Removing the dam that creates Green River Reservoir State Park would cost at least $16 million, a new independent analysis commissioned by lawmakers finds.
Draining the reservoir and leaving the dam in place would cost the state parks program north of $10 million as well — making neither approach a cost-effective solution.
It brings conservation advocates like Mike Wickenden of Friends of the Green River Reservoir some relief.
“We certainly want the dam to be taken over by the state,” said Wickenden. “Friends of the Green River Reservoir are 100% behind the continuation of the reservoir as it is today, in terms of the dam and the water levels that accompany it.”
The Hyde Park reservoir has long been a popular destination for paddlers seeking quiet waters and wildlife like loons.
But the power-generating dam that creates the reservoir sits at the center of a long series of legal battles between state regulators and Morrisville Water and Light, the local utility that owns it.
The utility says it cannot afford to continue to operate the dam for power production, and plans to withdraw its bid to do so under a federal permit that includes multiple facilities along the Lamoille River.
The utility further alleges that water quality standards imposed by the state are the source of the cost burden, and has called for Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources to take over the dam’s ownership.
“The value of that dam, once we're not generating, is really to support the economic activity around that state park," said General Manager Scott Johnstone. "So yeah, the state should own it."
Notably, the analysis confirms Morrisville Water and Light’s longstanding assertion that there is no way to generate power at the facility under the state’s water quality standards without losing money.
The engineering firm that examined the dam found the most cost-effective path forward is to decommission the turbines at the facility, but maintain the dam and the reservoir for recreation.
Regulators and others had speculated the dam, which was built in 1947, might need costly structural upgrades to protect people downstream.
The report finds the dam is largely safe, but that it needs between $2.9 million and $8.1 million of initial work to maintain the park, with about $30,000 to $75,000 in annual maintenance costs thereafter if it’s not generating power.
It also attempts to quantify the economic benefit the Green River Reservoir provides, estimating visitors would spend between $22 million and $32 million over the next 20 years.
ANR is currently responsible for upkeep of about 100 other dams statewide, and Secretary Julie Moore said the state already faces budgetary constraints.
“The annual budget we currently have for operation and maintenance of those dams as well as the capital investment in the facilities is insufficient as it starts,” Moore said. “And so this would be on top of that existing gap between what we would ideally be doing around each of those 100 dams and what we are currently capable of doing.”
Moore said ANR is not advocating at this time for any one course of action, and if the state were to take over ownership of the facility, it would need staff and a budget to maintain it.
The agency has not committed to taking over ownership of the dam and federal regulators have yet to approve Morrisville Water and Light's bid to surrender its license for generating power at the facility.
