FERC Renews Conowingo Dam’s Operating License
Bill Herb • April 13, 2021
For additional background on this issue, see Bill Herb’s earlier article, Dollars and Sense on the Susquehanna.
In August 2012, the Exelon Generation Company LLC applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a new license to continue operation and maintenance of the Conowingo Hydroelectric Project No. 405 (Project). The initial 50-year license expired in 1976.
Since 2014, Exelon has operated the dam under an annual license pending the disposition of its new license application. On March 19, 2021, FERC issued a new 50-year license.
The issuance of the license was the culmination of actions on three separate, but related, tracks: the requirements of the license; an increasing concern about water quality in the Chesapeake Bay; and the inevitable decline in the ability of the Conowingo Dam and Pond to protect the Bay. Overlaying these factors were issues of political will and money.
Under section 401(a)(1) of the Clean Water Act, FERC may not issue a license authorizing the construction or operation of a hydroelectric project unless the state water quality certifying agency — in this case, the Maryland Department of the Environment — has either issued water quality certification for the project or has waived certification by failing to act on a request for certification within a reasonable period, not to exceed one year.
Section 401(d) of the Clean Water Act provides that the certification shall become a condition of any federal license that authorizes construction or operation of the project. FERC found that Maryland waived certification.
Threats to the Bay include nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment (NPS). The 1983, 1987, and 2000 Chesapeake Bay Agreements between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), District of Columbia, and various states in the Bay watershed had the goal of cleaning up the Bay through voluntary actions. By 2007, these agreements were found to be ineffective. As the result of a lawsuit filed in 2000, a legally enforceable agreement was reached in 2010 using Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) limits for NPS. This agreement was refined in the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement (Agreement).
After the Agreement survived court challenges that reached the Supreme Court in 2016, all but one the parties to this “enforceable” agreement met their obligations to a greater or lesser degree. Pennsylvania, a major contributor of NPS to the Bay through the Conowingo Dam, would not meet its commitments, and the EPA declined to enforce the Agreement.
Ever since its construction in the late 1920s, the Conowingo Dam and its Pond have fortuitously protected the Bay by trapping massive amounts of NPS that flowed down the Susquehanna River. However, all impoundments lose their trapping ability as the available storage capacity is reached, and this loss was the case for the Conowingo Pond by the early 2000s.
Although the Dam and Pond produced none of the NPS, many concerned entities sought to require Exelon to pay for the NPS flowing down the Susquehanna from sources in Pennsylvania and New York.
MDE attempted to do this when it issued a certification for the Project in April 2018. This certification required Exelon to annually remove 6,000,000 pounds of nitrogen and 260,000 pounds of phosphorus produced by others, or to make payments of $17 for each pound of nitrogen and $270 for each pound of phosphorus.
This would have resulted in potential liabilities around $172 million annually, or about $8.6 billion over the life of the license. This amount was far above the revenue (not profit) generated by the Project, according to an independent estimate prepared by Energy and Environmental Economics, Inc.
In February 2019, Exelon filed a petition asking FERC to find that Maryland had waived its right to issue a water quality certification based on a Supreme Court decision (Hoopa Valley Tribe v. FERC) which found that a delay in certification in excess of one year was tantamount to a waiver. In October 2019, Exelon and MDE reached a settlement which included a conditional waiver of MDE certification. The settlement included off-license environmental provisions which were outside FERC’s jurisdiction, but committed Exelon to various actions and expenditures that were only 1-2 percent of the $8.6 billion.
FERC has dismissed numerous challenges to the issuance of the license.
The EPA is currently being sued to enforce the requirements of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement.
William Herb is a retired hydrologist who worked for the U.S. Geological Survey from 1973 to 2005. He is an expert in sediment transport and has written and spoken extensively on Conowingo Dam issues since he moved to Kent County in 2008. His only connection to Exelon is through the electric outlet on his wall.
Common Sense for the Eastern Shore
Right now, Congress is working on a fast-track bill that would make historic cuts to basic needs programs in order to finance another round of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations.
The House Agriculture Committee recently voted, along party lines, to advance legislation that would cut as much as $300 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP is the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, helping more than 41 million people in the U.S. pay for food. With potential cuts this large, it helps to know who benefits from this program in Maryland, and who would lose this assistance. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities compiled data on SNAP beneficiaries by congressional district, cited below, and produced the Maryland state datasheet , shown below. In Maryland, in 2023-24, 1 in 9 people lived in a household with SNAP benefits. In Maryland’s First Congressional District, in 2023-24: Almost 34,000 households used SNAP benefits. Of those households, 43% had at least one senior (over age 60). 29% of SNAP recipients were people of color. 15% were Black, non-Hispanic, higher than 11.8% nationally. 6% were Hispanic (19.4% nationally). There were 24,700 total veterans (ages 18-64). Of those, 2,200 lived in households that used SNAP benefits (9%). The CBPP SNAP datasheet for Maryland is below. See data from all the states and download factsheets here.
Apparently, some people think that the GOP’s “big beautiful bill” is a foregone conclusion, and that the struggle over the budget and Trump’s agenda is over and done. Not true. On Sunday night, the bill — given the alternate name “Big Bad Bullsh*t Bill” by the Democratic Women’s Caucus — was voted out of the House Budget Committee. The GOP plan is to pass this legislation in the House before Memorial Day. But that’s not the end of it. As Jessica Craven explained in her Chop Wood Carry Water column: “Remember, we have at least six weeks left in this process. The bill has to: Pass the House, Then head to the Senate where it will likely be rewritten almost completely, Then be passed there, Then be brought back to the House for reconciliation, And then, if the House changes that version at all, Go back to the Senate for another vote.” She adds, “Every step of that process is a place for us to kill it.” The bill is over a thousand pages long, and the American people will not get a chance to read it until it has passed the House. But, thanks to 5Calls , we know it includes:
Let's talk about our Eastern Shore Delegation, the representatives who are supposed to fight for our nine Shore counties in Annapolis, and what they actually got up to this session.
For the first time in recent memory, Virginia Democrats have candidates running in all 100 House of Delegates districts — a milestone party leaders and grassroots organizers say reflects rising momentum as President Donald Trump’s second term continues to galvanize opposition.
The 447th legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly adjourned on April 8. This End of Session Report highlights the work Shore Progress has done to fight for working families and bring real results home to the Shore. Over the 90-day session, lawmakers debated 1,901 bills and passed 878 into law. Shore Progress and members supported legislation that delivers for the Eastern Shore, protecting our environment, expanding access to housing and healthcare, strengthening workers’ rights, and more. Shore Progress Supported Legislation By The Numbers: Over 60 pieces of our backed legislation were passed. Another 15 passed in one Chamber but not the other. Legislation details are below, past the budget section. The 2026 Maryland State Budget How We Got Here: Maryland’s budget problems didn’t start overnight. They began under Governor Larry Hogan. Governor Hogan expanded the state budget yearly but blocked the legislature from moving money around or making common-sense changes. Instead of fixing the structural issues, Hogan used federal covid relief funds to hide the cracks and drained our state’s savings from $5.5 billion to $2.3 billion to boost his image before leaving office. How Trump/Musk Made It Worse: Maryland is facing a new fiscal crisis driven by the Trump–Musk administration, whose trade wars, tariff policies, and deep federal cuts have hit us harder than most, costing the state over 30,000 jobs, shuttering offices, and erasing promised investments. A University of Maryland study estimates Trump’s tariffs alone could cost us $2 billion, and those federal cuts have already added $300 million to our budget deficit. Covid aid gave us a short-term boost and even created a fake surplus under Hogan, but that money is gone, while housing, healthcare, and college prices keep rising. The Trump–Musk White House is only making things worse by slashing funding, gutting services, and eliminating research that Marylanders rely on. How The State Budget Fixes These Issues: This year, Maryland faced a $3 billion budget gap, and the General Assembly fixed it with a smart mix of cuts and fair new revenue, while protecting working families, schools, and health care. The 2025 Budget cuts $1.9 billion ($400 million less than last year) without gutting services people rely on. The General Assembly raised $1.2 billion in fair new revenue, mostly from the wealthiest Marylanders. The Budget ended with a $350 million surplus, plus $2.4 billion saved in the Rainy Day Fund (more than 9% of general fund revenue), which came in $7 million above what the Spending Affordability Committee called for. The budget protects funding for our schools, health care, transit, and public workers. The budget delivers real wins: $800 million more annually for transit and infrastructure, plus $500 million for long-term transportation needs. It invests $9.7 billion in public schools and boosts local education aid by $572.5 million, a 7% increase. If current revenue trends hold, no new taxes will be needed next session. Even better, 94% of Marylanders will see a tax cut or no change, while only the wealthiest 5% will finally pay their fair share. The tax system is smarter now. We’re: Taxing IT and data services like Texas and D.C. do; Raising taxes on cannabis and sports betting, not groceries or medicine; and Letting counties adjust income taxes. The budget also restores critical funding: $122 million for teacher planning $15 million for cancer research $11 million for crime victims $7 million for local business zones, and Continued support for public TV, the arts, and BCCC The budget invests in People with disabilities, with $181 million in services Growing private-sector jobs with $139 million in funding, including $27.5 million for quantum tech, $16 million for the Sunny Day Fund, and $10 million for infrastructure loans. Health care is protected for 1.5 million Marylanders, with $15.6 billion for Medicaid and higher provider pay. Public safety is getting a boost too, with $60 million for victim services, $5.5 million for juvenile services, and $5 million for parole and probation staffing. This budget also tackles climate change with $100 million for clean energy and solar projects, and $200 million in potential ratepayer relief. Public workers get a well-deserved raise, with $200 million in salary increases, including a 1% COLA and ~2.5% raises for union workers. The ultra-wealthy will finally chip in to pay for it: People earning over $750,000 will pay more, Millionaires will pay 6.5%, and Capital gains over $350,000 get a 2% surcharge. Deductions are capped for high earners, but working families can still deduct student loans, medical debt, and donations. This budget is bold, fair, and built to last. That’s why Shore Progress proudly supports it. Click on the arrows below for details in each section.
