Jan 8 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Lori Shull Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.


Plans to put underwater turbines in the St. Lawrence River are starting to flow, slowly.

Verdant Power, a New York City-based company, has been working for several years to install underwater turbines in the St. Lawrence River near Cornwall, Ontario. The turbines will use the river's currents to generate 15 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 1,100 homes.

Approximately $4.5 million has been secured for the first phase of the project, which will install "dummy" turbines in the river and complete studies of the currents and environmental impacts. The dummy turbines should be in the river by fall, according to the latest company estimates.

"In the meantime, we're doing more studies to check flow and fish and seeing what's going on there in the river," President William H. "Trey" Taylor III said.

 Rather than the company doing the environmental assessments itself, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne is compiling the studies to ensure the turbines will not affect the river adversely.

"In spite of what governments say, we're taking the approach that the river belongs to the Mohawks," Mr. Taylor said. "Using the Mohawk idea of harmonized environments, we're letting them take the lead."

The tribe's Environment Department has given a green light to the first phase. The dummy turbines, updated versions of the ones Verdant is putting in the East River in New York City, will be installed to test the design.

"We're looking now for concerns from the public, so when we're doing the next assessments, we know what kinds of modifications or mediations we can make so those concerns are addressed," said F. Henry Lickers, environmental science officer with the Mohawk Council. "There's a lot of concerns with fish and fish passage and all those kinds of things."

The Mohawk Council gave its support to the project in 2008, with the understanding that the council would have a say in all environmental assessments.

"In the past we believe that conventional hydroelectric power development has not respected the rights and needs of the community of Akwesasne," said a 2008 letter from then-Grand Chief Tim Thompson. "The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne is determined to see that such things do not occur again."

The project is more than two years behind schedule.

Verdant planned to have the test dummies installed by April 2008. The original timeline for the project had the first phase ending in 2010 and the commercial build-out beginning shortly thereafter. Mr. Taylor did not say when the second phase, installing power-generating turbines in the river, will be completed.

"Because of the economic downturn, it's like hitting a speed bump and then hitting our heads," Mr. Taylor said. "It's coming along. The funders we were planning on stopped sending money, so we kind of had to start over."

Most of the funding for the project comes from the Canadian government. One-quarter of the money is from private investors, Mr. Taylor said.

The project, when complete, will generate 15 megawatts of power, which will be sent to Cornwall, Ontario, and its surroundings. How many turbines will be necessary to create that much power depends on the speed of the currents and the size of the rotors, Mr. Taylor said. The rotors under consideration are 16 to 22 feet in diameter, he said.

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