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FREE THE ANDRO<\/em><\/strong> FILES WITH FEDERAL REGULATORS <\/strong>SEEKING BOLD THINKING, <\/strong>HONEST ANALYSIS TO RETURN <\/strong>MILLIONS OF FISH TO ANDROSCOGGIN RIVER<\/strong><\/p>\n Group Works for Once-In-A-Lifetime Chance to Reconnect the Androscoggin to the Sea for Fish, Wildlife, Healthy Waters for All<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2018The fish of the Androscoggin have waited 47 years\u2019\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n BRUNSWICK, ME \u2013 May 2026 \u2013Free The Andro<\/em><\/a>, the Maine non-profit, community-based group driving the effort to create free swimming fish passage between the Androscoggin River and the ocean after more than a century of neglect and blockage at the Brunswick\u2013Topsham dam, has filed with federal regulators to support research that helps determine the best options for achieving state-targeted sea-run fish populations in Maine\u2019s second longest river.<\/p>\n In a 9-page letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — the Washington DC-based agency conducting the proposed relicensing of the dam — FTA<\/em> said: \u201cFTA<\/em> remains committed to working constructively with the Licensee, FERC, resource agencies, and other stakeholders to achieve a new license for the Brunswick Project that genuinely serves the public interest and the ecological and cultural legacy of the Androscoggin River.\u00a0 This will require bold thinking and honest analysis \u2013 not a predetermined outcome, and not a process where empirical studies are deferred until after the key decisions have already been made.\u00a0 The diadromous fish of the Androscoggin have been waiting 47 years for this relicensing.\u00a0 The record must reflect all options, all data, and all voices.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter comes in the early stages of the relicensing effort by dam owner Brookfield White Pine Hydro, part of Canadian-based, global energy giant Brookfield Renewable, with shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange.\u00a0 The federal license to operate the dam expires in 2029.<\/p>\n In the letter, FTA<\/em> petitions FERC to require Brookfield-funded research and analysis to include all alternatives for opening upstream and downstream fish passage.\u00a0 These alternatives can be used either as stand-alone solutions for fish passage, or in combination to enable fish passage, or as part of analysis to determine effectiveness of any proposed solutions.\u00a0 Brookfield has previously stated that it does not plan to conduct all such research and analysis.<\/p>\n Blocked at Brunswick-Topsham<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Migratory fish runs on the Androscoggin are essentially gone.<\/p>\n The Androscoggin at Brunswick Falls \u2013 located immediately upriver from the Route 201 bridge linking Brunswick and Topsham — has been fully or partially blocked by dams since the early 1700s.\u00a0 The current dam was opened in 1982 and includes a fish passage ladder hoped to enable substantial upriver fish movement.\u00a0All parties agree that the current fish ladder does not work.\u00a0 Sonar readings and other observations below the dam show as many at 10,000 shad below the dam on a given tide, but only 14 passed the fishway in all of 2023 and only 91 in 2024.\u00a0 Similarly, as many as 180,000 river herring pass the dam each year, but habitat analysis and historical records show that this number could easily be in the millions.<\/p>\n The FTA<\/em> letter to FERC supports the specific, science-based fish passage targets that the Maine Department of Marine Resources asked FERC to use in its dam relicensing decision-making. The MDMR annual target populations are for 171,125 shad, 1 million blueback herring, 7.7 million alewives, and 600 Atlantic salmon above the dam.<\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s Androscoggin River is broken and needs to be and can be fixed to benefit Mainers, our economy, and the marine environment that we all love,\u201d said Charles \u201cChip\u201d Spies, FTA<\/em>founder.\u00a0 FTA<\/em> is comprised of citizen and professional volunteers and founding member groups American Rivers, Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, Maine Rivers, Merrymeeting Bay Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and RESTORE: The Northwoods.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is truly a once-in-a lifetime opportunity as the dam faces federal relicensing which will determine the fate of the river, its fish, commercial and recreational fishing, and the many communities along its shores for generations to come,\u201d Spies said.<\/p>\n Fish Passage Alternatives Must Not Be Narrowed Before Data is Gathered<\/strong><\/p>\n The FTA <\/em>letter requests FERC to compel Brookfield to examine all alternatives for fish passage and that \u201calternatives must not be narrowed before empirical data is available\u201d.\u00a0 Among other key elements in the letter, FTA<\/em> asks that FERC require Brookfield to thoroughly study all alternatives that can provide for upstream and downstream fish passage in order to deliver complete study results in 2027 with sufficient time for agency and stakeholder review.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must use the 2029 expiration of the Brunswick-Topsham dam federal license to assure that any license renewal is contingent upon providing abundant, sustainable populations of native, migratory fish access to the Androscoggin watershed,\u201d said Spies.<\/p>\n About Free the Andro<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Free the Andro<\/em><\/a> (FTA)<\/em> fights to create free swimming native fish passage at the Brunswick-Topsham dam.\u00a0 FTA<\/em> seeks solutions supported by solid data from objective research and accepted best practices to create abundant and sustainable fish passage.<\/p>\n FTA<\/em> is comprised of citizen and professional volunteers and founding member groups American Rivers, Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, Maine Rivers, Merrymeeting Bay Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and RESTORE: The Northwoods.<\/p>\n \u201cAllowing Fish Back into the Androscoggin River: What To Do with a 50 Year Old Dam\u201d<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0is an FTA<\/em> video examining the rich history, decades old challenges, and future opportunities for the Androscoggin River watershed and the gateway to that watershed at the Brunswick-Topsham dam.<\/p>\n Follow FTA <\/em>on FB \u201c#FreeTheAndro\u201d<\/p>\n Further information about the dam and relicensing is available at the Brunswick-Topsham Dam Resource Library<\/a> hosted by Bowdoin College as an information clearing house.\u00a0 It provides scientific articles, data, regulatory reports, historical perspective, videos, instructions for stakeholder commenting, and more. Anyone can subscribe for periodic updates.<\/p>\n \u00a0#\u00a0\u00a0 #\u00a0\u00a0 #<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Free the Andro<\/em><\/strong> Contact<\/strong><\/p>\n Chip Spies<\/p>\n