WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) today wrote President Bush requesting that $18 million in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 budget be included to complete the Penobscot River Restoration Project. This conservation project is a collaborative effort among the PPL Corporation, Department of the Interior, the State of Maine, Penobscot Indian Nation, and five conservation groups to restore Maine's Atlantic salmon and several other species of native sea-run fish in the Penobscot River. In order to improve fish passage, the project involves the purchase of three dams, the removal of two, and a by-pass of the third.
"Atlantic salmon are a highly valued natural resource for the State of Maine and the nation. An estimated 70 percent of our nation's Atlantic salmon spawn in the Penobscot and this project represents the best hope for restoring sustainable runs of salmon on the United States," Senators Snowe and Collins said in a joint statement. "Federal funding is both needed and appropriate to complete this project, which represents a major step forward in fish restoration."
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