J NOT to_BE QUOTED WlTHP~T PERMISSION OF THE DI3_~CTO~, BIOLOGICAL _STATION, ~ANDRE\ ~~ ., __N· .!3_:-i ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT OF THE BIOLOGICAL STATION, ST. ANDREWS, N.B. Orig. Ms. 492 THE PASSAMAQUODDY POWER PROJECT A.G. Huntsman In the early part of February of this year, we were asked to give evidence before the Royal Commission on Maritime Fisheries, sitting at St. John, concerning what effect the Passamaquoddy Power Project would have on the fisheries of the coast. We have learned that our evidence has been wrongly interpreted or misrepresented, so that we believe it .d e s i r a b l e to give brief accounts of these predicted effects of the construction involved in the prQject. It is not possible to detail all the evidence on which these predictions are based, but some of the more outstanding and simpler facts will be given. The effects are not confined to the fisheries, but have to do with the temperature and salinity of th~ water, navigation, the climate, and the tides. This power project is the first of its kind, so that predictions both as to its success and qS to its effects, cannot be based upon the results in previous cases of the same kind. These predictions, whatever their kind, can be based ~t best only upon a consideration of the various factors involved, and the results of previous experience as to how these factors operate. It is, however, quite clear that if the dams and gates are successfully installed and operated, a constant head of water will be available for supplying ste~dily hundreds of thousands of horse power. We believe it equally clear that the successful installation of the dams will produce widespread effects of a striking nature not only inside the dams, but throu~out the region generally. It should be clearly underst60d that we are not sitting in judgment on this project. It is not our province to deal with its soundness from the engineering standpoint, nor are we prepared to state what value it might be to the province of New Brunswick in furnishing a basis for the employment of o~ pe?~~e. As to the effects which we foresee from the construction numbers. - . ,.:-;.;.: ~ . - . ~ of the dams, some will doubtless be considered favorable and others un­ favorable. It would seem wise to thoroughly consider both the benefits and the damages that might result, and to make certain ~hat sufficient compensation is provided for all damages that are not offset by corresponding benefits. .,__ ..-:':" .~r- '" • • _ ._ .... _ , • . 2. THE PASSAMAQUODDY POWER PROJECT I. The Power This is the age of power, of seeking control of the forces of nature for man's use and benefit, There have already been such extraordinary accomplishments that new undertakings, no matter on how large a scale, now fail to be impressive. We look generally to the sun as a source of power. It gives us light, It gives us heat. It makes the plants grow to serve as food for man and animals, and is thus responsible for both man and animal power. Also the power we get from wood, from coal, and from oil has come from the growth of plants or animals, and so indirectly from the sun. why should not the earth of itself furnish power? It is not radiating much energy, but it is revolving on its axis so rapidly that any object at the equator is travelling eastward at the rate of over a thousand miles an hour. Why cannot that force be utilized? The reason is that there must be something for this movement to work ~gainst for us to get the power. If the atmosphere stood still while the earth revolved, we would have a tremendous and steady -gale blowing westward, and then windmills would give us abundant and continuous power for all our needs. But the atmosphere goes with the earth and its movements are too fluctuating and uncertain to be a reliable source of power. The rotation of the earth does, however, work against something. The earth rotates in reference to the other heavenly bodies, and their attraction on the earth is what its rotation works against. This attraction, although affecting the atmosphere and the lithosphere or solid earth as well, is shown chiefly by the ocean or hydrosphere. Water is fluid enough and heavy enough to show very regular movements as the result of the earth's rotation moving it against the attraction of the various heavenly bodies. These movements of the water over the earth are known as the tides. The heavenly bodies, whose attraction is greatest through their nearness or size are the moon and the sun, and the tides are seen to vary chiefly in reference », to the relative positions of these two bodies. But still the tidal movement, although never failing day after day, is not steady, but fluctuating. It flows one way for a time, gradually ceases, and then begins to flow in the opposite direction. Man has found it a most difficult problem to make use of this periodical movement as a source of constant power. 3. The Passamaquoddy Power Project is to make use of the power in the tides, and the magnitude of the enterprise intrigues the imagination. When one considers that the whole of Passamaquoddy Bay, including the estuary of the St. Croix river, and covering about one hundred square miles, rises and falls from twenty to twenty five feet every twelve house, and that four times every day about two billion tons of water boils through the narrow passages at the mouth of the Bay, one gets some conception of the extent of the power that is seemingly going to waste. Can it be chained ,t o turn wheels and to produce electricity, which can be transmitted far and wide over the neighbouring part of the continent? The scheme is a simple one. Dam the Bay so that it will always be full or nearly so, letting in at high tide whatever water may be necessary. Then dam the mouth of the adjacent Cobscook Bay, so that water can't get into it and keep its water always at a low level by draining it thoroughly at low tide. With Passamaquoddy always nearly full and Cobscook always quite low, we can have a continuous waterfall from one , to the other and this will be the source of the power just as in ordinary hydro-electric power plants. Tremendous as the output of power will be, only a very small part of the power that now forces the water in and out of those two bays will be used. Most of the power will be excluded from those bays by the dams and will be expended in the Bay of Fundy. Enormous as is this power project with its hundreds of thousands of proposed horsepower, the series of d~s that will make it possible will interfere with an immensely greater natural process, which is altogether unique for the Atlantic coast of this continent, and possibly for the world. It need not be considered surprising, therefore, that the installation of these dams should have pronounced and wide-spread effects throughout the Bay of Fundy and the neighboring regions. We propose in subsequent articles to give brief accounts of some of these effects. Details of the very many facts that have been determined by investigation, or brought together from a variety of sources in our efforts to accurately trace out these effects, would fill a very large volume. ~here is more power in the sea than that shown in the tides. An attempt is being made near Halifax by a Mr. Parsons to use the waves of the ocean as a source of power, the up and down motion operating a crank, which turns a fly wheel and generates electricity. This power comes from the action of the wind, and therefore partly from the sun and partly from the earth's rotation. A Frenchman, Prof. Georges Claude, has recently devised a means I L 4. of running a modified steam engine with sea power, taking advantage of the difference in temperature between the deep cold water and the warm surface water that exists throughout the year in the tropics. This power comes from the sun, which warms the surface water. Unfortunately our waters could be so used only in summer. Neither of these two latter projects involves much change in natural conditions, and in this respect as well as in others they are to be contrasted with the Passamaquoddy Power Project. 5, / THE ~ASSAMAQUODDY~OWER ~ROJECT II. The Water Effect The Passamaquoddy region is in a number of respects peculiar or unique. Its pecuiar characters are due to a combination of factors, and this combination has produced a water-mixing machine of gigantic proportions. Whoever has seen and experienced in the deep channels between Deer, Moose and Campobello islands at the mouth of Passamaquoddy Bay the whirlpools in which water is sucked into the depths and the tremendous, updrafts, in which water boils up .from the depths and floods over the surface, has no illusions con­ cerning the power and effectiveness of this machine. What effect has this machine on the water? To understand what this mixing does to the water, we must first consider a place where there is little or no mixing going on. Across the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia peninsula from the Bay of Fundy is the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the southern part of which are Prince Edward and the Magdalen islands. Its waters are very little mixed, and present a marked contrast with those of the Bay of Fundy.