WINSLOW (AP) – The battle over the removal of the Fort Halifax dam on the Sebasticook River is over.

An excavator with a hydraulic hammer began punching holes in the former hydroelectric dam on Thursday, breaching the dam and restoring five miles of habitat to sea-run fish.

The removal of the Fort Halifax Dam has been in dispute for seven years, ever since FPL Energy decided to surrender its license and remove the dam.

A local group called Save Our Sebasticook criticized a 1998 agreement that required fish passage through either a fish lift or removal of the dam.

Watching the dam’s destruction, Winslow resident Tom Davis bemoaned the loss of the dam at a time of growing energy costs. “I think it is ridiculous,” Davis said Thursday. “You have a perfectly functioning (hydroelectric) dam being taken out.”

Less than 50 feet away, Waterville resident Mike Cleary saw the dam’s removal as a good thing.

“You’ve got to ultimately think what is best for the river and the environment,” he said, “and fish passage is what’s best for the river and the environment.”

After FPL made its decision to remove the dam, a Boston-based company that operates a number of small hydro projects including the Benton Falls Dam upriver sought to purchase Fort Halifax Dam and continue generating electricity at the facility.

FPL Energy was open to Essex Hydro’s interest, but other parties to the 1998 agreement found fault with the hydro company’s plan and rejected it.

Essex Hydro made an 11th-hour attempt to delay removal so it could pursue taking over the project.

But on Thursday, at about the same time the deam was breached, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected Essex Hydro’s request.

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