam across the Pennamaquan River between Leighton Neck and Hersey Neck south of Pembroke.
Tidewalker Associates is seeking approval for a similar small dam, 1,200 feet long, in Half Moon Cove, which is located between Eastport and Pleasant Point.
Initial permits essentially to begin the regulatory review process have expired, and backers of both projects are seeking successive preliminary permits to continue.
During the permitting process, proponents essentially have been working with the commission to determine how potential environmental impacts of the proposed projects would be studied.
Andrew Landry, an Augusta attorney representing Pennamaquan Tidal Power, said Tuesday that the company is hoping the commission will finalize the study plan late this year or in early 2015 so that studies could begin.
The initial preliminary permit was valid for three years, a period Landry termed “a little short” to complete the initial planning phase required for the environmental impact studies. “We got through a good chunk of the process,” he said.
“I think when the new preliminary permit is granted, we’ll just pick up that process where it was,” said Landry.
Al Goodwin of Pembroke, who chairs a 33-member committee of interested residents, has filed a motion for the group to intervene in the regulatory process for the Pennamaquan project. “All we are doing is gathering information,” he said Tuesday. The group has taken no action either opposing or supporting the project, said Goodwin, who also has filed to intervene in the Half Moon Cove case.
Reuben Cleaves, chief of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point Reservation, filed a similar motion to intervene in regard to the Pennamaquan Tidal Power last week. The tribe intervened earlier in the Half Moon Cove project.
Intervenor status grants legal standing in the proceeding, explained Celeste Miller, a spokeswoman for the commission, enabling an intervenor to appeal to the commission or in court.
Utah physicist Ramez Atiya is the brainchild behind Pennamaquan Tidal Power. In its 2010 filings with the commission, the company estimated the facility would generate 80,000 megawatt hours of electricity annually. That is enough to provide power to about 13,000 homes, according to Atiya.
The Half Moon Cove project has been proposed by Tidewalker Associates, a business of Normand Laberge of Trescott. It would cost as much as $50 million and generate about 9 megawatts, according to earlier estimates by Laberge.