Passamaquoddy Bay

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Passamaquoddy Bay is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy, between the U.S. state of Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick, at the mouth of the St. Croix River. Most of the bay lies within Canada, with its southern shore formed by Deer Island, New Brunswick, eastern and northern shores by mainland Charlotte County, New Brunswick, and the western shore by Washington County, Maine. The largest community on Passamaquoddy Bay proper is St. Andrews, New Brunswick, although the twin communities of Calais-St. Stephen are sometimes included, despite being located on the St. Croix River. The city of Eastport, Maine, is also sometimes included, despite being technically south of the bay on the nearby Friar Roads.

The two entrances into Passamaquoddy Bay from the Bay of Fundy are the Letete Passage east of Deer Island, and the Western Passage to the west of Deer Island. The latter waterway also hosts the International Boundary between Canada and the United States.

[edit] The Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project/"Quoddy Dam" Project

A proposed development project for eastern Maine, envisioned by hydroelectric engineer Dexter Cooper, involving the construction of a tidal harness for electricity generation was initiated in 1935 under U.S. Public Works Administration funding and with the blessing of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose summer home was on nearby Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada.

Also known as the Quoddy Project, it proposed impounding Cobscook Bay and part of Passamaquoddy Bay with a series of dams and control structures to exploit the resulting water level difference to generate electrical power. The electric turbines for power generation would have been located at the isthmus on Moose Island, Eastport, with the water passing between Passamaquoddy Bay and Cobscook Bay, with the "used" generating water released from impoundment at low tide.

Part of this project was completed by the construction of dikes built between Pleasant Point-Carlow Island-Moose Island. The project was suspended one year later after the United States Congress refused further funding, thus the actual barrier dams never being built. The dike barriers now underlie the former Maine Central Railroad and the current Maine Highway 190, as well as between Treat Island (in Eastport) and Dudley Island (in Lubec, Maine).

Several iterations and variations on the project later ensued, but never began construction.