FirstLight Hydro Generating Co. has finalized its hydropower-related flows and fish passage plans, the company announced Wednesday in a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

FirstLight, which previously submitted its Amended Final License Application to FERC for a new 50-year license to operate, has three facilities up for relicensing. Those facilities — the hydro-pump facility at Northfield Mountain and two hydroelectric dams in Turners Falls — have been criticized by environmental advocacy groups for their impact on fish, the Connecticut River and the surrounding environment.

The “Flows and Fish Passage Settlement Agreement” portion of the relicensing process entails future operations related to fish passage and protected, threatened and endangered species, according to a statement provided by Claire Belanger, communications manager at FirstLight.

“The Flows and Fish Passage Settlement Agreement includes a substantial commitment by FirstLight to invest in improvements for fish and wildlife protection at the projects and to manage operations of the projects to achieve a more natural river flow,” Belanger continued.

Further details “regarding specific agreed undertakings” cannot be released until the agreement is filed, according to Belanger. Signatures from stakeholders are needed prior to filing. The document is being circulated for signatures among FirstLight, the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy, according to FirstLight’s letter to FERC Secretary Kimberly Bose. Belanger said the timeline for having all signatures in hand is “somewhat ambiguous,” particularly considering how busy people are to begin the new year.

FirstLight previously indicated to FERC that it had been working “on a finite list of remaining issues with the goal of filing a (Comprehensive Settlement Agreement) with FERC by Dec. 31, 2022,” according to the state’s website. While FirstLight, in Belanger’s words, “continues to engage stakeholders and make progress on other outstanding issues including recreation, whitewater boating, cultural resources and Turners Falls impoundment shoreline erosion,” the flows and fish passage element was perhaps the most controversial aspect of relicensing.

“FirstLight appreciates FERC’s willingness to allow the parties the additional time needed to achieve the Flow and Fish Passage Settlement Agreement,” FirstLight Regulatory Compliance Manager Alan Douglass wrote in FirstLight’s announcement letter.

“Although a comprehensive settlement on all issues has not yet been reached, this agreement represents a significant milestone in the process and provides momentum as FirstLight continues to engage stakeholders and make progress on other outstanding issues,” Belanger wrote. She noted the hydropower company “will provide an update on the status of these negotiations by March 31, 2023, or earlier if agreement is reached before that time.”

Conway resident Priscilla Lynch of the Connecticut River Defenders advocacy group spoke critically of FirstLight’s pace after conferring with other members of her group. She expressed frustration that FirstLight has been allowed to not meet set deadlines, but also has been allowed to proceed operations with only pieces of its relicensing process complete. FirstLight’s licenses for the Turners Falls Hydroelectric Project and the Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Project each expired April 30, 2018.

“All the while, they’re continuing to use fossil fuels … and not investing anything in the river or the fish,” Lynch said, asserting that FirstLight’s primary concern is “just making money.”

“I’d be embarrassed if I were them to say, ‘Look what I have,’” she continued, referring to FirstLight presenting just one agreement on Wednesday, rather than a comprehensive settlement agreement. “We’re not fooled and we’re not fools.”

Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-930-4231 or jmendoza@recorder.com.

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