Musquash eyed for possible hydro dam by environmentalist

A long-time New Brunswick environmentalist is hoping Saint John Energy is looking at East Musquash as a potential site for a hydro-electric power station.

David Thompson says a generating station there would be cost effective and have little or no impact on the environment.

Thompson is a retired Fundy Baykeeper and long-time advocate for the protection of the Musquash estuary.

He's also familiar with the system of lakes and dams that make up the Musquash fresh-water system.

"This is a site that would be very, very valued if it was down in the United States or if it was up in Ontario," says Thompson.

"It would be very easy to put in the station."

Thompson said the dams, roadways and power-line right-of-ways are already in place.

He adds a modern hydro station would be far more efficient than the 60- to 70-year-old generators that had operated on the site before NB Power shut it down several years ago.

At one point the station created 7.5 megawatts from three generators.

Thompson said he believes a new station could generate up to 30 megawatts using the same amount of water.

An operating power station at East Musquash would also ensure the dams on the lake system are better monitored and maintained.

"Many times now there's too much water, says Thompson.

"It's flooding camps, which are upstream of the dams around these lakes. And also the community has to evacuate at times in the spring when there are big rainstorms and freshets."

The opening into the renewable energy business springs from NB Power's Integrated Resource Plan released in 2014.

It looks at ways to get the amount of renewable energy on the grid up to the 40 per cent mark by 2020.

NB Power has allotted space for 75 megawatts of energy from sources like hydro, wind and solar.

Saint John Mayor Mel Norton was in Edmundston last week talking to officials about the northwestern citys hydro dams.

Edmundston and Saint John both have municipal power utilities.