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Committee hears bill asking AOT to seek FERC requirement that hydro owner help pay for canal bridges
Summary
Senators and witnesses on the Senate Finance Committee reviewed a bill directing the Agency of Transportation to ask FERC, during relicensing, to require the hydro project owner to contribute to repair or replacement costs of publicly owned bridges over the Bellows Falls power canal.
Senators and witnesses on the Senate Finance Committee reviewed a newly introduced bill (S.113) directing the Agency of Transportation (AOT) to submit comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) during relicensing of the Bellows Falls hydroelectric project and to request terms that would require the project owner to contribute to the repair, maintenance or replacement of publicly owned bridges crossing the power canal.
Senator Harrison introduced the measure, describing the Bellows Falls canal as a manmade channel that diverts Connecticut River water to hydroelectric turbines and as the proximate reason multiple bridges exist. She said the canal "is only necessary for the hydro plant" and argued the owner of the hydro project should share responsibility for bridges that exist only because of the canal.
Damian Leonard of the Office of Legislative Counsel summarized the bill…
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