Pine P-2486

The Pine Project is a 3.6 MW hydropower project owned by Wisconsin Electric (WE) on the Pine River, a tributary to the Menominee River in northeastern Wisconsin. It is part of the mitigation package for the 1998 Wilderness Shores Settlement Agreement that re-licensed eight other WE projects in the Menominee basin.  Under the Settlement, WE agreed to remove Pine Dam when its license expired in 2025 providing the Resource Agencies still supported removal. The consultation process for removal was scheduled to begin in 2020.  However, in 2015 WE initiated consultation with the Wisconsin DNR only, indicating a desire to pursue relicensing rather than removal, and the Wisconsin DNR unilaterally supported this. In 2019, WE formally proposed a 15-year license extension for the Pine Project. The WDNR reversed its position, stating that eventual dam removal was its goal.  The other Resource Agency and NGOs were united in opposition to the extension, asserting that WE did not follow the prescribed consultation process and that not removing the dam would result in a mitigation deficit in the Wilderness Shores Settlement Agreement.