Exelon has filed a draft plan on how it intends to manage recreation, river access, fish passage, cottage leases, 46 miles of shoreline and other uses on some 12,658 acres it owns in and along the Susquehanna River.

Exelon is seeking public comment on its draft Shoreline Management Plans for its Conowingo Project, which includes the Muddy Run Pumped Storage Facility in Lancaster County, the Conowingo Pond reservoir on the Susquehanna and the Conowingo Dam in Maryland.

The plans are required as the utility seeks a license extension for its two hydro facilities from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The license expires in 2014.

The relicensing process has become leverage for a number of government agencies and local residents who are pressing for management changes for everything from improving passage of eels and American shad on the river to renovating the Peach Bottom boat launch.

Pressure on Exelon during the relicensing process already has succeeded in forcing the utility to agree to take another look into reopening public fishing on the Muddy Run Reservoir in Lancaster County and on the catwalk on the breast of the Conowingo Dam.

The drawdown Muddy Run Reservoir was closed in 2008 for safety reasons and the Conowingo Dam catwalk was closed for security reasons after 9/11. Both moves have upset anglers and fish agencies in two states.

Expanded recreational opportunities also could be in the offing.

The draft plan concludes "existing facilities meet current and projected use." But the state Department of Environmental Protection, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and the National Park Service found that conclusion was "flawed."

Exelon's consultants did not survey various recreational user groups, they said.

Now, Exelon is awaiting completion of a recreational inventory and needs assessment to govern recreation in the future and determine if there should be additional facilities and enhancements, Exelon spokesman Bob Judge said Tuesday.

Judge contested the criticism that Exelon did not seek feedback from recreation groups. He said a number of such groups attended public meetings on the shoreline plan and gave input.

All together, the Conowingo Project controlled by Exelon extends from the Norman Wood Bridge in southern Lancaster County downriver to 1.5 miles below the Conowingo Dam.

Much weight has come to bear on Exelon to make improvements to its two fish lifts at the Conowingo Dam. The dam is the first obstacle standing in the way of migrating shad, eels and other migratory fish attempting to move up the Susquehanna River in the spring.

Though there are two fish lifts, performance has been less that satisfactory in the eyes of fish agencies, particularly the east lift. Overall, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources said, only 45 percent of shad showing up at the dam make it upstream.

Also, studies showed that shad, eels and adult walleye migrating through the dam's turbines in the fall had a 76- to 91-percent survival rate.

Exelon concluded that running of the dam has not affected shad migration. But "improvements must be made," said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

A determination on what, if anything, is to be done about the concerns has been put on hold until a second year of studies involving radio-tagged fish is complete. The studies were to be done in 2011 but unusual river conditions prevented many of them.

At Muddy Run, some fish are killed when they are sucked from the river and flattened against protective screens and when they flow back from the reservoir to the river and go through turbines.

The PFBC complained that there is no way to understand the total impact on fish at Muddy Run because specific figures on fish mortality were not provided.

As for cottage leases, Exelon will continue its policy of allowing no new leases on islands or along the shoreline. When a lease is abandoned or a cottage damaged, the property will be returned to its natural condition.

Shoreline Management Plan: Muddy Run Pumped Storage Project

Shoreline Management Plan: Conowingo Project

Public comments will be accepted until Feb. 20. Send comments to Colleen Hicks, Exelon Power, 300 Exelon Way, Kennett Square, PA, 19348. Or e-mail them to her at Colleen.Hicks@exeloncorp.com.

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