U.S. Senator Susan Collins today applauded the Penobscot River Restoration Trust for meeting its first private campaign milestone by raising $10 million to help restore the natural flow of Maine’s largest watershed. The Penobscot River Restoration Project consists of two phases. Phase one consists of raising $25 million in order to purchase three dams on the Penobscot River. The second phase will require an estimated additional $25 million in order to remove two dams and bypass a third. Doing so will open up historic habitat for species such as the endangered shortnose sturgeon and greatly improve access to over 1000 miles of key habitat for endangered Atlantic salmon. In addition to enhancing Atlantic salmon recovery efforts, it will also have far-ranging benefits for the entire Gulf of Maine, protecting endangered species, migratory birds, and a diversity of riverine and estuarine wetlands. The project will also help revive the social, cultural, and economic traditions of New England's second largest river.
"I congratulate the Penobscot River Restoration Trust for its outstanding efforts to secure private funding for this critical project. I was pleased to work in the Senate to secure federal funding for this important environmental restoration project, the most significant river restoration project ever in the eastern United States. The merits of this project are demonstrated by the fact that it has attracted both strong federal and private support. Again, I congratulate the Penobscot River Restoration Trust for its outstanding efforts, its dedication, and its commitment to bring this project closer to completion.”
The federal government has already contributed $5.5 million to this important project. In addition, Senator Collins recently spoke on the Senate floor urging her colleagues to support an additional $10 million in the Senate fiscal year 2008 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Act.
The Penobscot River Restoration Project is a five-year project and is a partnership of the State of Maine, local communities, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Interior, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Penobscot Indian Nation, the Atlantic Salmon Federation, PPL Corporation, the Nature Conservancy, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, American Rivers, Maine Audobon, and Trout Unlimited. Through collaboration with dam owners, the project will maintain virtually all of the hydroelectric generation on the river through a series of energy enhancements higher up in the Penobscot watershed.
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