Press Release: Clean Chesapeake Coalition Questions EPA on Conowingo

Today, the Clean Chesapeake Coalition sent a letter to the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formalizing the concerns of the eight member Maryland counties with respect to EPA’s attention and due diligence in the pending federal relicensing of the Conowingo Hydroelectric Project in the lower Susquehanna River.

The current relicensing process of the Conowingo Dam, through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”), offers EPA, the Bay watershed states, impacted local governments and other interested parties a once in a generation opportunity to require the owner and operator of the Dam to properly manage and control the vast quantities of nutrients, sediment and other contaminants that are scoured and discharged into the Bay during major storm events and now with more regularity in equally harmful proportions because of the loss of trapping capacity in the reservoir above the Dam; called “Conowingo Pond” by its owner Exelon. The Dam was built in the 1920s. The Conowingo Pond has never been dredged, as there are no license requirements to perform such maintenance. Exelon is seeking a new 46-year license.

“Mindful that FERC’s primary focus in on energy production, not environmental protection, the role and influence of our federal EPA in the FERC process is absolutely key to ensuring environmental considerations relative to Bay restoration and to the prospects for meaningful Conowingo Pond dredging and maintenance conditions being imposed on the owner of the Dam” said Ron Fithian, Kent County Commissioner and Coalition Chairman. “So far EPA’s involvement in this once in a generation opportunity to give the Chesapeake Bay a fighting chance has been disappointing,” Commissioner Fithian added.

The Coalition is requesting a meeting with EPA officials to discuss the local governments’ concerns and potential actions that can be taken to mitigate the threat that the current state of the Conowingo Pond poses to Maryland waters and to the unparalleled efforts and expenditures of Marylanders to improve the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay.

The Clean Chesapeake Coalition is an evolving association of Maryland local governments that have coalesced to pursue improvement to the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay in a prudent and fiscally responsible manner – through research, coordination and advocacy.

The objective of the Clean Chesapeake Coalition is to pursue improvement to the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay in a prudent and fiscally responsible manner – through research, coordination and advocacy.