Massachusetts company has years of hurdles ahead before it can place turbines in Mississippi River

A Massachusetts company hoping to install thousands of power-generating turbines in the Mississippi River has years of environmental studies and other regulatory issues to overcome, company officials and federal regulators said Wednesday.

Representatives of Free Flow Power Corp. of Gloucester, Mass., and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission held a site visit in at Cape Rock Park in Cape Girardeau. When morning rains came, the meeting was moved to the Conservation Campus Nature Center at Cape County Park North.

Free Flow Power first proposed putting up to 180,000 turbines, at a cost of $3 billion, in the Mississippi River in 2007. In recent weeks, the company and the regulatory agency, commonly called FERC, have held "scoping meetings" and public hearings at several locations.

At the meetings, state and federal agencies talk about environmental and regulatory concerns, Daniel Irvin, president of Free Flow Power, said in an interview from Massachusetts. Agencies on hand Wednesday included the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Navigation interests were also represented.

"FERC is very organized," Irvin said. "What they want to do is, by the time the license application is submitted there shouldn't be any surprises."

Free Flow Power is in the preapplication stage of the FERC process. Irvin said the process takes up to five years, a timetable that could allow the company to take advantage of federal tax credits aimed at hydrokinetic power generation.

At the Cape Girardeau meeting, the company was highlighting its proposed 6.8-mile, 3,100-turbine Flora Creek project, projected to be capable of generating 62 megawatts of power. Overall, the company wants to install turbines at 59 locations from St. Louis to Louisiana at a projected cost of $3 billion. There are nine proposed installations from Cape Girardeau south to the Arkansas border.

The company's first installations, he said, will be in areas where the project draws strong support. "To be quite blunt about it, what we are focusing on is where we can get help in terms of additional grant funding," he said. "A state that comes forward and really helps us is where we will put the first phase."

Free Flow Power must show it can preserve fish habitat, including protecting endangered species like the pallid sturgeon, as well as protect the turbines from debris and silt. Regulatory hurdles include obtaining permission from the corps to build in the river and avoiding any installation that would interfere with navigation.

'A lot of uncertainty'

Janet Sternburg, the Mississippi River coordinator for the Missouri Department of Conservation, said the agency will study the proposal in depth. The effect on sport and commercial fishing as well as wildlife issues will be the department's priority, she said.

"This is all stuff we have to get a lot more information on, and they are just now starting to identify how these will be laid out in the river so we can start studying the impact," she said. "There is a lot of uncertainty right now."

The scoping meetings are part of the national environmental review process, said Celeste Miller, spokeswoman for FERC. The agency has not licensed any stand-alone hydrokinetic projects that have been constructed, she said.

From the scoping meetings, the agency will allow three years for the writing of draft environmental impact statements and final recommendations from interested agencies. No date has been set for the release of the final impact statement.

Installations north of the Ohio River would have to contend with a narrower, shallower river than those to the south, said Jon Guidroz, director of project development for Free Flow Power. The turbines have been redesigned to make the blades turn more slowly, protecting fish, and the casing has been designed to withstand most debris.

"The big challenge between Cape Girardeau and New Orleans is the amount of water and the depth that exists here is less than further south," Guidroz said. "There are more regulated works like bendway weirs and dike fields that channelize the river, and there are shallower sections of the river in general."

The corps must, under federal law, maintain a navigation channel that is 9 feet deep and 300 feet wide.

While the regulatory agencies work, Mitch Robinson of Cape Area Magnet, an economic development agency, wants to round up political support for Free Flow Power. Robinson sees an opportunity to attract Free Flow headquarters or satellite offices as well as the potential to land companies making or maintaining turbines.

Magnet has already drafted a letter of support, and Robinson said he will urge Cape Girardeau, Jackson and county officials to do the same. The massive investment will mean stiff competition for the jobs, Robinson said.

"We are supporting the project, but there are a lot of hoops they have to jump through yet," he said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent addresses:

Cape Rock Park, Cape Girardeau, MO

Gloucester, MA