David Hodsdon sent me an article from last week’s Lincoln County News about a recent inspection of the Montsweag dam in Wiscasset. The inspection was conducted by Wright and Pierce Engineering Company. Of particular interest is the last paragraph which describes the permitting requirements for the making the repairs:
“The inspection report of the dam indicates the repairs discussed in the report would be exempt from DEP regulatory permitting under the Maine Natural Resources Protection Act providing the activities do not require dredging of sediments and all improvements will take place within the footprint of the dam. Should dredging activities or other improvements change the dimensions of the Dam below the high water mark it would require review and permitting with both the Maine DEP and the Corps of Engineers, according to the inspection report.”
At the risk of being accused of beating a dead horse because I’ve written about this before, if you’ll recall, this is exactly what Earl Townsend of the DEP told Paul Kelley back in September 2011 when he came out to look at the “breached” Clary Lake dam: that the repairs Kelley proposed were exempt from DEP regulatory permitting provided he complied with the Permit By Rule standards. This is a far cry from having a DEP permit from DEP to [sic] “drain the lake and repair the dam” as Kelley has maintained.
This article provides independent confirmation of the applicability of Permit By Rule standards to dam repairs. This will make it a simple matter to repair the Clary Lake dam when the time comes.
Here’s the article: