Western Maryland Demands Dam Action

Coalition tries to intervene in dam relicensing in effort to curb pollution

Attorneys representing the Clean Chesapeake Coalition, an organization that includes Allegany County, have filed to intervene in the federal relicensing process for the Conowingo Dam. The coalition wants conditions added to the license to address concerns about the dam’s role in pollution of the Chesapeake Bay.

“This intervention presents the most significant opportunity to save the bay in our lifetime, given that the license renewal is for a term of 30-50 years,” according to the coalition’s website.

The dam is owned by the Exelon Corporation and is licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Coalition, which is beginning discussions and a review of the relicensing.

Allegany County strongly supports the effort to intervene, said Allegany County Commissioner Bill Valentine.

A high percentage of the pollutants entering the bay come from the Susquehanna River, where the dam stands, officials said. The dam no longer serves the filtering process it once did, and now pollutants go through the dam during water releases and polluted sediments have accumulated in the dam. The coalition believes the dam should be dredged.

“It’s lost all of its scrubbing power,” Valentine said. “They’re never going to take care of the bay unless the Conowingo Dam is addressed.”

Yes, Conowingo Dam is rapidly losing it's ability to bury nutrients and other pollutants in the sediment behind the dam as the pool fills with sediment.  That has been a bonus that the dam has provided for the Bay for the past 85 or so years.  The dam does not create the pollution, the farms and cities above the dam do.  The fact that the dam sequesters the pollution is a happy byproduct of the operation of the plant to make electricity.

I understand that the counties are looking desperately for anyone to bear a bigger share of the burden for cleaning the Bay.  It's a big bill.

To be able to continue to use the dam to make electricity, Exelon will have to do something about the sediment accumulating behind the dam at some point. IMHO, it would behoove the counties to shut up and let Exelon work on that problem, which, if solved, will restore the ability of the dam to slow the flow of sediment and pollution into the Bay.  Attempting to force Exelon to pay for the benefit they no longer provide due to forces beyond their control, and which they have no part in creating is not only unjust, it is counter productive, as it is may cause Exelon to drop the project altogether, thereby reducing regional electrical production, as well as the loss of the pollution and sediment sequestration capacity.

In short, I think Exelon should demand a payment for their pollution sequestration as well their electricity production.