Save the Westfield River, essential salmon habitat

The Westfield River, a coldstream salmon river flowing out of the Berkshires east to the Connecticut River in Massachusetts, needs your help.  

Environmentalists brook displeasure with DEP decision for the Westfield River protest on April 18, 2009

We gathered on the shores of the Westfield River with partnering groups on Saturday April 18.   Like the lowly sea lamprey passing upstream nearby, we called on government to practice the responsible stewardship of not leaving environments worst off than before.  We call for healthy coldstream salmon rivers, state forests that are not clear-cut, and clean air not despoiled by aerosols, pollutants and toxins.   We called on a reduction of our carbon footprint as measured in parts per million atmospheric CO2.  We believe a gas tax of 29 cents on the gallon is money well spent for better natural and man-made environments, better climate and less ocean acidification for ourselves and for the lives that will follow.

Sign ORI's Westfield River Letter

Scientists from the Rushing River Institute looked at the ecology and instream flow of the Westfield River.   They found the Westfield River in the Berkshires above Springfield to be a cold stream river worthy of the $600 million recently invested to restore salmon to it.  Yet, the DEP ignored testimonies by the river scientists to permit a new electric utility, the Russell Biomass Generator, to withdraw up to 885,000 gallons per day from the river without adequate environmental impact studies.

DEP’s proposed permit allows the company to keep taking water until the river reaches the lowest flow ever recorded (17.8 cubic feet per second), if it wants to go below that, the company can apply to the state to keep withdrawing. To make things worse, 85% of the up to 885,000 gallons per day is evaporated into the air - lost to the watershed.  Regardless of how little water is in the river, the plant will discharge about 100,000 gallons per day of heated boiler blow down water that contains phosphorous and aluminum, among other things.  Aluminum in warm water kills juvenile salmon.

New England Shad Association President Jack Coughlin has pointed out that Russell Biomass' impacts on the Westfield River may directly conflict with an existing, thriving fishing and sporting industry. He reminded us at the MEPA hearing that millions of dollars are spent on the river every year. Furthermore, he pointed out that Atlantic Salmon are spawning in the Westfield River, and that any river that can establish a successful salmon run is going to attract a lot of investment and will bring sportsmen from all over the world to fish and spend their money here. So what do you think is better? A biomass facility draining and polluting the river, or a nice clean river with a world-famous Atlantic salmon run?

The Ocean River Institute prepared a letter calling on the State to base decisions on their water withdrawal permits on science, on the geology specific to this river at this place, and on the impacts on river life, be it salmon or sea lamprey.  Four thousand citizens with more than five hundred writing personal comments joined in calling for responsible environmental decision-making.  Letters came from across the nation and from local communities including members of Friends of the Westfield River and Concerned Citizens of Russell.

Sign ORI's Westfield River Letter

Join us in asking state government to reconsider the permitting of water withdrawals from the Westfield because we believe the decision made was not based on science or adequately informed by river scientists. We are disheartened that the DEP adjudicatory hearing process excluded the testimony of witnesses on the issue of water quality and fisheries. DEP has ignored its duty to determine the safe yield, disregarded testimony about the economic impacts to local businesses that rely on a healthy fishery, and is undermining citizen rights, our rights, to seek a full and fair hearing on the merits of this permit.

Sea lampreys leave the Atlantic Ocean for the Connecticut River when river water reaches about 50 degrees in April.  They swim up river into Massachusetts.  Leaving sea sturgeon behind in Hadley, sea lampreys ascend the Fort River into Amherst and beyond.  Males arrive first to the natal gravel grounds.  Two males move a large stone the size of a fist by working in concert on either side.  Stones are moved to make an oval, shallow depression where the gravel within is graded with biggest pebbles upstream. Nest building by sea lampreys cause the river water to flow faster. This helps to flush out the interstitial spaces along the river bottom improving nesting sites for indigenous fish species.  Sea lampreys practice a stewardship that leaves their river environment better than they find it.

Help With an Eight Dollar Holler.

Write-in $8 on the donation page and help ORI to meet the average per person costs of influencing decision-makers to save the Westfield River. When saving wildlife and ecosystems every holler helps. Thanks for helping us all get heard.

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