The current issues surrounding the Penobscot River Restoration Project concern the purchasing of the three dams by the Project. The group would purchase the Veazie Dam, the Great Works Dam and the Howland Dam from PPL, a representative 18 megawatts of electricity.
Groups involved that make up the Penobscot River Restoration Trust
!Penobscotanddams.jpg|thumbnail,width=119,height=181! An Overview of the dams involved in the Penobscot River Restoration Project
A simplified model of the Penobscot River with the dam locations 
Fish statistic goals of the project
Dam Removal
The key to successful dam removal would be to time it with a natural cycle when the river would have increased sedimentation. This way extra sediment deposits could be naturally dealt with. Day explains that preparing the environment would take extra time. For example, allowing time for mussels to be manually and naturally moved to banks or otherwise off the dam would halt dam removal. The dam would be removed in sections, first replacing parts with solid but porous materials. Then, when timing is appropriate, careful removal of sections until the dam is gone. Though laborious, this method of removal would promise the most success for the river.
The Penobscot River Restoration Trust plans on running the dams until enough money has been collected, and the construction projects have contractors etc. They wanted to make the turn around, from purchase to deconstruction, as quick as possible, but must allow the river to run through the dams until that event can occur. They plan to first address the work at Howland Dam. Then Great Works would be removed, followed by the improvements made at Millford. The last project would be the deconstruction of the Veazie dam, simply because the site remains important for the fish hatcheries, and the group is not in a position to start work.
The Edwards Dam, once a prominent dam on the Kennebec River, was removed 1999. This case created a precedent on Maine Rivers which would inspire the removals on the Penobscot River. The successful water quality and ecosystem repair gives hope to the Trust that the efforts in Salmon Rehabilitation and the dam removal will be rewarded.
Sedimentation
A major concern of dam removal is usually sediment that has built up behind the dam. Whether it will cause environmental problems due to shear volume, or contamination, is of utmost concern. Although the waters itself are very polluted, there is not much concern for contaminated sediment since, with other dams, it seems that during the spring thaw, any pollutants get washed away. On no other parts of the river has there been substantial build up of sediment behind the dam, and behind the Great Works and Veazie, there doesn't appear to be an amount that would cause concern. Laura Rose Day noted during interview, " There are a lot of ways which we can deal with sediment behind the dam. Fortunately we don't have to deal with it." She explained that during environmental assessment of the sediment on the river, "we have a hard time finding sediment. When testing for toxins in the river, we spend most of out efforts trying to find the sediment to run tests on."
Details on the Project:
The agreement gave the Trust five years to raise 25 million dollars from private funds and state grants. As of 3 months ago, the Penobscot Restoration Project had come up with the money successfully, however, the second part of the agreement lies in the construction. Ten million dollars has come from private funds, 15.4 million has come from federal grants, and four thousand dollars from the state. After purchasing the dams, the group would have to come up with the money to remove both dams and to create a channel circumventing Howland Dam; this would cost another 25 million, of which, they very little. While only the section between the dams would be under direct change, over 500 miles of river would indirectly benefit from the transaction.
The Maine Department of Economic & Community Development (DECD) is a major contributer as far as money for the future. It is responsible for securing between $ 3-5 million for the economic development of the land after the project takes place. There are many regional fund raisers which are held by smaller local divisions aimed to support the efforts of the Trust. An example of such activities include Shad festivals held on rivers in New York and Connecticut.
Pennsylvania Power and Light will be losing energy generation from these dams, and so to make up for the loss, they will increase the production at six other dam sites including Millford Dam, Orono Dam, West Enfield Dam, Still Water Dam and Medway Dam; all located on the Penobscot as well. The Millford Dam is located just upstream of the Great Works Dam. Part of the agreement includes PPL creating a brand new fish passage. This should allow for migration to the Howland Dam site. The fish passage here would be a fish elevator, which would be a concrete trap able to lift and move the fish as they swim in from the lower par to the river. In essence, it would resemble a lock system. This site would allow for a place for sorting and counting of fish which make it past the dam should data want to be collected. This type of data is currently being collected at the Lockwood Dam. This is important for further fish lift development on the Kennebec, and for migratory fish restoration on this river, and can be applied in the same manner to the Penobscot. PPL will make up for the rest of the energy loss by raising the water level behind Millford dam. PPL was encouraged to make such an agreement after many expensive, drawn out legal battles over dam re licensing and removal have occurred. Wanting to put an end to such processes, they worked with the conservationists, who realized that even winning every court case wouldn't ensure a successful result, to make a "win-win. The groups involved with the transaction include: the Penobscot Nation, Natural Resources Council of Maine, American Rivers, Atlantic Salmon Federation, Trout Unlimited, Maine Audunon, PPL, U.S Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Park Service, and Fish and Wildlife Service, and the States of Maine. Getting all of these groups together, many of who have a strong distrust for each other, took two years. It took another three years to make the outline of the plan cohesive. In June 2004 it was finally approved
Tribal Involvement:
The other parts of the deal include PPL and the Penobscot tribe. The Tribe is sacrificing 10 of the 5,000 acres of the restoration land. This is the result of the dam removal and the flooding of the downstream land. This is a very significant sacrifice since the tribe is not allotted much land, and the condition resulting in dam removal is questionable.
Waterways available to migratory fish before work 
Waterways available to migratory fish after project
Distribution of PPL's Power Generation Before and After
Distribution of Salmon Habitat
History of the River
Watersheds
Goals of the Penobscot River Restoration Project
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Penobscot River Restoration Project
