THE DAM

The Brunswick Dam is functional, safe, and producing energy. It has the capacity to produce 19 megawatts annually, but generally supplies closer to 10 megawatts a year, according to Brookfield Renewable’s 2024 data. This supplies 0.6% of Maine’s energy demand, an amount that is not negligible, however, could easily be replaced by 100–200 acres of solar. 

The reason for the discrepancy between the 19-megawatt capacity and the 10-megawatt reality is that the Brunswick Dam is a peak power dam. This means it is only turned on during the most energy-intensive times, when Brookfield Renewable can sell the energy to Central Maine Power at a higher rate. 

Brookfield White Pine Hydro LLC owns the Brunswick Dam. They are a subsidiary of Brookfield Renewable Partners, a publicly traded company headquartered in Ontario, Canada. The Brookfield Corporation owns 60% of Brookfield Renewable Partners and is the 5th largest corporation in Canada. 

Free The Andro was formed to be a voice for the migratory fish who have historically used the Androscoggin River to reach their spawning grounds. These species include alewives, American eels, American shad, Atlantic salmon, Atlantic sturgeon, blueback herring, rainbow smelt, sea lamprey, short-nosed sturgeon, and striped bass. 

Dams cause spawning habitat loss and degradation for migrating fish. This hampered reproduction leads to less fish in the river, impacting the wider ecosystem including waterfowl and marine mammals. 

Brookfield Renewable has been operating the Brunswick Dam for 47 years. It currently has a slot fish ladder, which is ineffective. It is most successful in passing alewives (on average 81,941 have passed annually in the last 10 years), yet this number is less than 1% of MDMR’s most recent projection, which suggests the river can support more than 8 million. 

On average, 210 American shad have passed the fishway annually for the last 10 years. In a fishery that can support 171,000 shad, a mere 00.12% of projected spawners are making it upriver. 

These two species are highlighted because the current fish ladder is most effective at passing alewives and least effective at passing shad. 

Improved river connectivity has economic benefits, as has been seen with the Edwards Dam removal on the Kennebec River.

A 2020 NOAA report quantified the economic benefits to improved fish passage on the Lower Androscoggin River. Annual benefits total $5.8–$14.8 million, which includes $1.7–$4.4 million of commercial fishing benefits and $4.0–$10.4 million of recreational fishing benefits. 

These estimates are conservative, as they only include catch data from tidal waters, exclude increases from commercial lands of alewife, and use low biomass estimates. Additionally, the report was published in 2020 and the per-pound price of fish relied on 2017 data, so these values do not account for recent inflation. Additionally, this report did not quantify the nonuse value, or the value of a river as a public good to those who aren’t fisherman.

For thousands of years, Wabanaki communities used rivers including the Androscoggin to sustain life. The first settler/native contact along the Maine coast began around 1500. Europeans kidnapped and enslaved Wabanaki people and depleted timber, fishing, and fur resources.

By 1673, Europeans were taking full advantage of the Androscoggin’s fish. Thomas Purchase’s trading post harvested 40 barrels of salmon (~ 6 tons) in less than a month. However, overfishing depleted fish populations, along with dams. The first dam was built at Brunswick Falls in 1753, and the first permanent dam between Brunswick and Topsham was completed in 1815.

Throughout the 19th century, industry boomed on the Androscoggin River. Tanneries, foundries, and textile mills used the river as a source of power and as a dumping ground. Pollution reached an all-time high during the mid-20th century, largely due to the sulfite pulp mills. 

Water quality of the Androscoggin has improved substantially in the last 50 years, largely due to the 1972 passing of the Clean Water Act. The Androscoggin went from one of the most polluted rivers in the country to one where millions of fish are waiting to spawn.