page_title: Cuyahoga River
section_title: Gorge Metropolitan Park Dam
hierarchical_section_title: Cuyahoga River / Dams / Gorge Metropolitan Park Dam
caption_attribution_description: Ohio Edison Dam, Cuyahoga River, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, August 2005
context_page_description: The Cuyahoga River is a river in the United States, located in Northeast Ohio, that runs through the city of Cleveland and feeds into Lake Erie. As Cleveland emerged as a major center for manufacturing, the river became heavily affected by industrial pollution, so much so that it "caught fire" at least 13 times, most famously on June 22, 1969, helping to spur the American environmental movement. Since then, the river has been extensively cleaned up through the efforts of Cleveland's city government and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. In 2019, the American Rivers conservation association named the Cuyahoga "River of the Year" in honor of "50 years of environmental resurgence."
context_section_description: The largest dam is the Gorge Metropolitan Park Dam, also known as the FirstEnergy Dam, on the border between Cuyahoga Falls and Akron. This 57-foot dam has for over 90 years submerged the falls for which the City of Cuyahoga Falls was named; more to the point of water quality, it has created a large stagnant pool with low dissolved oxygen.
  The FirstEnergy Dam was built by the Northern Ohio Traction and Light Co. in 1912 to serve the dual functions of generating hydropower for its local streetcar system and providing cooling-water storage for a coal-burning power plant; however, the hydropower operation was discontinued in 1958, and the coal-burning plant was decommissioned in 1991. Some environmental groups and recreational groups want the dam removed. Others contend such an effort would be expensive and complicated, for at least two reasons: first, the formerly hollow dam was filled in with concrete in the early 1990s, and second, because of the industrial history of Cuyahoga Falls, the sediment upstream of the dam is expected to contain hazardous chemicals, possibly including heavy metals and PCBs. The Ohio EPA estimated removal of the dam would cost $5–10 million, and removal of the contaminated sediments $60 million. The dam is licensed through 2041.
  Advanced Hydro Solutions (AHS), a company based in Fairlawn, Ohio, filed a notice of intent to use the dam to generate hydropower. The company contends hydropower is a cleaner source of power and the emissions saved by the plant will be the equivalent of taking 10,000 cars off the road.  Citing concerns with erosion, dewatering of the scenic river reach below the dam, and use that is inconsistent with the Gorge MetroPark's purpose, opponents to this plan include, in addition to environmental and recreational groups, some governmental agencies, including Summit Metro Parks, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the Ohio EPA. At public meetings held on July 27, 2005, the proposed project, which would generate enough electricity to power 2000 homes, encountered substantial opposition. On May 25, 2007, AHS suffered a setback in its effort to develop the site. The United States Court of Appeals for the sixth circuit denied its application to conduct tests at the site, refusing to overturn a lower court's ruling that the MetroParks had the right to deny AHS access to conduct the tests. In a letter dated June 14, 2007, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) terminated AHS's application for the Integrated Licensing Permit without prejudice, citing the company's failure to adhere to strict timelines. FERC will allow AHS to refile if it can conduct the required studies and move forward with the project. The final decision from the FERC on the project was due in July 2009.  On June 12, 2009, AHS dropped its permit and terminated the project.
  On April 9, 2019, officials from the U.S. EPA and Ohio EPA announced a plan to remove the Gorge Metropolitan Park Dam by 2023 at a cost of $65 to $70 million. Funding for the project was authorized through the Great Lakes Legacy Act with funds coming from the City of Akron and members of the Gorge Dam Stakeholder Committee, including Summit Metro Parks, FirstEnergy, and the City of Cuyahoga Falls.
caption: FirstEnergy Dam
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