Moses-Saunders Dam

Author: Txai Sibley

Suggested Citation:

Sibley, T. (2026). Moses-Saunders dam. Technology Assessment Project Case Study Library, University of Michigan. https://stpp.fordschool.umich.edu/tap-case-study-library/moses-saunders…

Moses-Saunders Dam

Key Takeaways:

  • Energy projects have knock-on cultural, environmental, and human health impacts from co-siting industries.
  • This is an example of marginalized communities' land being used for environmentally and culturally damaging infrastructural development.
  • Benefits from infrastructural development and economic development are not necessarily distributed to those whose land and resources are used.
  • Marginalized groups are under-consulted and undercompensated for infrastructure projects on and near their land.
  • Legal and health retribution is a burden that falls on victims of unjust development.
An image of the grey Moses-Saunders hydroelectric power station on the St. Lawrence River with a Canadian flag flying in the distance.

Dam Construction on the St. Lawrence River

The St. Lawrence river, or Kaniatarowanenneh in the Akwesasne Kanienkeha, is the second-largest river by discharge in North America and the third longest river on the continent at approximately 750 miles. One of the oldest communities to exist along the St. Lawrence river is the Kahnawake, established by Iroquois fleeing wars and plagues to the South. In 1719, the French Canadians established Kahnawake Mohawk Nation to "protect" and "nurture" Mohawk who had converted to Catholicism under the seigneurial system (Kahnawake, n.d.).

Canadian visions for hydropower started in 1913, when Ontario Hydropower, today called Ontario Power Generation (OPG), developed plans to build a system of three large dams, a fleet of smaller dams, and shipping locks on the river. World War II and diplomatic disagreements with the United States stalled the project, but construction eventually began in 1955 and, by 1958, the Moses-Saunders Dam was finished. The dam supported two hydroelectric power generating stations: the United States' St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project (managed by the New York Power Authority, or NYPA) and Canada's R.H. Saunders Generating Station (managed by OPG). Both of these stations are still functional and the dam is celebrated by the United States and Canadian governments as a reliable source of clean, green energy, with ongoing support for infrastructure investment and development (Stocks, 2024).

Environmental Harms

However, the dam has a mixed legacy, with the neighboring Mohawk people of Akwesasne enduring a series of concentrated harms from its construction and operation. Construction was contentious, and the Native community faced violence and disrespect at the hands of Canadian police during land surveying (Johnson-Zafiris, 2024). Dam construction resulted in the flooding of over 1,200 acres of Mohawk Akwesasne land, with the Native community never being consulted–or compensated–during the flooding of their islands (Johnson-Zafiris, 2024). While the flooding directly harmed the Akwesasne's ability to maintain traditional land relationships, barriers to cultural practices would compound with increased industrial activity.

The dam's cheap, reliable hydroelectricity attracted factory development that destroyed the health of the land and water. General Motors (GM) and Reynolds plants located adjacent to Akwesasne land and pollution from these plants have had long-standing environmental and health impacts. Pollution from factory co-location has impacted water quality, inhibiting traditional fishing, trapping, farming, and foraging practices along with generational health harms. Soon after the factories opened Mohawk farmers noticed that their calves had stunted growth and that cattle were dying. It was found that 400 pounds of fluoride ash had been spewing from the Reynolds plant every hour, poisoning the grass and eroding the cows' teeth, starving them (Krook & Maylin, 1979). The Reynolds and GM plants also released polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a type of toxic chemical once widely used in manufacturing, into the water for decades, causing cancer and thyroid disorder in the Mohawk community (Fitzgerald et al., 2005; Scheltens, 2022).

Environmental and health harms were compounded by the St. Lawrence Seaway, a sprawling infrastructural network developed alongside the dams. The Seaway is critical to U.S. and Canadian trade, facilitating the transport of 70 million tonnes of minerals and 25-32 million tonnes of hydrocarbons annually. It also brings in 8,000 commercial vessels annually, which introduce invasive species and increase shoreline erosion (Johnson-Zafiris, 2024).

Furthermore, the Mohawk have not had reliable access to the "cheap" electricity generated by the dam. The electric grid within Akwesasne is divided into New York State Power, Ontario, and Hydro-Quebec. Hydro-Quebec has had consistent issues with reliable power delivery, and Akwesasane people have come to expect routine winter blackouts (O'Neill, 2023). The Akwesasne struggle to power life-saving home medical devices and stay warm during frigid winters under this distribution of power. At the same time, industries like bitcoin mining facilities have sprouted up along the St. Lawrence, harnessing its hydropower for energy-intensive operations (McGeehan, 2018).

Legal Battles

In 1976, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (MCA) brought a case for environmental, health, and cultural damages caused by the Seaway and dam to the Province of Ontario, Ontario Hydropower, the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority (currently the Seaway Corporation) and others. Ultimately, the case was split in two to disentangle litigation on the dam and the Seaway, resulting in the dam-focused 2008 OPG settlement and Seaway-centric "Seaway claim".

In 1993, OPG approached MCA to settle outside of court. The terms of the settlement include an official apology from OPG, C$45 million compensation to MCA (note that the year of the settlement OPG's revenue was C$6 billion), the transfer of islands to MCA jurisdiction, a process to work with MCA to explore environmental stewardship, and recruitment of students to work for OPG (Gardner, 2008; Johnson-Zafiris, 2024). There had been attempts by the MCA to include power allocation in the negotiations, but OPG refused these terms. In return, the MCA released OPG from responsibility for all past, present, and future damages. These damages include changes in water flow and levels, impacts on traditional ways of life (fishing, hunting, trapping, harvesting), resources, self-sufficiency, the Akwesasne education systems and loss of traditional knowledge, cultural pride and self-esteem, cultural significance (including burial sites), and land deterioration. Interviews with the council and other community members have highlighted that the harm caused to the land and the community can never be fully addressed (The People's Voice Archive, 1995).

The Seaway claim would have resulted in another payment of C$45 million and the Akwesasaro relinquishing past, present, and future claims to retribution (Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, 2018a, 2018b). Of the 7,000 eligible to vote 170 community members voted in favor and 275 voted against. The Seaway claim is still being resolved.

No litigation has been brought on the U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence River. The NYPA is however involved in an ongoing land claim settlement with the tri-council over occupation of Barnhart Island, where NYPA hydro-power facilities are located. The NYPA has offered the tri-council US$70 million and 9 MW subsidized power for the congressional legislation to dismiss Mohawk claims to disputed lands, and it remains uncertain if the Akwesasne people will be awarded justice for the many harms of the hydropower industry anytime soon.

Relevance to Advanced Nuclear Energy

We wanted to examine the Moses-Saunders Dam case not just because it focuses on another energy technology, but also because it speaks to the potential cultural and environmental impacts of a large technological project. The St. Lawrence waters being harnessed for energy in the Moses-Saunder Dam case mirrors how uranium must be mined to sustain nuclear energy production. The consumption of these resources to produce energy tends to impact communities at or around the site of extraction/environmental destruction, while often not returning energy benefits to these communities, as seen with the Akwesasne peoples. Because the majority of global uranium mining takes place on indigenous land, the Moses-Saunders case is even more illustrative of how indigenous communities in particular are at risk of environmental and cultural harms if uranium mining expands to meet advanced reactor demands.

Key References

Johnson-Zafiris. (2024, March). Akwesasne and the History of Hydropower. Science for the People.

Scheltens, L. (2022, August 16). How US corporations poisoned this Indigenous community. Vox.

References

Fitzgerald, E. F., Hwang, S.-A., Lambert, G., Gomez, M., & Tarbell, A. (2005). PCB Exposure and in Vivo CYP1A2 Activity among Native Americans. Environmental Health Perspectives, 113(3), 272–277.

Gardner, A. (n.d.). MCA finalizes settlement agreement with OPG. Indian Time. Retrieved April 29, 2025.

Johnson-Zafiris. (2024, March). Akwesasne and the History of Hydropower. Science for the People.

Kahnawake. (n.d.). Government of Canada.

Krook, L., & Maylin, G. A. (1979). Industrial fluoride pollution. Chronic fluoride poisoning in Cornwall Island cattle. The Cornell Veterinarian, 69 Suppl 8, suppl 1-70.

Mohawk Council of Akwesasne. (2018a). Mohawks of Akwesasne Seaway Claim.

Mohawk Council of Akwesasne. (2018b, June 13). MCA And Canada Complete Negotiations On The Settlement Of The St. Lawrence Seaway.

O'Neill, S. (2023). Akwesasne communities without power for over 36 hours. Standard-Freeholder.

Scheltens, L. (2022, August 16). How US corporations poisoned this Indigenous community. Vox.

Stocks, C. (2024, June 28). Government investing in hydroelectric energy in eastern Ontario. International Water Power.

The People's Voice Archive. (1995). Elders Research Project. https://tpv.omeka.net/items/show/9

Photo: Ontario Power Generation's power station at the Moses-Saunders Dam on the Saint Lawrence River. ceedub13 / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.