PORTLAND, Maine (AP) A plan to test the use of a new technology to help endangered salmon in a Maine river has been abandoned, at least for now.

Atlantic salmon return to very few rivers in the United States, and the most critical of those is the Penobscot River in Maine. Brookfield Renewable of Toronto had planned to evaluate the performance of a new type of fish passage to help the salmon navigate a hydroelectric facility on the Penobscot in Milford, 140 miles north of Portland.

The U.S. Department of Energy awarded the project an $800,000 grant and issued a statement in April signaling its support of the project. But Brookfield spokesman Andy Davis told The Associated Press the firm has withdrawn from the project, and it’s not scheduled to go forward.