OPG requests exemptions from Endangered Species Act

[Spiel]

OPG requests exemptions from Endangered Species Act for R. H. Saunders Generating Station in respect to the American Eel

 

 

Ontario Environmental Registry, May 22nd, 2009

 

 

Ontario Power Generation Inc. (OPG) has requested an agreement under section 11 of O. Reg. 242/08 so that certain prohibitions under the ESA, 2007 would not apply to activities associated with the operation of the R. H. Saunders Generating Station in respect of American eel.

 

The Moses-Saunders Power Dam spans the U.S.-Canadian border between Cornwall, Ontario and Massena, New York and has been in operation since 1958. The U.S. portion of this facility is the Robert Moses Power Dam; on the Canadian side is the R.H. Saunders Generating Station. Both facilities were built cooperatively by the New York Power Authority and Ontario Hydro (now known as Ontario Power Generation Inc.). The dam’s 32 turbine-generators are divided equally by the international border and are operated independently by the two utilities. The R. H. Saunders Generating Station is an important component of Ontario’s electricity supply system.

 

American eel (Anguilla rostrata) is listed on the Species at Risk in Ontario List, in O. Reg. 230/08 under the ESA 2007 as an Endangered Species. The American eel is a fish found on the eastern coast of North America. The species spawns in the Sargasso Sea and the young eels that are produced move toward North America and enter freshwater systems where they may live and mature for up to 35 years before migrating back to the Sargasso Sea to spawn.

 

The R.H. Saunders Generating Station impedes young eels from migrating upstream to enter the upper reaches of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario watersheds, and the facility’s turbines cause mortalities to mature American eel as they attempt to migrate down the St. Lawrence River during their return migration to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. Since the mid 1970s, an eel ladder has been in place at the generating station to provide upstream passage for juvenile eels to the upper St Lawrence and Lake Ontario.

 

Clause 9(1)(a) of the ESA 2007, provides that no person shall kill, harm, harass, capture or take a living member of a species that is listed on the Species at Risk in Ontario List as an extirpated, endangered or threatened species, and clause 9(1)(b.) includes prohibitions against possessing and transporting. O. Reg. 242/08 under the ESA 2007 provides that clauses 9(1)(a) and 10(1) do not apply to persons operating hydro-electric generating stations provided that the conditions set out in the regulation are met, including the requirement to enter into and be in compliance with an agreement with the Minister.

 

An agreement under section 11 of O. Reg. 242/08 must specify the species to which it applies and must state that the Minister is of the opinion that the agreement requires the person who operates the station to take reasonable measures to minimize adverse effects, that the operation of the station will not jeopardize the survival and recovery of the species in Ontario if the agreement is complied with, and the agreement does not conflict with the obligations of the Minister to implement protection and recovery actions under subsection 11(9) of the act. The agreement also must provide for monitoring the effects of the operation of the station on the species.

 

The Minister is considering entering into an agreement with OPG for the R.H. Saunders Generating Station in respect of American eel. The agreement would include an implementation plan to minimize adverse effects on American eel and provide for monitoring the effects of the station on American eel.

 

It is proposed that the implementation plan would include:

 

• Stocking of young eels into the upper St. Lawrence – Lake Ontario (USL-LO) watershed to supplement their natural recruitment. Stocked eels would be marked and monitored to determine survival, growth and maturity.
   
  
• Implementation of a trap and transport pilot project as a method of moving mature eels from the USL-LO watershed to the lower St. Lawrence River beyond any migration barriers. The project would be monitored to compare transported eels to naturally migrating eels and evaluate the effectiveness of trap and transport to mitigate turbine mortality.
   
  
• Conducting an observational survey of eel mortalities in the tail waters of the Robert H. Saunders Power Dam during the period between mid-June and the end of September.
   
  
• Operating, maintaining, monitoring and reporting on the effectiveness of the Saunders eel ladder that provides an upstream migration route for American eel to the USL-LO watershed.
   
  
• The implementation plan is designed to offset impacts to American eel caused by the operation of the R.H. Saunders Generating Station. If the agreement is complied with, the operation of the R.H. Saunders Generating Station would not jeopardize the survival or recovery of American eel in Ontario. This authorization would not conflict with the Minister’s obligations under subsection 11(9) to implement recovery actions as presently there is no recovery strategy for this species prepared under section 11 of the ESA 2007 and consequently, no response statement has been published under subsection 11(8) of the act.
  

The implementation plan will be renewed and amended over the term of the agreement as part of MNR’s adaptive management approach to improve methods to minimize impacts to American eel caused by the operation of the dam as new methods and/or science become known.

 

Read the original posting to the Ontario Environmental Registry here.