Senators Snowe and Collins announced that the Energy and Water Appropriations bill includes funding for the following Maine projects:
• Narraguagus River Maintenance Dredging -- $2 million
This funding will be used to complete the dredging at the Narraguagus River. The Army Corps has completed the dredging of the lower portion of the entrance channel. The Narraguagus River must be dredged in order to maintain its function as a viable navigation channel. The project is vital to the economy of Washington and Hancock Counties. The present channel depth is presenting a hazard to navigation and has forced most of the fishing vessels to relocate to deepwater areas in order to obtain adequate clearance. Without the maintenance dredging, these conditions are expected to become more critical.
• Portland Harbor- $520,000
This funding supports needed dredge work for Portland Harbor. The Army Corps of Engineers has determined that this amount is necessary in order to ensure the continued safety of the Harbor for commercial and recreational vessels. • Searsport Harbor - $250,000
This funding will be used for general investigations for the Army Corps of Engineers at Searsport Harbor.
• Saco River and Camp Ellis Beach -- $150,000.
This funding will be used to protect the beaches of Camp Ellis adjacent to the Army Corps jetty in Saco, Maine. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) has indicated that this amount is necessary to complete plans and specifications. Studies have shown that the Army Corps jetty, built over 100 years ago, has contributed to beach erosion and the loss of more than thirty houses to the sea. The houses currently in danger were once six rows back from the water.
• Penobscot River Reconaissance Project -- $100,000
This funding will be used by the Army Corps of Engineers to initiate and complete a reconnaissance study, and initiate a feasibility study of measures to restore anadromous fisheries along the Penobscot River in Maine. In June, 2004, the United States Department of the Interior (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and Bureau of Indian Affairs), the State of Maine, the Penobscot Partners (a coalition including the Atlantic Salmon Federation, the Penobscot Indian Nation, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, Maine Audubon, American Rivers and Trout Unlimited), and PPL Corporation announced an historic agreement to restore the once-magnificent migratory fisheries on the Penobscot River while also providing the opportunity to maintain more than 90 percent of current energy generation.
The agreement calls for the purchase and removal of two dams closest to the sea; the purchase, decommissioning and proposed bypass, or removal if necessary, of a third dam; and improved fish passage at four other dams. Successfully implemented, the project will restore large free flowing sections of the river for the benefit of improved water quality, ecological diversity and the re-establishment of critical connections between the ocean, the river, and basin.
• Bass Harbor, Tremont -- $95,000.
This funding would be used to complete plans and specifications for the channel and anchorage expansion project at Bass Harbor.
• Carvers Harbor- $270,000
This funding will be used on dredge work for Carvers Harbor. The Army Corps of Engineers has determined that this amount is necessary in order to ensure the continued safety of the Harbor for commercial and recreational vessels.
###