ROCKINGHAM, Vt. (AP) – Canadian energy company TransCanada Hydro Northeast will keep ownership of the Bellows Falls hydroelectric facility on the Connecticut River.

State and federal agencies this week denied requests that would have allowed the Bellows Falls Power Co. to purchase the village’s hydroelectric facility.

The Vermont Public Service Board wrote Thursday that it did not have enough time or information to rule if the new deal to have a state entity own the electricity-generating dam and lease it to a local company was good for the public.

And on Friday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission denied the town’s original request to take over operation of the dam with its partners and to allow Bellows Falls Power to operate the dam.

The two rulings this week apparently end Rockingham’s final effort to keep the ownership of the dam with a local company following two consecutive “no” votes from its residents.

Rockingham Select Board Chairman Lamont Barnett said he was disappointed.

He added that leaving the dam’s ownership with TransCanada – the Canadian energy giant that purchased it and several others in bankruptcy court this year – may result in a shift of tax burden to homeowners when the town-wide property reassessment is completed next year.

“If the town follows the trend other communities are seeing, residential properties will make up a larger piece of the grand list pie,” Barnett said. “If that happens, it’s estimated we’ll see $400,000 less in tax revenue next year from the dam, a burden that will fall on the residential properties.”

In its eight-page ruling, the energy regulatory commission approved TransCanada request to take over the dam from former owner USGen New England.

The commission also wrote that it could not rule on the disagreements between TransCanada and the Vermont Hydroelectric Power Authority over language contained in the town’s option to purchase the dam that stipulated who would obtain the license if the residents voted against self-ownership.

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Information from: Rutland Herald, http://www.rutlandherald.com/

AP-ES-09-11-05 1302EDT