In these environment-conscious times, the issue of dam construction is mostly one-sided in favor of dam DE-construction. The reason lies in the negative effects of dams in the surrounding environment, such as fish de-population. Considering the negative effects of dams, it is amazing to realize that dam construction issues were once focused on protecting the very environments they are now ravaging. Proponents were motivated not only by promises of cheap electrical power, but also of transforming land into agriculturally-fit regions through easy irrigation. >From this perspective, it is perhaps better understood how we have accrued nearly 39,000 dams in the world, 5,500 in the United States alone.
Edwards dam, a 917-foot dam located on the Kennebec River in the Augusta, Maine, is an ideal example of a typical dam. It was created in 1837 to provide enough pollution-free, hydroelectric power to supply the neighboring textile industry with roughly 3.5 megawatts of electricity a year. In 1997, however, an analysis of the dam was funded by the United States office of the Secretary of the interior and showed that the dam was neither environmentally nor economically friendly. Though it continues to provide about 3.5 megawatts of electricity a year, it was reported in the Boston Globe that it only makes up a minute percentage of the Maine’s energy supply. It’s technology is now considered obsolete and, with the compromise of its structural integrity, is considered by Secretary of the Interior Babbit to be unsafe. In addition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has argued that the presence of the dam interrupts the natural travel patterns of a number of fish, such as the Atlantic salmon, the shortnose sturgeon, and the American eel. They argue that the removal of the dam would allow fish, such as river herring, shad, and salmon, to prosper in the Kennebec River. According to Secretary Babbit in the May 27, 1998 issue of the Boston Globe, the removal of the dam would create “the longest stretch of anadromous fish spawning habitat north of the Hudson River for the first time since 1837.” On May 26, 1998, Interior Secretary Babbit signed an agreement to begin planning for the removal of Edwards Dam.