Kruger Energy, the Quebec-based company that bought the hydroelectric plant in Damariscotta Mills, a parcel that includes the Damariscotta Mills fish ladder, plans to contribute to the ongoing restoration of the ladder.
“We’re not against it. We’re participating in it,” Jean Roy, Vice President and General Manager, said. “We plan on providing money and also some labor.”
Kruger bought the land almost a year ago, on Nov. 20, 2009, as part of their $13.5 million purchase of the former owner, Ridgewood Renewable Power. The Damariscotta Mills site was one of 15 dams or hydroelectric facilities in Maine and a total of 23 sites in Maine, New York and Virginia included in the purchase.
“It’s an older facility,” Roy said of the Damariscotta Mills site, which straddles the Newcastle-Nobleboro town line. As such, the facility presents a number of questions for its new owner.
“We’re assessing the site as a whole,” Roy said. “There [are] some repairs that need to be done… should we leave it there or decommission it?”
“We look at investments in a long-term way,” Roy said. In addition to the financial impact of each decision, the company considers “how we invest ourselves in the community,” he said.
“We want to work with the people,” Roy said, and already, Roy and other Kruger executives have travelled to the site to meet with volunteers in the fish ladder restoration effort.
“It amazes me,” Roy said, speaking of the long history of the fish ladder (built in 1807) and the dedication of the men and women working to preserve it.
According to the Kruger website, “Aiming for excellence in the field of green energy, Kruger Energy strives to find the perfect balance between its environmental and economic goals by focusing on the development of energy projects that promote the optimal and respectful use of natural resources.”
“We have very good relations with Kruger,” Stanley Waltz, a member of the Fish Committee of Nobleboro and Newcastle, said. “They’re a very good company to work with so far.”
The transfer has come with one complication. “[Newcastle and Nobleboro] thought they [owned the fish ladder] but [Kruger] came up with a deed that says they own it,” Waltz said.
Under normal conditions, the hydroelectric plant only generates electricity six months a year, from Dec. 1 to June 1, Waltz said. “When they find out, hopefully they’ll part ways with [the fish ladder],” Waltz said.
Of the company’s contributions to the restoration thus far, Waltz said, “They’re donating some money. We’d like them to donate a lot more. They’re supposed to donate $5000 this year.”
The low production of the plant makes it difficult to expect Kruger to subsidize the entire restoration, Waltz said.