SSoommee DDaamm –– HHyyddrroo NNeewwss and Other Stuff i 2/01/2008

Quote of Note: "It's useless to hold a person to anything they say while they are in love, drunk, or running for office." - - Shirley MacLaine

Other Stuff: (This may be trivia, but it’s not trivial! Some things never change. One of those things is pork- barrel politics.) Did you know that Congress put into the current budget 9,000 earmarks for pork-barrel projects costing $ 7.4 billion? That boils down to 14.2 projects per Senator or Congressman/woman or a cost for pork barrel of $ 11,653,543 for each Senator or Congressman/woman. As old Senator Dirksen of IL once said – “A million here, a million there, first thing you know we’re talking real money.”)

Recent research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on ocean temperature and land- falling hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean seems to indicate that global warming may warm ocean temperatures and may actually produce fewer killer storms: http://www.dailytech.com/NOAA+Warmed+Global+Oceans+Produce+Less+Atlantic+Hurricanes/a rticle10473.htm

Dams Dam demo: Work to dismantle Milltown hydropower site gets under way By JOHN CRAMER of the Missoulian, January 19 2008

MILLTOWN - One hundred years after producing their first power, Milltown's hydroelectric works - and the dam that made them possible - are being dismantled. Workers at the Milltown Reservoir Superfund cleanup site have started demolishing the dam's abutment wall and removing the powerhouse's historic generators. “There's no turning back now,” said Bill Thompson, senior engineer for NorthWestern Energy, as the first of the generators left Milltown's trademark brick powerhouse late Thursday afternoon. The start of the dam's demolition and removal of its generators are another milestone in the $100 million Superfund project, and the culmination of decades of scientific review, political debate and environmental advocacy. The project is intended to remove mining wastes from the reservoir bottom, protect and purify the aquifer below, and restore native fisheries and the confluence of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers. The cleanup started in

Copy obtained from the National Performance1 of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

2006, more than two decades after arsenic and heavy metals were found in Milltown's drinking water and federal authorities designated the reservoir and upper Clark Fork River as Superfund sites. Combined, they form the largest such cleanup site in the nation. Milltown Reservoir's cleanup is scheduled to be completed in 2011.

Demolition of the dam's abutment wall started Tuesday and should be complete in about two weeks, said Diana Hammer, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The powerhouse's Workers with NorthWestern Energy began removing the workshop was dismantled last week and a five generators from the Milltown Dam powerhouse this large steel-reinforced opening was created in week. One of the generators will eventually be on display the north wall to allow removal of the in Bonner. The other four will find homes in other generators, which were assembled inside the hydroelectric plants. powerhouse in 1906. Workers started removing the generators Thursday afternoon and should be finished in several days. The heaviest generator weighs 25 tons. The others weigh about 20 tons. The generators are being jacked up and rolled outside on rails before a crane lifts them onto trucks, said Bill Scarbrough, NorthWestern Energy's Milltown plant manager. One of the generators is to become part of a history display about the century-old reservoir, which generated electricity for the Missoula area until the plant was shut down in 2006 for the cleanup and dam removal. The other four generators will be sold for reuse in hydroelectric plants. Demolition of the powerhouse could start by late January. It should be completed in March or April when the next drawdown in the reservoir occurs - before the spring runoff. A small temporary dam will divert water over the spillway while the powerhouse is razed. The dam's spillway is to be demolished next year, removing the last part of the dam and clearing the way for the rivers to eventually follow their natural channels, and a public park to be developed in the area.

“Everything's pretty much on schedule,” said Russ Forba, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Milltown project manager. Workers also are continuing to demolish the Highway 200 bridge and the pedestrian bridge over the Blackfoot River. Both bridges are to be replaced by fall. Workers also have finished stabilizing the Interstate 90 bridges and will remove construction barges and concrete forms over the next several weeks, Forba said. Meanwhile, nearly 306,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment has been removed from the reservoir. A total of 2.2 million cubic yards is to be removed and redeposited upriver, in the huge settling ponds at Opportunity. Work on a bypass channel, where the Clark Fork River will be diverted temporarily, should be completed in the next few weeks. The reservoir has been drawn down about 12 feet since June 2006 and will be lowered a total of 29 feet from historic levels over the next few years. The next drawdown of 12 to 14 feet in March is expected to further lower the levels in drinking wells in the area, especially in those closer to the reservoir. To date, the EPA has paid to check 222 wells and for 68 service calls, lowering 11 well pumps, replacing five well pumps, installing 15 filtration systems and drilling 33 new wells. A group of Marshall Grade and East Missoula residents has asked the Missoula County commissioners to stop the dam's removal and further drawdowns until more studies assess the effect on the aquifer's quantity and quality.

State lawmakers looking into Texas dams 1/23/2008, News8, Austin, TX, By: Veronica Castelo

The Texas House Committee on Natural Resources met Wednesday in Austin. They are studying issues that could turn into future bills. State Rep. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, said dams are on their radar. The committee is expected to discuss aging infrastructure, liability issues, and the legal authority and financing needed to make repairs during future meetings. "It's not a glamorous subject but it's infrastructure that's crucial to the needs of not only adequate water supply but safety in general," Creighton said. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) oversees dams.

In early January, the Chevron owned Rhine Lake dam in Van, Texas failed. The failure inconvenienced local livestock owners and drained a popular lake. TCEQ hadn't inspected the dam since 1984.Rhine Lake

Copy obtained from the National Performance2 of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

drained when the dam failed in early January, which was caused by poor piping. The dam was in fair to good condition when TCEQ inspected it in 1984 though the TCEQ never followed up. In fact, TCEQ didn't visit the dam again until it failed more then 20 years after their initial visit. Warren Samuelson, head of the Dam Safety Program said that the problem could have been fixed if it was found in time. "We just don't have the staff to take care of it and do the follow- ups and do everything we need," Samuelson said. Rhine Lake dam is one of more than 7,644 known dams in Texas. Half of them have never been inspected by TCEQ. Creighton wants that to change. "As we see bridges collapse or dams collapse we see the safety of others and the property of others threatened," he said. Jack Furlong with the American Society of Civil Engineers said lawmakers should also be working to help the owners of dams who are responsible for paying for repairs. TCEQ said there are currently no grants available for private owners of dams.

"It should be promulgated at the state level, and also at a federal level so there's some seed money to motivate owners of dams and levees to go out and make those types of improvements," Furlong said. Creighton said he will continue to work toward getting more money pumped into the problem. "I think we'll see an effort during budget to make sure we can address some of these issues that are lacking. That would be a goal of mine," Creighton said. The state auditor's office is currently conducting an audit of TCEQ expected to be available in April. Chevron said they will decide by early March weather to rebuild the dam.

State: Dams NOT Likely Factors in April Floods Independent evaluation is ongoing By Peter Bragdon, Milford Observer Publisher, January 24, 2008

A preliminary investigation by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) indicates that last spring's flooding along the Souhegan River was "due to intense rainfall and rapid snowmelt on ground that was already saturated." The operations at several privately-owned dams in Greenville and Wilton, suspected by some of contributing to the high water levels, "were not likely to have been important factors in the extent of flooding along the river," said the January 7 report. The DES investigation was initiated as a result of concerns expressed by Milford state Rep. Peter Leishman about the operations of one of the Greenville dams, and how water released from that dam may have contributed to flooding downstream in Wilton, Milford, and Amherst. The investigation indicated, however, that all the dams along the river "likely had gates opened prior to the flood or early in the event," and were thus not likely to have been contributors to the high water levels.

According to the investigation, three to four inches of precipitation fell on the area in a 12-hour span beginning just before midnight on April 15 and ending in the late morning of April 16. During that period the temperature rose from 32 degrees on the fifteenth to 48 degrees on the sixteenth. "This intense rainfall in such a short period of time, combined with a rapid melting of snow in the early morning hours after midnight on the 16th, created flash-flood conditions, causing the Souhegan River and other rivers in southern and southeastern New Hampshire to rise over flood stage in a short time." The investigation notes that there is conflicting information about how the dams were operated in this time. The dams' owners indicate that steps were taken prior to the floods to reduce the amount of water being held by the dams and some of that information has been corroborated by independent observers. Other people, however, claim those steps were not taken until the morning of April 16, at the height of the flooding. An independent evaluation of the flood is currently being performed by a team of engineering consultants under contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). That evaluation is expected to help reconcile some of the conflicting information by developing a computer simulation model of the Souhegan River to evaluate the characteristics of the watershed, including the impact of dam operations on flooding. Interim findings from the evaluation are due in mid-March, with final results available in May.

(This is not about dam safety, it’s about public safety. In the photo below, there’s a dam somewhere.) Report says dam unsafe, dangerous 01/24/2008, By Janet Cremer, Daily Journal

Copy obtained from the National Performance3 of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

The state may have no choice but to ignore a report that calls for removing the Momence dam, considered among the most dangerous in Illinois. "The state does not have the money to remove dams," Rick Gosch of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources said Wednesday. The Momence dam is unsafe because the "drop at the dam crest, and the often dangerous currents downstream, contribute to hazardous conditions for river users and pedestrians," the report by the Chicago-based Consoer Townsend Envirodyne Engineers Inc. states. The report was authorized after several drownings at dams throughout the state resulted in lawsuits. In Wilmington, there were 16 drownings between 1972 and 2006. Removal there isn't recommended since ownership is unclear. Yet, the Momence dam, which is owned by the state, hasn't been the site of a drowning in more than 60 years, aldermen said at Tuesday's meeting. "So, why should it be removed?" they asked. Alderman Bill Peterson went so far as to call the report "baloney." "This is about as worthless as it gets," Peterson said of the Capital Development Board study released over the summer. "There's no reason to take it out."

State officials said they planned to set meetings with local communities to further explain the study. Gosch said no meetings have yet been set. At this point, he said, the natural resources department was more concerned with "drafting administrative rules" for a new state law requiring signs and warning devices at run-of-river dams throughout Illinois. Such signs were posted at Wilmington in 2005, but The Daily Journal reported in an article two years later that they've had little effect. "Anytime the weather's decent, there are 20 to 30 people fishing here," Charlie Friddle of the Wilmington Island Park District said in the story. The study calls for Momence to have buoys strung upstream and to post 17 warning signs -- some very large -- near the dam. The total cost of signs could be $55,000, which Mayor Jim Saindon said would be a "big deal for a small town like ours." Still, Gosch said such big scale signs is "not necessarily" what the state will request. He said, "Any physical change to any dam is far removed right now." Saindon said he'd like to believe that, but he's still a bit nervous, knowing that removing the Momence dam might be attractive to the state because, based on the list, "ours is the cheapest" to take out at $380,000. Saindon said that he has talked to individuals who are ready to circulate petitions against removing the dam.

(Now, we’re starting to find out the real costs of removing the Elwha River dams, and there’s no turning back.) 'We're not done yet': Water plant feted in mega-project to remove Elwha dams By Brian Gawley, Peninsula Daily News, January 28, 2008

PORT ANGELES — More than 70 people gathered Saturday morning in mixed rain and snow along the Elwha River for a groundbreaking ceremony for the second of two water treatment plants. The plants are being built to protect Port Angeles drinking water during the Elwha River dams removal project. U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, said the federal government's significant investment to protect the area's water quality should be appreciated. The dam removal project's 2004 cost estimate was $185 million, but the two water treatment plant projects alone — originally estimated at $50 million of that total — are costing $94.1 million by themselves. "We have been funding and funding and funding, and we're not done yet, but we're getting over the financing hump," Dicks said. He said he's pleased that President George W. Bush has supported the project, which began when President Bill Clinton was in office. He hopes that the science of river restoration learned during the project can be applied to dam removal or river restoration elsewhere. "We should really focus on the science, what we learn from this project, its impacts and consequences," Dicks said. The National Park Service has been planning to take down the Elwha Dam and Glines Canyon Dam since the 1992 Elwha River Restoration Act authorized their removal to restore salmon habitat. The federal law also required construction of two treatment plants to protect the water supplies of the city of Port Angeles, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and its fish hatchery as well as the state fish rearing channel. "These two [water plant] contracts together are the largest ever awarded in the National Park Service's history," said Jon Jarvis, Pacific West Regional Director for the National Park Service. "These water treatment plants really are the major step before dam removal, to ensure the quality and quantity of the water supply. "The dam removal is a relatively simple part of this project." Jarvis said removing the two Elwha River dams was a promise made to Randy Jones, the late deputy superintendent of Olympic National Park, who died of cancer in November 2005.

Copy obtained from the National Performance4 of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

Lower Elwha He also said the project is due to the persistence, the patience and the impatience, of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe. Lower Elwha Klallam tribal councilman Dennis Sullivan said, "This is a very historic moment. It's a huge step in removing those damn dams." "When the dams are removed it will be a very sentimental and emotional time for our elders. "Only a handful are left of those who testified in Washington, D.C.," Sullivan said. The second water treatment plant is being built upstream from an existing water intake that serves the state Department of Fish and Wildlife fish rearing channel and Nippon Paper Industries' mill. The project is estimated to take three years because of restrictions on working in the Elwha River due to streamflows and fish migration. The crowd included current and former city, tribal and federal officials, some of whom have retired since the project to remove the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams first began in 1992. In September, the National Park Service awarded a $24.5 million contract for the first water treatment plant, now under construction at the city's landfill site, to a joint venture of Watts Constructors LLC and John Korsmo Co. (Watts/Korsmo A JV). In December, the $69.6 million contract to build the second treatment plant — plus a new water intake and improvements to levees and Crown Z Road — was awarded in mid- December to a joint venture of DelHur Industries of Port Angeles and Watts Constructors LLC. National Park Service Biologist Brian Winter said construction would begin next month after the contractor receives the "notice to proceed."

(Here’s some data that may or may not be accurate.) Decommissioned Dams Bruce Ferrell, NC News Network, January 29, 2008

(CHAPEL HILL, NC) --- Thousands of obsolete dams, and miles of unused roads could benefit the environment as they are being taken out of use, according to a UNC-Chapel Hill geography professor. Staring with depression-era work projects, and continuing through much of the middle part of the 20th century, a number of dams, roads and other projects were built. Martin Doyle at UNC-Chapel Hill says a number of them are reaching the point where they need massive repair or decommissioning. He says in some cases already, dams that have been taken down have benefited fish populations. He says federal policies should include environmental restoration as a priority when projects are torn down. Doyle says there are 3,500 dams and another 15,000 levees in the U.S. that could be considered obsolete. He says there's also U.S. Forest Service roads and offshore oil platforms.

Hydro Dexter works toward hydro project By Diana Bowley, January 25, 2008 - Bangor Daily News

DEXTER, ME - What began as an effort to install a small hydroelectric facility on a dam near Lake Wassookeag has mushroomed into an effort to make energy improvements throughout municipal government. Historical society members last summer had gathered information to submit a grant proposal to pay for the small hydro facility on the dam behind the former Abbott mill, according to Ann Kendall, one of the organizers. The Public Utilities Commission was offering grants for such purposes, but the submission of the grant proposal was tabled because the ownership of the mill had changed, Kendall said. "What surprised me is how enthusiastic people were with the idea," Kendall said. Building on that interest, the Town Council agreed earlier this month to form an alternative energy committee. Some residents have met twice and will meet again at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6, in the council chambers. The meetings are open to the public and comment is encouraged, according to Kendall, who serves as the committee’s coordinator. Kendall said Bucksport and Saco have undertaken similar studies and energy improvements, so Dexter will grow on their experiences. She said a group went to Saco to see its operations and have talked with Bucksport officials regarding its effort.

The Dexter committee’s main thrust is to evaluate the town’s energy use and its physical resources, including the landfill. Kendall said the committee would investigate the potential use of wind power, hydroelectric power, solar, biomass, as well as geothermal energy and how to make realistic and practical changes for the community. Energy audits and finding improvements for existing facilities and vehicles will be part of the committee’s efforts. Committee members hope the town effort will spur local residents and

Copy obtained from the National Performance5 of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

businesses to do the same. "The seed has been planted and has begun to show signs of sprouting and so we’re going to nurture it," Kendall said.

(An idea that is long overdue!) Power plan takes root in Fremont County A developer is optimistic the wind and hydro project may be online by 2014 By CHRIS WOODKA, THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN, January 27, 2008 DENVER - A Fremont County project that combines wind and hydroelectric power generation could be on line by 2014, if all goes as planned. Mark Morley, who also plans to develop a reservoir in Pueblo County, gave an update on his Phantom Canyon Project near Penrose to the Colorado Water Congress last week. Morley has a few water rights but envisions a new reservoir just above Brush Hollow would be used by other water rights holders looking for a place to park their water. Morley pointed to both the Preferred Storage Options Plan and the Statewide Water Supply Initiative as identifying greater needs for off-channel storage along the Arkansas River and said both reservoir sites would fill that gap. There are actually three potential reservoir sites at Morley’s Stonewall Springs site near the Pueblo Chemical Depot totaling 27,000 acre-feet. Morley plans to develop one of those, a 7,000 acre-foot site, by late 2009. The reservoir could be connected to a conduit that could serve communities in El Paso County. “It would be filled with everyone else’s water,” Morley said.

In Fremont County, the Phantom Canyon reservoir could store 70,000 acre-feet, and would feature a pump- back electric generation through an “afterbay” roughly 500 feet higher in elevation, according to engineering reports by URS Engineering. The company has already begun extensive testing at the site. Permitting, engineering and economic analysis will continue on the Phantom Canyon Project in 2008, with final design expected in 2009 and construction in 2010. Morley anticipates filling the reservoir by 2013, and generating power by 2014. There are some preliminary water storage agreements with the Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority, which does not yet have the water itself. The water could be leased through a Super Ditch land fallowing, water lease management program proposed by the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District. Other users, as yet unidentified, could store water at Phantom Canyon, Morley said. Combined with wind turbines, Morley is looking at generating 400 megawatts of power - or enough for 200,000 homes. The hydroelectric plant would generate power for six hours each day. “The powerhouse would be underground,” Morley said. Hydroelectric power has advantages over other types of power, because it would be more reliable than wind or solar electric generation - which are available only when it’s blowing or the sun is shining - and cleaner that gas generation, which is typically used to back up solar projects. Hydro also complements wind power because the wind can be used to power the pumps necessary to move water between the larger reservoir and the smaller afterbay. “It’s a true marriage that completes the circle,” Morley said. Hydro power is also available more quickly than gas or coal can provide. “You have load acceptance in less than five seconds,” Morley said. Morley explained he did not start out to create a power-generating site when he looked at potential land development near Brush Hollow Reservoir in Fremont County, but was only looking at the possibility of expanding the existing reservoir. Talk about the need for more water storage in the valley led him to look at an even larger project. “We started looking at how to provide for the storage deficit, and the power generation pays for it,” Morley explained.

(Excerpts) Minnesota Power Proposes 250 MW Hydroelectric Energy Purchase January 29, 2008, DULUTH, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--, StreetInsider.com

Minnesota Power, an ALLETE company (NYSE: ALE), announced today that it has signed a term sheet outlining two purchased-power agreements with Manitoba Hydro: an initial purchase by Minnesota Power of surplus energy to begin in 2008, and a 15-year-term Minnesota Power purchase of 250 megawatts beginning in about 2020. The long-term sale will require construction of hydroelectric facilities in northern Manitoba and major new transmission facilities between Canada and the United States. Minnesota Power and Manitoba Hydro each has one year to complete negotiations and sign definitive agreements. The agreements would be subject to the approval of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. "We are pleased to cooperate with our neighbor and long-term utility partner to secure this clean, carbon-free energy resource for our customers," said Don Shippar, ALLETE, Inc. chairman, president and CEO. "As new industrial projects are proposed in our region, Minnesota Power will continue to deliver innovative ways to meet the associated energy needs." The purchase is consistent with the energy strategy laid out in Minnesota Power's Integrated Resource Plan filed with the state of Minnesota last year.

"Manitoba Hydro is proceeding with plans for the development of new large hydroelectric projects in northern Manitoba," said Bob Brennan, Manitoba Hydro president and CEO. "Another benefit to both parties is the

Copy obtained from the National Performance6 of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

additional transmission capacity between the two utilities. These projects and the associated power sales will be good for the environment, good for the northern First Nation communities and good for rate payers both in Minnesota and Manitoba. These sales continue a long, close and fruitful relationship with Minnesota Power."

Water California Flood Risks Are 'Disaster Waiting To Happen,' Say Engineers ScienceDaily (Jan. 22, 2008)

While flooding in California's Central Valley is "the next big disaster waiting to happen," water-related infrastructure issues confront almost every community across the country, according to engineers at the University of Maryland's Clark School of Engineering in separate reports to California officials and in the journal Science. An independent review panel chaired by Clark School Research Professor of Civil Engineering Gerald E. Galloway said the area between the Sacramento and San Joaquin river floodplains faces significant risk of floods that could lead to extensive loss of life and billions of dollars in damages. The panel's report, "A California Challenge: Flooding in the Central Valley," was commissioned by California's Department of Water Resources. The panel pointed out that many of the area's levees, constructed over the past 150 years to protect communities and property in the Central Valley, were poorly built or placed on inadequate foundations. Climate change may increase the likelihood of floods and their resulting destruction. The panel recommends that state and local officials take swift action to reduce the risk to people and the environment. The comprehensive flood-risk abatement strategy the panel recommends focuses on land-use planning and integration with other basin water management activities. "The challenges that California faces are widespread across the nation," Galloway said. "The recent failure of a levee in a Nevada irrigation canal points out growing infrastructure problems." Another civil engineering researcher from the Clark School, Dr. Lewis "Ed" Link, also served on the California panel. "I believe the State of California is taking a very enlightened approach to difficult issues," Link said. "Supporting this study is a good example, as is their examination of risk for the entire Central Valley. They are looking strategically at measures that can create long-term solutions, a model for others to follow." Galloway is also co-author of an article in the January 18, 2008 issue of Science -- "Aging Infrastructure and Ecosystem Restoration" -- which calls for the targeted decommissioning of deteriorated and obsolete infrastructure in order to support the restoration of degraded ecosystems. "As we move forward with infrastructure enhancement, we must consider how, in the process of carrying out these activities, we can restore and enhance the natural and beneficial functions of the floodplain, which can at the same time reduce flood losses," Galloway said. Link and Galloway were prominent figures in the review of the levee system around New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated the area. Link served as director of the federal government's Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force, which evaluated the hurricane protection system around New Orleans. Galloway is a former brigadier general with the Army Corps of Engineers and has been part of the State of Louisiana review team looking at long-term plans for restoration of the Gulf Coast. Adapted from materials provided by University of Maryland.

Hydroelectric project gets major approval By Timothy Smith and Cindy Watson, Record Gazette, January 26, 2008

A proposal supporting Southern California Edison's San Gorgonio hydroelectric project (a water conveyance facility) received an affirmative vote of 5-0 vote from the Banning City Council. The proposal transfers the title and restores the Whitewater diversion flume conveyance system into working condition. It was OKd at special joint meeting between the San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency (SGPWA), The Banning Heights Mutual Water Company (BHMWC), and the City of Banning on Jan. 17. BHMWC board voted to approve the proposal, in principle, at its Dec. 3 meeting. The flume is an important water resource in the Pass area that comes from the Whitewater River and travels down the San Gorgonio River Canyon (Water Canyon) on the east side of Banning. BHMWC Board President Charles Perkins said he was pleased with the Jan. 17 City of Banning approval. Perkins said the small shareholder-owned water company is waiting for a final response from its attorney on the amended wording from the Banning City Council meeting. If the attorney

Copy obtained from the National Performance7 of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

finds the agreement satisfactory, Banning Heights will vote one more time to certify the restoration program. The SGPWA voted to authorize implementation of the final wording of the agreement at its Jan. 23 board meeting.

SGPWA Directors Jim Snyder and John Jeter were happy to see Banning approve the water conveyance restoration plan. Banning City Councilman John Machisic said he appreciated the work done by the SGPWA to get the SCE proposal this far. A new wrinkle in the proposed final agreement is that SCE will pay for 90 percent of the repairs and the city of Banning will cover the other 10 percent of the improvements to complete the repairs to the water conveyance system. The proposed agreement for the SCE licensed water conveyance facilities between the three agencies received its first preliminary approval from the SGPWA board at its Nov. 19 meeting. The SGPWA has spent an estimated $750,000 to bring the negotiations this far, SGPWA board member Jim Snyder said. The agency's attorney has been the lead Pass area negotiator for the project for the last seven years. SGPWA General Manager Jeff Davis said part of the funds spent by the agency have been to cover consultant fees to look at the project.

The seven-year water negotiations with SCE and the three local water agencies is finally about to be resolved and will benefit the Banning Bench area and the city of Banning. The flume is the only source of water for the Bench property owners. SCE owns the rights to the canyon use and used it to generate hydroelectric power from the Whitewater flume water source. SCE shut down power generation in 1998 and the system fell into disrepair. They offered to sell the rights to the BHMWC for $1. But, the system needs a lot of work to make and keep it as a viable water source and possible electricity generating concern to Bench property owners and the city of Banning. The SGPWA stepped in to facilitate a reasonable transfer of the facility that includes repairs to the water system by SCE. Repairs to the water system have been estimated at $3 million to $4 million, with the majority to be paid for by SCE. All future benefits and maintenance would go to the city of Banning, BHMWC and its Bench property owners. The SGPWA has no financial interest in the solution. “A solution ensures one part of the Pass has water, Davis said, and that's important.”

Environment (Now, how do you do that?) Researchers Challenge Water-Flow Model By CORNELIA DEAN, January 18, 2008, The New York Times

Decades ago, when geologists were developing ideas about how water typically flows across land, many of them studied the streams of the Mid-Atlantic States, concluding that they naturally move in ribbon like channels cut through silty banks. In the years since, ecologists and conservationists have used this model in efforts to restore streams damaged by urbanization. Now, though, researchers at Franklin and Marshall College are challenging it. They say the streams studied by their geological predecessors were not “natural archetypes” but rather the artifacts of 18th- and 19th-century dam building and deforestation. The scientists, Robert C. Walter and Dorothy J. Merritts, report their findings on Friday in the journal Science. In a commentary on the work, David R. Montgomery of the University of Washington, said it did not challenge the earlier geologists’ “fundamental insights” into the interplay of water and sediment. But, Mr. Montgomery said, “in light of the new findings, what constitutes a natural channel form requires re-examination.” The researchers examined historical records and maps, geochemical data, aerial photographs and other imagery from river systems in Pennsylvania and Maryland. They discovered that beginning in the 1700s, European settlers built tens of thousands of dams, with perhaps almost 18,000 or more in Pennsylvania alone. In a telephone interview, Dr. Merritts described a typical scenario. Settlers build a dam across a valley to power a grist mill, and a pond forms behind the dam, inundating the original valley wetland. Meanwhile, the settlers clear hillsides for farming, sending vast quantities of eroded silt washing into the pond. Years go by. The valley bottom fills with sediment trapped behind the dam. By 1900 or so the dam is long out of use and eventually fails. Water begins to flow freely through the valley again. But now, instead of reverting to branching channels moving over and through extensive valley wetlands, the stream cuts a sharp path through accumulated sediment. This is the kind of stream that earlier researchers thought was natural. “This early work was excellent,” Dr. Merritts said, “but it was done unknowingly in breached millponds.” She said she and Dr. Walters believed their work had important implications for stream restoration. For one thing, she said, evidence so far suggests that removing the overlay of sediment may encourage streams to return to a

Copy obtained from the National Performance8 of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

truly natural state. But also, she added, restoration “requires much more consideration of what we are trying to restore, and what might actually be a sustainable approach.”

Study: Temps affect waters January 28, 2008, By Susan Smallheer, Rutland Herald Staff

BELLOWS FALLS, VT — A state study of the watersheds of the West, Williams and Saxtons rivers in the southeastern corner of the state shows the biggest environmental problem appears to be increased temperatures, a planner with the Agency of Natural Resources said. Marie Levesque Caduto, a watershed coordinator with the agency, said Friday the study is one of 17 being conducted on the different watersheds in the state. A hearing on the proposed plan was held last week in Bellows Falls, Caduto said, and the public comment period is open until Feb. 14. The last hearing will be held this Thursday at the Townshend Public Library. Partners in the study are the Windham Regional Commission and the Windham County Natural Resource Conservation District, she said. Caduto said she would definitely be making some changes in the plan, as a result of comments at the three meetings that have been held so far on the plan. She said she could accept written comments until Feb. 14. "We're going to be adding recommendations and action steps," she said. She said the study was a planning document that was written working closely with the regional planning commission and other agencies and groups. The plan will be updated every five years. She said the water quality of the West River, which starts in the hills of Weston and enters the Connecticut River in Brattleboro, is adversely affected by the two large flood control dams on the West River in Townshend and Jamaica.

"The two dams have a major impact on the river, but they are not the only ones," she said, noting the state was working closely with the Army Corps about changing gate releases. The Nature Conservancy is also involved in the West River, she said. "The flood control dams are not going anywhere and we need to manage them and manage those flows so there is the least impact on the rivers," she said. And she said that small hydro dams, and a lot of old mill dams not in active use, were also a major cause of concern, largely because of the sediment caught behind the dams. If the dams ever failed or were breached, that sediment would have a big impact on the water quality of the river and the fisheries in it. Caduto said the 17 river basins were in different stages of completion. She said the study on the White River was the first one to be undertaken and completed, and that the West-Williams-Saxtons study was the third to be close to completion. She said the study was lucky to have a wealth of information and data to rely on, from state and federal sources, noting there was a large group of volunteers who routinely checked the river for various quality issues. "We have a fantastic local group that does monitoring, and the U.S. Army Corps data and EPA data: what are the pollutants and what are they impacting," Caduto said. The largest issue she said was "thermal modification," which she said was human caused, but not necessarily the result of global warming. She said it was not just the large ponds or lakes behind the flood control dams, which act as giant heat sinks, but that all along the rivers people are cutting trees and shrubs along riverbanks, eliminating its shade which is important not just to fish, but the tiny invertebrates they eat. She said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had been an active participant in the planning process, along with a large group of interested citizens and groups. She said there were some agricultural runoff problems in the river, but not on the scale as in the Champlain Valley, which has the highest concentrations of farms in the state. The plan will include strategies for addressing that problem, from fencing to keep animals out of the streams or rivers, to planting buffers to shade the rivers. The watershed plan is part of the Douglas administration's Clean and Clear initiative, which is aimed at preserving or addressing threats to the quality of the state's rivers and lakes.

iThis compilation of articles and other information is provided at no cost for those interested in hydropower, dams, and water resources issues and development and should not be used for any commercial or other purpose.

Copy obtained from the National Performance9 of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

SSoommee DDaamm –– HHyyddrroo NNeewwss and Other Stuff i 2/08/2008

Quote of Note: “A government big enough to give you everything you want,

is strong enough to take everything you have.” - -Thomas Jefferson

Dams County, family join to save old dam Possible water source for Madison By Crystal Owens, January 31, 2008, Athens Banner-Herald

SANFORD, GA - The owners of a private lake have inked a deal with Madison County that could save an aging dam and provide county residents with a much-needed water source. The deal is the first step to preserve Seagraves Lake, a 50-acre landmark in the Sanford community that the state Department of Natural Resources deems unsafe. The Madison County Industrial Development Authority on Jan. 21 signed a memorandum of understanding with the Seagraves family, which owns the lake, to allow an engineer to study the lake's faulty dam to estimate the cost of repair. Once the engineer is finished with the assessment, the IDA and the Seagraves family hope to negotiate an agreement that would split the cost of repairs. "The Seagraves are willing to work with Madison County for future water needs," said Marvin White, the executive director of the development authority, which operates Madison County's water system. "(The lake) is a landmark in our county, and we certainly don't want to lose it." Seagraves Lake stays full even during times of drought, White said, and the IDA may be able to pump as much as a million gallons of water a day from it. Madison County takes its water from wells - not rivers or reservoirs - but the drought is lowering the groundwater table, and residents' wells are starting to run dry. Voters in the well-dependent area are set to decide Tuesday whether to spend about $1.2 million in sales-tax revenue to build sewer lines in the developing southern part of Madison County, look for sources of surface water, plan out how to build intakes and treatment plants to deliver water from two large lakes and attract state or federal grants. To be able to repair the dam, the IDA likely will have to assume ownership of the structure, White said, while the Seagraves family will allow the lake to be used as a county water source and provide a site for a water treatment plant. The exchange could pave the way for state and federal funding since private dam owners don't qualify for grants under the state's Safe Dams Program. The state created the Safe Dams Program in 1978 after a dam breach in Toccoa killed 39 people. Program officials classify the Seagraves Lake dam as a "high hazard," meaning lives could be lost if the dam burst. Officials with the Safe Dams Program warned the Seagraves family in 2006 that the lake's dam and spillway 1 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu are deteriorating. Family members faced the prospect of draining the lake rather than paying repair costs an engineer had told them could be as much as $500,000. The state set a Dec. 31, 2007, deadline for the family to either repair the dam or drain the lake. Ann Seagraves has owned the lake since her husband, Weyman, died; she filed for an extension, but as of Wednesday still was waiting on the state's response, she said. County officials have backed her request for more time, she said. "It's a really beautiful lake, and we don't want to lose it," Seagraves said. Four generations of Seagraves have owned the lake, which was originally created 122 years ago to impound water to feed a water wheel powering a grist mill. Enforcement of unsafe dams takes years Robert Anglen, The Arizona Republic, Jan 30, 2008

A list of 21 unsafe dams in Arizona is raising questions about lack of enforcement that has allowed some owners to forgo repairs for decades. Officials at the Arizona Department of Water Resources say limited authority and funding have made it hard to force dam owners into compliance with new strict safety regulations. Instead, the dam safety section has adopted a helping-hand approach, trying to coax owners into fixing problems by offering grants, brokering deals between private and public entities and writing notices. That has left owners of dams like Fredonia mulling over issues such as embankment cracking, erosion and inability to pass required flood designs for nearly three decades. Yes, 30 years. The city of Fredonia was first notified in 1980 that its earthen dam could not handle a high inflow of water. That is not to say the city has ignored the problem. They have put in place evacuation plans for the 1,000 residents living downstream of the dam in case of a flood. They are also trying to come up with ways to finance the $7 million repair bill. Fredonia is one of four dams on the list that are considered elevated safety risks, meaning the dam could fail during a hundred-year flood. The others are Cook Reservoir near Safford, Powerline Dam near Mesa and Apache Junction and Magma Retarding Dam in Florence. All are earthen and serve as flood control dams with water accumulating behind the structures only during storms.

The list of 21 unsafe dams was released in August and has received little attention. It appears deep among links in the DWR Web site, which defines an “unsafe” dam as having deficiencies in the dam or spillway that “could result in failure of the dam with subsequent loss of human life or significant property damage.” That sounds like it could be bad. But Arizona Dam Safety Manager Mike Johnson said the term “unsafe” doesn't really mean the dam is unsafe in most cases. He said most of the dams are classified as unsafe because they were built to comply with one set of safety criteria that has now become more stringent. The other issue is that some of the dams were built decades ago in rural areas that are now becoming built up. The more people that live downstream, the higher the safety standards. Then there are dams like Colter, which was built 110 years ago and holds back a reservoir of water upstream from Greer. Among deficiencies noted at Colter are things such as “dam stability” and “excessive uncontrolled seepage.” That, too, sounds bad. “We are uncertain about its stability,” Johnson agreed, adding that the dam is restricted in the amount of water it can hold. State officials first notified Colter's owner, Lyman Water Co., about problems in 2001. Each of the “unsafe" dams has issues, including questions of ownership, financial ability, necessity and potential threat. Johnson said the state has a repair fund with about $700,000, not even a fraction of the amount needed to cure all of the problems. But Johnson points out that the state has tried to stay on top of issues so that the unsafe list doesn't grow too large. In fact, he was happy to point out that one of the “unsafe” dams, Granite Creek at Lake Watson, is expected to come off the list soon because the city of Prescott appears to have satisfied safety requirements. “(Dams) are ranked over time and prioritized,” Johnson said, adding that the number of unsafe dams in the state has stayed around 20 year after year. So as one comes off the list, another goes on. Makes you wonder if the state is bailing out water fast enough to keep the boat afloat.

Pennsylvania says mining destroyed lake dam in park Consol Energy sued for $58 million to fix Greene Co. damage February 01, 2008, By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The state has sued Consol Energy Inc. claiming it lied about the risks of mining under Ryerson Station State Park in Greene County and caused the failure of Ryerson Dam, necessitating the draining of Duke Lake, a popular swimming, boating and fishing spot. The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is seeking compensatory damages in excess of $58 million, plus unspecified punitive damages, from the Upper St. Clair-based mining company, according to the lawsuit, filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court yesterday afternoon. The lawsuit said the cost to replace Ryerson Dam may exceed $30 million, the cost to restore Duke Lake will be more than $8 million and the damage to the park's natural resources is more than $20 million. It is believed to be the first time that a state park has been damaged by mine subsidence. The 28-page civil complaint alleges that Consol knew it was risky to mine near the 62-acre lake and its 45-year-old concrete dam, and falsely represented the level of the risk to the DCNR both before and 2 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu after the damage to the dam occurred in April 2005. The state is requesting a jury trial. "Given the increased risk of catastrophic damages, which did in fact occur, the conscious decision by Consol to not advise DCNR of the true facts was irresponsible, reckless and indifferent," the complaint states. "The actions of Consol employees with regard to the misrepresentations and concealment were incurred within the scope of their duties and were carried out with the intent to further Consol's 'for profit' interests at the expense of public safety and protected public natural resources." The complaint did not specify the misrepresentations, and Chris Novak, a DCNR spokeswoman, declined to comment on its allegations or provide details.

Although mines are regulated by the state Department of Environmental Protection, DCNR is responsible for the state's park lands. Tom Hoffman, a Consol spokesman, also declined comment on the lawsuit late yesterday afternoon, saying the company had not seen it. "We were a significant distance away from the [dam] site, more than 1,200 feet," Mr. Hoffman said. "As far as I know, no evidence has been presented that shows mining was the cause." Cracks were first discovered in the face of Ryerson Dam in April 2005, according to state Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Mining and Reclamation records. Those same records state that Consol's Bailey Mine was then operating its longwall mining machinery 1,850 feet from the dam and 350 feet below the surface. After the cracks expanded on the face of Ryerson Dam in the spring and early summer of 2005, it was judged unsafe and Duke Lake was drained in July. At the time the lake was drained, the Bailey Mine longwall machinery was less than 1,000 feet from the lake and advancing toward it. Longwall mining is a full extraction deep mining technique that causes immediate surface subsidence of up to 4 feet. The subsidence occurs directly above the space where the coal is removed and also extends into adjacent surface land, similar to how a wider area of sand in an hourglass funnels to the bottom. According to state mining bureau records, the dam was outside the area where subsidence would be expected to cause problems on the surface -- the so-called "angle of influence." But a $1.2 million investigation of the dam failure done for the DCNR by independent consultant Gannett Fleming, ruled out natural causes. Environmental groups have called on DCNR to release the complete findings of the study, which was finished eight months ago. But the department has refused to do so during months of private negotiations with Consol and because of the possibility of legal action against the state's largest coal company. If mining caused the damage to the dam, even though the dam was outside the Bailey Mine's presumed angle of influence, it could mean that state regulators should expand the surface area within which mining companies should be held liable for damages to surface property owners. "I'm not surprised one of the charges is fraud by Consol," said Michael Nixon, an environmental attorney and chair of the mining issues committee for the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Sierra Club. "This is a chronic problem and once again reveals that it's a flim-flam to say that such subsidence can be controlled. This is a demonstration of that." William Plassio, the DEP's district mining manager, said he's seen nothing to indicate that the mining had any effect on the dam. He also has not seen the DCNR consultant's report. "The mining was beyond the area where we would expect to see a problem," Mr. Plassio said in an interview last month. Duke Lake was the centerpiece for the 1,164-acre Ryerson Station State Park which attracted 160,000 visitors a year. In 2004, the year before it was drawn down, more than 2,200 fishermen encircled the lake on the opening day of trout season. Since the lake was drained, the area has been little more than a muddy field with a stream running through it. The dam was built across the Dunkard Fork of Wheeling Creek in 1960. The DCNR announced in November that it has begun design work to replace the dam.

(Excerpts) Rebuild of AmerenUE Taum Sauk Plant Reservoir To Serve As Engine For Missouri and Regional Economic Growth, Recent Study Shows Rebuild Expected to Add 635 jobs, $48 million in Income February 1, 2008, All PR Newswire news

ST. LOUIS, MO - Rebuilding the upper reservoir of the AmerenUE Taum Sauk pumped-storage hydroelectric plant, which is estimated to cost $450 million, is expected to add 635 new jobs to the state's economy, while raising state income by $48 million, a study conducted by the Center for Economic & Business Research at Southeast Missouri State University shows. Serving as an engine for economic growth for Missouri, the two-year reconstruction of the upper reservoir that was destroyed by a Dec. 14, 2005, breach, will directly benefit Iron, Madison, Reynolds, St. Francois and Wayne Counties in Southeast Missouri but will have a favorable impact across the state. Of the estimated 300 people expected to be employed to rebuild the facility, 177 will be from a 10-county region within Missouri and will earn approximately $17 million annually for each of the projected two years of the rebuild. The spending by these contract employees is expected to add an additional $5 million of income and another 95 jobs in this 10- county region. The spending by all 300 contract employees is expected to lead to increased employment and income in other economic sectors, with estimates that this spending will create an additional 248 jobs in the state. Therefore, the total number of new jobs added to state employment rolls by the project is expected 3 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu to stand at 548, creating approximately $43 million in additional income. Added to these 548 new jobs are the jobs expected to result from construction spending of about $5.25 million in each of the projected two years of the rebuild, adding another 87 jobs. Completed in early 2008, the full economic impact study of this major construction project can be found at http://www.ameren.com/taumsauk/.

The rebuild comes almost two years after the Dec. 14, 2005, breach in the plant's upper reservoir caused significant flooding in the Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park. The upper reservoir will be constructed with roller compacted concrete (RCC); once rebuilt, this 54.5-acre reservoir will be the largest RCC dam in North America. In August 2007, AmerenUE received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to rebuild the upper reservoir, and in early November, the company announced it had engaged Ozark Constructors, LLC, to rebuild the reservoir. Ozark Constructors is a venture partnership formed by Colorado- based ASI Constructors, Inc., and St. Louis-based Fred Weber, Inc. AmerenUE also announced that Paul Rizzo Associates, Inc., based in Pennsylvania, was selected engineer of record and project manager. Rizzo is a world-recognized engineering and construction management firm for dams. Since the company first announced its intent to rebuild in early 2007, AmerenUE has stressed that the reservoir would be rebuilt following criteria used in current dam design and construction practice. Insurance is expected to cover substantially all the costs of the rebuild. AmerenUE is a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation AEE. Ameren companies serve 2.4 million electric customers and nearly one million natural gas customers over a 64,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois. Built in 1963, AmerenUE's Taum Sauk Plant, as a pumped-storage hydroelectric plant, stored water from the Black River in the upper reservoir atop a mountain and released the water to generate electricity when power was needed.

Hydro (Excerpts) Homer to apply for money to study hydropower By Layton Ehmke, Homer Tribune, January 30, 2008

Homer, Alaska is hot for saving energy these days. The latest attempt to combat increasing energy costs comes via the possibility of harnessing the pulling power of the flow of your municipal water supply. Hydropower takes advantage of the energy generated as water flows from the top of the bluff downward. At this point, the city figures, why not? Long before Homer was a real city, or Alaska was a state, hydropower was once rather popular in this country. That was before the “bigger is better” fad took hold in the industrial revolution. Now, we may be headed right back to our earlier efforts. Grants are available for municipalities to see whether micro-hydropower generators placed alongside a city’s water system would actually do the city any good. The city, having passed a resolution of intent on Monday, is now in position to ask for that state money to conduct such a study. Borough Assembly member Bill Smith is behind the resolution to apply for grant money to study the possibilities of utilizing micro hydropower from the municipal water system. Ann Marie Holen, city staffer on the Global Warming Task Force, said she figures the hydro idea picked up momentum with all the attention to energy management generated by the Climate Action Plan. According to Smith, on the surface, it seems there is a significant amount of power potential on the system. That power could be directly harnessed and re-used on the same system. The grant to fund the study would come from the state’s Energy Authority and the Denali Commission.

HOMER HAS HYDRO POTENTIAL Lori Barg is a micro-hydro company principal for the Community Hydro company in Plainfield, Vt. She said that when cities install a hydro turbine, it sits parallel to the existing system. So there are no changes to the current system. Based on flow, usage, operation, pressure and elevation factors, hydro engineers find a communities’ potential for employing micro hydro generators. Barg took Homer’s general numbers, and was able to derive a very general idea of Homer’s energy-saving potential. Those basic numbers include average seasonal water usage by the 1,500 water customers, the water source, its pressure on the system and distribution. With some rough numbers subject to change and based on general assumptions of how water treatment plants operate, Barg estimates the city will save approximately 400 tons of carbon per year. The annual reduction in cost of power comes to about $42,000, and the energy saved at a pressure-reducing valve comes to about $8,500 per year. “The water treatment plant is likely an excellent site for energy 4 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu recovery,” Barg said, noting that there may also be options within some of the 22 existing pressure-reducing valves throughout the entire system. According to Barg, one challenge in providing small communities with the right equipment has typically been affordability. That, however, is changing with the times. Some of the equipment is manufactured in Washington State, while other equipment made in Vermont. However, the fundamental effort in developing community hydropower has come from entrepreneurs and communities.

HYDRO HAS CHALLENGES Another challenge with the hydropower system identified by Public Works Director Carey Meyer is Homer’s somewhat inconsistent water usage. According to Meyer, Homer’s water usage tends to vary quite considerably — in time of day and time of year. One of Meyer’s ideas listed in the city’s long-range plans is to construct a holding tank, which could stabilize that pressure on the system. Peter Crimp, Program Manager for Alternative Energy and Energy Efficiency for the Alaska Energy Authority, said while the program isn’t new, the popularity certainly is. Crimp said this is due to rising fuel prices that hit rural areas, and the tightening supplies of natural gas on the Railbelt area – including HEA. For alternative energy, the Denali Commission and the Alaska Energy Authority are combining forces to put out specific proposal requests. Crimp said most of the money for alternative energy is targeting rural Alaska — about $4 million worth. (The Denali Commission specifically targets rural communities.) The statewide program through AEA gets to dole out just $1 million for alternative energy projects anywhere this year. Somehow, that doesn’t seem like much when you spread it around. “No, it’s not much,” Crimp said. “Now, the governor has made alternative energy and energy efficiency deployment a priority. So, from the state government’s perspective, we’re looking at ramping up projects in this area.” The governor’s budget includes $10 million for projects in front of the legislature now. House Bill 152 would set up a renewable energy fund — one that’s greater than this year’s budget.

Relicensing dams hangs on warm water, endangered fish HCN ONLINE - January 30, 2008 by Ken Olsen, High Country News

Cooler water. And endangered fish. These are two of the hurdles that stand between Idaho Power Co. and new federal licenses to operate the three dams on the Snake River known as the Hells Canyon complex. For more than four years, Idaho Power has been trying to obtain the water-pollution permits it needs for relicensing. Because the company’s dams are on the state boundary, it needs Clean Water Act permits from both Idaho and Oregon. The company must submit an operating plan that demonstrates the dams won’t violate water-quality standards. The three key remaining issues are temperature, dissolved oxygen levels and total dissolved gas, with temperature usually being one of the most difficult to address. Idaho Power must cool the water it discharges into the Snake to make it less harmful to fall Chinook salmon. Currently, it’s as much as 6 degrees Fahrenheit too warm during the first few weeks of the October spawning season, says Paul DeVito, natural resource specialist for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The massive reservoirs created by Brownlee, Oxbow and Hells Canyon dams trap heat from the summer sun. But the water coming into the reservoir from upstream users – including agriculture – also helps create abnormally warm temperatures. And reduced flows, caused by irrigators, cities and towns and other water users, also contribute to the warm-water problem, making it difficult to figure out who’s responsible for what portion of the temperature increase.

As a result, Idaho Power may fund upstream watershed restoration in order to cool the water that ultimately flows into the Hells Canyon complex -- perhaps planting trees and shrubs to shade streams as well as increasing in-stream flows. Beyond water-quality issues, Idaho Power must satisfy the federal government that it is doing enough to mitigate the damage its dams cause to bull trout, steelhead and salmon. It’s uncertain when the company will receive the necessary clearance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries. And NOAA Fisheries has reserved its right to require fish passage at the dams in the future even if it signs off on the current license application. Idaho Power submitted its application for license renewal with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2003. The company’s original 50-year operating license expired in 2005, and it has since been operating on an annual license. It now estimates it will receive its new license in 2010. The federal power commission has the option of issuing a license that is good for between 30 and 50 years.

5 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

Water Water users meet to learn about reach of riverbed rent By LINDA HALSTEAD-ACHARYA, Billings Gazette, January 31, 2008

JOLIET. MT - Next legislative season, Boyd-area rancher Larry LuLoff plans to keep a close eye on water legislation. And he's hoping other water users will back him in taking a stand against bills that infringe on their historic water uses. "It's time when they're passing this bad legislation, it's time somebody with voting power stands up and says no," he said. Roughly 40 people - ranchers, water users, representatives from PPL Montana and legislators - attended the first meeting of the Decreed Water Advocates in Joliet on Wednesday night. Most said they were attending to learn more about water issues that could affect them and the state. Discussion focused on the state's recent effort to charge power companies for the use of the riverbed under their hydroelectric facilities. Some water users, including the Decreed Water Advocates, fear the move could open the door to a similar rent on agricultural uses. Consequently, the group supports PPL Montana in its appeal. Dick Moore, area manager for the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, emphasized two key points regarding the riverbed rent. The Montana Hydroelectric Resources Act does not deal with water rights but state trust lands, he said. The state considers the riverbed of navigable streams, from low-water mark to low-water mark, as state school trust lands. In the case of the hydroelectric facilities, the state is seeking rent payment from the power companies for the footprint occupied by their facilities. Secondly, the act only applies to navigable streams, he said. He assured those at the meeting, many of them from the Rock Creek drainage, that Rock Creek between Red Lodge and where it meets the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River is not a navigable stream.

Even on navigable streams, he said, current policy exempts anything less than a 40-foot diversion dam from having to pay rent for the riverbed. "Are we going to (in the future)?" he asked. "I don't know. But something could be pushed down from the Legislature." Questions were raised regarding how the state defines "navigable." Montana maintains a list of streams considered navigable, said Dave Kinnard, attorney for PPL Montana. However, he said, "The list of navigable rivers is a somewhat amorphous list." Kinnard said PPL Montana is appealing the "rent" based in part on the history of the company (the facilities were previously owned by Montana Power Co.) and its hydroelectric facilities. The dams were built with the state's encouragement, some more than a century ago, to provide needed electricity, he said. Then, in 1931, the state passed the Hydroelectric Resource Statute that authorizes the state to lease lands for power sites. "Nothing was ever done with it (statute) until this lawsuit was commenced," Kinnard said. "There was never any enforcement, never any communication from the state to the power companies." In Kinnard's opinion, the same principle now being applied to the power companies could well extend to irrigators and cities with diversion dams. "Is the city of Billings now going to have to start paying rent to the state?" he asked. During the meeting, it was evident that unanswered questions remain. But the Decreed Water Advocates hope to push forward to make sure historic water rights are protected. "We're going to elect the right people to represent us in Helena and get this tangled mess of rules and regulations we've encumbered the DNRC with and get it straightened out," LuLoff said. "And we're going to have a say in what goes down."

(This story is a part of western water history and is a part of my history. The pumps at Parker Dam were manufactured in my hometown of Jeannette, PA at the Elliot Company, which is miraculously still in existence and where many of my family members worked over the years.) When dams were young and gardenias a nickel apiece Writers on the Range - by Tom Wolf, High Country News, Jab. 31, 2008

My mother at 90 prefers the distant past to the present. When she sees the Tournament of Roses parade on television, she recalls coming of age during the Great Depression. When she hears that the nation might be sliding into recession, she tells me what hard times were really like. Her job during the 1930s was to dole out FDR tennis balls and FDR tennis rackets to penniless players at the newly built public courts near downtown Colorado Springs. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps built those courts along Monument Creek. Then they channelized the floodplain of the creek bed, so that it would not flood the new courts during summer monsoons. Such feats so impressed my young mother that she married a civil engineer. The couple honeymooned in Southern California, attending the 1939 Rose Bowl. She remembers their first night in a hotel room, where the groom lowered her into a claw-footed bathtub filled with warm water and floating gardenias. “They cost a nickel apiece!” she recalls.

My father’s job site was along the Lower Colorado River, where the bride learned to keep house in the Mojave Desert. “But we were deliriously happy,” she says. “My husband had a job. He was working on a great engineering project. The United States Bureau of Reclamation was lifting the country out of the 6 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

Depression.” “Lift” was the operative word. Waters from the Colorado River filled that artificial tub. The Colorado River made gardenias and football fields possible in arid Southern California. The key to getting a river of water to Los Angeles was Parker Dam. The Bureau completed it in 1938, locating it on the Colorado just at the border between the water-warring states of Arizona and California -- about 300 miles east of Los Angeles and 180 miles south of Las Vegas. Parker Dam creates Lake Havasu, an Indian word for blue water. Near the dam, you can hear a giant sucking sound made by colossal pumps that move the water 1,617 feet up through three cavernous silver pipes to a series of reservoirs and canals that eventually lead to thirsty Los Angeles and the Rose Bowl. That isn’t all. Parker Dam also makes it possible for pumps to divert the Colorado River eastward into the Central Arizona Project. These lifelines make Phoenix and Tucson possible. Now, the whole Lower Colorado River is a series of reservoirs, quaintly called lakes. Beneath Lake Havasu lie the remains of the villages of the Chemehuevi and Mojave Indians. The canyons of the Colorado River must have been a fearsome sight when the water flowed free, joined here at today’s Parker Dam by the Bill Williams River, the last major tributary before the Colorado headed south toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Today, thanks to Homeland Security, you have to view all this elegant engineering through barriers and barbed wire. An exception is the drive across the crest of Parker Dam. The drive leads to the Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge, which runs for seven miles up the river and provides habitat for neo-tropical migratory birds. When mountain man and scout Bill Williams led John C. Fremont’s expedition to this junction in 1848, Fremont found both rivers lined with cottonwood forests. Botanists named this tree with its large, graceful leaf after the explorer and presidential candidate. The Indians told Fremont that sometimes the smaller river ran higher than the Colorado itself. To control its flows, the government built Alamo Dam upstream from the refuge in 1968. But no one figured on the aggressiveness of another invader, the tamarisk. It out-competed the native trees and made a barren jungle of the refuge. But that was not the end of the story. In spite of the Alamo Dam, the Bill Williams River flashed in the wet years of 1993 and 1995, running so high that it ripped out the tamarisk and allowed the establishment of a corridor forest of Populus fremontii. Today, the trees are an amazing 60 feet high. Biologists and engineers have teamed up to manage the flows of the Bill Williams to nurture the cottonwoods and the endangered birds that depend on them, thus maintaining one of the last cottonwood bosques in the region. When I tell my mother such ecological morality tales -- though I am not sure what the moral is -- her gaze goes vacant. Slipping back into memories of that gardenia-filled tub, she insists, “You can’t undo the past. And those gardenias were a nickel apiece!” (Maybe, a few dams would help!) Perilous Times and Global Warming Scientists see looming water crisis in western US 31 Jan 2008, Reuters, By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - A water supply crisis is looming in the western United States thanks to human-caused climate change that already has altered the region’s river flows, snow pack and air temperatures, scientists said. Trends over the past half century foreshadow a worsening decline in water, perhaps the region’s most valuable natural resource, even as population and demand expands in western states, researchers led by a scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography wrote in the journal Science on Thursday. Up to 60 percent of changes in three key factors affecting the West’s water cycle — river flow, winter air temperatures and snow pack — are due to human-caused climate change, they determined using multiple computer models and data analysis. “Our results are not good news for those living in the western United States,” wrote the team led by Tim Barnett, a climate expert at Scripps Institution, part of the University of California at San Diego. “It foretells of water shortages, lack of storage capability to meet seasonally changing river flow, transfers of water from agriculture to urban uses and other critical impacts. Barnett said computer models point to a looming crisis in water supply in the coming two decades. It has been clear for some time that the climate has been changing in the western United States, and the question was whether it was due to natural variability or driven by climate change related to human-produced greenhouse gases and aerosols, the scientists said.

LOOKS LIKE PEOPLE While the western United States has experienced natural wet and dry cycles in the past, current water flow trends differ in length and strength from past natural variations, the scientists found. The changes match those expected from the impacts of human activity on climate. The researchers tracked water flows in three major western river systems – Columbia, Colorado and Sacramento/San Joaquin rivers. Changes over the past half century have meant less snow pack and more rain in the mountains, rivers with greatly reduced flows by summer and overall drier summers in the region, they noted. “At this point in time, there’s not much we can do to change that,” said Barnett, who worked with experts at the U.S. government’s Lawrence 7 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

Livermore National Laboratory, the University of Washington in Seattle and the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Japan. “We’re going to have to adapt our infrastructure and some of our societal needs to fit the way the world is changing,” Barnett said in a telephone interview. “Water shortages throughout the west, hydroelectric power reductions, heat waves — the whole litany of things that go with global warming.”

Another group of researchers, writing in the same journal, said leaders who set water policies worldwide must take climate change into account when planning for the future. Until now, water policies have relied on the premise that historical water patterns could be counted on to continue. But human-induced changes to Earth’s climate have begun to shift the averages and the extremes for rainfall, snowfall, evaporation and stream flows, Christopher Milly of the U.S. Geological Survey and colleagues said. “Our best current estimates are that water availability will increase substantially in northern Eurasia, Alaska, Canada and some tropical regions, and decrease substantially in southern Europe, the Middle East, southern Africa and southwestern North America,” Milly said in a statement.

Environment White House candidates and the environment (Excerpts) CNN.com, Feb. 2, 2008

DEMOCRATS Hillary Clinton • Would develop a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which is set to expire in 2012. • Would focus on international attention to solve the problem of global deforestation. • Would focus the mission of the Department of Energy on moving toward energy independence with a new approach to solar, wind, biofuels, hydropower, geothermal and other sources of renewable energy. • Would place a market-based cap and trade system to reduce carbon pollution. ... In combination with efficiency, fuel economy standards and other proposals, she states the system will ensure the goal of reducing U.S. contribution to global warming below 1990 levels by 80 percent. • Would oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildfire Refuge. Mike Gravel • Would commit to leading the fight against global deforestation. • Would support maintaining current moratoriums on new offshore oil and natural gas drilling. • Would support maintaining the protections of the Endangered Species Act. • Would support protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas development by permanently designating it as wilderness. Barack Obama • Would implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the level recommended by top scientists. • Would make the United States a leader in the global effort to combat climate change by leading anew international global warming partnership. • Would establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) to speed the introduction of low-carbon non-petroleum fuels. • Would create a Technology Transfer program within the Department of Energy dedicated to exporting climate-friendly technologies to developing countries. • Would offer incentives to maintain forests globally and manage them in a sustainable fashion. • Would develop domestic incentives that reward forest owners, farmers and ranchers when they plant trees, restore grasslands or undertake farming practices that capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

REPUBLICANS Mike Huckabee • When asked during a 2007 GOP primary debate if he believed global warming existed, Huckabee said, "Whether humans are responsible for the bulk of climate change is going to be left to the scientists, but it's all of our responsibility to leave this planet in better shape for the future generations than we found it." • Huckabee would pursue all avenues of alternative energy including wind, solar, clean coal and biodiesel. 8 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

• Would propose greenhouse gas emissions be curtailed. • Would support drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and increased offshore drilling. John McCain • Introduced the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007 with Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I- Connecticut). The legislation is designed to significantly reduce the nation's greenhouse gases, accomplished through a combination of trading markets and the deployment of advanced technologies. • Would propose use of alternative energy sources, including nuclear. Ron Paul • States the key to sound environmental policy is respect for private property rights. • Believes the strict enforcement of property rights corrects environmental wrongs while increasing the cost of polluting. • Individuals, businesses, localities, and states must be free to negotiate environmental standards. • Voted against the drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 2001, but voted for new oil refineries in 2006. • Opposes the Kyoto Protocol. Voted in 2003 against speeding up forest thinning projects. Mitt Romney Romney stated during a 2007 GOP debate: "...Is global warming an issue for the world? Absolutely. Is it something we can deal with by becoming energy independent and energy secure? We sure can. But at the same time, we call it global warming, not America warming. So let's not put a burden on us alone and have the rest of the world skate by without having to participate in this effort. It's a global effort, but our independence is something we can do unilaterally." • Would support more drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. • Would bring clean energy technology to market. • Would promote clean, efficient uses of existing fossil fuels

Nevada stakes its salmon claim WESTERN ROUNDUP - February 4, 2008 by Ken Olsen, High Country News

Snake River dams run up against a powerful alliance in an unlikely place More than a hundred years ago, Gus Peterson ranched the lonesome high desert along the Owyhee River, just south of where it crosses the Idaho-Nevada state line. And like the local Indians, Chinese miners and other entrepreneurs, he hauled wagonloads of fresh wild salmon to places like Tuscarora, Elko and Winnemucca, where the succulent fish sold for as much as a dollar apiece. Indeed, salmon were a key part of the fish and game trade that nourished the region’s mining communities in the late 1800s. Salmon were so important that 19th century Nevada law prohibited dams without fish ladders. So when Peterson built a dam on the South Fork of the Owyhee that prevented chinook salmon from reaching this part of northeastern Nevada, local sportsmen demanded that the state fish commissioner force him to tear it out. "An effort will be made to have the obstruction removed," the Tuscarora Times- Review reported May 3, 1889. Nevada Sen. Harry Reid has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission not to renew licenses for the Hells Canyon dams on the Snake River unless they are modified for fish passage.

(Interesting! Five years ago, there were record numbers and the dams were there. No one talks about over-fishing, huh!)

California salmon collapse roils West Coast fishing industry

By TERENCE CHEA, ASSOCIATED PRESS, February 2, 2008, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

SAN FRANCISCO -- Humboldt County fisherman Dave Bitts is bracing for another lean year after the sudden collapse of California's most important salmon run. Like many West Coast fisherman, Bitts depends 9 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu on wild "king" salmon for up to two-thirds of his income. Now, he doesn't know how he's going to pay his bills. "We've never been in this situation before," said the 59-year-old Bitts. "It's my bread-and-butter, as it is for all my pals. And this year, it appears our bread-and-butter is not there." Federal fishery regulators said this past week that the number of Chinook salmon returning to the Sacramento River and its tributaries last fall was astonishingly low. That could trigger severe fishing restrictions and economic hardship for fishermen and related businesses from Central California to the Canadian border. Restaurants and consumers will have to pay high prices or do without the prized wild salmon, and the crash could force the state to change the way it manages its increasingly precious water. "This is an economic rumbling that will go right through every coastal community," said Rep. Mike Thompson of California's North Coast. "It's not just the commercial fishermen that are economically harmed; there are all kinds of businesses that depend on the fishery." Experts are unclear about what caused the collapse, but many fishermen are blaming an increase in the amount of water being pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to drought-stricken farms and cities to the south. They plan to aggressively lobby for reduced water diversions from the delta, through which the migrating salmon must pass. Environmentalists who have fought for years to draw attention to the damage done by the water diversions believe the salmon collapse might be the thing that finally stokes public outrage. "It's proof that the operation of these water projects is harming salmon," said Mike Sherwood, an Earthjustice attorney who is suing the state and federal governments over delta water diversions. "It may put more pressure on state and federal agencies to do something." Only about 90,000 adult salmon returned to the Central Valley to spawn in the fall of 2007, the second lowest number on record. By comparison, 277,000 spawners were counted there a year earlier, and 804,000 in 2002.

Even more troubling, only about 2,000 2-year-old male fish, or "jacks," were recorded - the lowest number ever and far below the 40,000 counted in a typical year. Jacks are used to predict returns of adult chinook the next year, so this year's numbers are likely to be even smaller. Because Central Valley chinook normally make up 90 percent of wild salmon landed in California, and a big share of those caught in Oregon and Washington, it's fishermen who will immediately feel the impact. Craig Barbre, of Morro Bay, said he and his wife took their boat to troll off the coast of Alaska last summer and may have to do the same this year. But with soaring fuel costs, there's no guarantee they can make ends meet. "Taking our boat to Alaska is a pure gamble," said Barbre, a 57-year-old second-generation fishermen. "We don't know if we'll make enough to cover our costs, but that's our only choice." The anxiety is being felt as far away as Washington state. Although Central Valley salmon only make up a fraction of their catch, fishermen there worry that regulators may limit all West Coast fishing in order to protect the Sacramento stocks. Even if their fisheries remain open, Washington fishermen could face competition from California and Oregon boats unable to fish their home waters. "The mood here is extremely grim," said Joel Kawahara, 52, of Quilcene, Wash., who relies on salmon for all his income. If there are more fishing restrictions, "for me it would pretty much be an economic disaster."

The Pacific Fishery Management Council will hold hearings over the next two months to discuss restrictions on this year's salmon season, which typically starts in May. Most fishermen expect extreme restrictions - perhaps even a total ban on both commercial and sport fishing. The industry is preparing for a third straight year of poor salmon harvests. In 2006, the federal government imposed strict limits on ocean salmon fishing to protect dwindling stocks in the Klamath River, where chinook runs have been devastated by hydroelectric dams and disease. Regulators allowed more ocean fishing last year, but fishermen complain there weren't many fish to catch. If fishing is allowed at all this year, trollers can expect the harvest to be even worse. "I think we have to provide some sort of emergency relief for these folks," said Thompson, who will ask the federal government for a disaster declaration that would open the way for financial assistance for fishermen and affected businesses. "I don't think we want this industry to go away," he said. "We don't want to see these working families disappear." The federal government declared a disaster in 2006, and Congress approved $60 million in aid. But it took a massive political effort to secure that funding, and the checks just began arriving two months ago. Besides the impact on commercial fishing, the Central Valley crash could devastate the region's sport fishing industry. In California alone, there are 2.4 million recreational anglers who generate as much as $4 billion in economic activity each year, according to the American Sportfishing Association. Salmon restrictions will be felt by fishing gear manufacturers, charter boat operators, tackle shops, marinas and coastal motels.

Meanwhile, the collapse is stirring fierce debate about the cause. Regulators and biologists say salmon stocks are down throughout the West Coast, which could mean the crash is related to ocean conditions - possibly linked to global warming - that have disrupted the marine food chain. "We don't know what's behind it," said Chuck Tracy, a salmon expert with the fishery council. "It appears to be a coast-wide phenomenon. That usually indicates something in the marine environment." But fishermen are convinced that increased water exports from the delta are to blame. "Obviously, climate change has affected some of these fish, but it doesn't explain the total collapse," said Zeke Grader, who heads the Pacific Coast Federation of 10 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

Fishermen's Associations. "Other runs are down, but they haven't gone into a tailspin like this one." State and federal scientists are studying the impact of the water diversions on salmon, and they could make changes if there's evidence that fish are being harmed, said Barbara McDonnell, a biologist with the California Department of Water Resources. The crash is especially troubling because more than a decade of restoration efforts had brought Sacramento River salmon runs from the brink of disaster in the early 1990s to the record-high number just five years ago, she said. "It's very unhappy news," McDonnell said. "We had been getting good results, so this is discouraging after all the work we've done."

iThis compilation of articles and other information is provided at no cost for those interested in hydropower, dams, and water resources issues and development, and should not be used for any commercial or other purpose.

11 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

SSoommee DDaamm –– HHyyddrroo NNeewwss and Other Stuff i 2/15/2008

Quote of Note: “Politics is made up largely of irrelevancies.” - - Dalton Camp

Other Stuff: (What next? Another hair-brain idea!) It's Raining Energy. Hallelujah! Tracy Staedter, Discovery News

Feb. 7, 2008 -- Energy is everywhere. In the sun, wind, and now rain. Researchers have developed a technique that harvests energy from rain showers and converts it into electricity. The technology could work in industrial air conditioning systems, where water condenses and drops like rain. It could also be used in combination with solar power to scavenge as much energy from the environment as possible, or to power tiny, wireless sensors designed to monitor environmental conditions. "Our calculations show that even in the most unfavorable conditions, the mechanical energy of the raindrops...is high enough to power low- consumption devices," said Romain Guigon, a research and development engineer at the research institute CEA Leti-Minatec in Grenoble, France. Guigon, who conducted the research with fellow engineers Jean- Jacques Chaillout, Thomas Jager, and Ghislain Despesse, admits rain energy is small compared to that of the sun, but that's not the point. "It's just a system that can be used where solar energy is difficult to exploit and/or combined with another technology for harvesting energy," said Guigon.

The method relies on a plastic called PVDF (for polyvinylidene difluoride), which is used in a range of products from pipes, films, and wire insulators to high-end paints for metal. PVDF has the unusual property of piezoelectricity, which means it can produce a charge when it's mechanically deformed. Guigon and his team embedded electrodes into a thin membrane of PVDF, just 25 micrometers thick (it takes 1,000 micrometers to make one millimeter). Then they bombarded the sheet with drops of water varying in diameter from 1 to 5 mm. As the drops hit the material, they create vibrations, which create a charge. The electrodes recover the charge for use as power. Not surprisingly, the largest drops cause the biggest vibrations. The researchers found the system could scavenge 12 milliwatts from the largest drops and generate at least 1 microwatt of continuous power. But is that enough? All devices -- even the tiniest sensors -- require a minimum amount of current and voltage coursing through the circuits. "They haven't included any circuit analysis," said Dan Inman, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Center for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. That information is important when trying to understand how efficiently the energy created from the raindrops will be converted into power useful in electronic devices. "They need to clarify that. That would be the next step," said Inman. But he thinks that looking to rain for power is a worthy endeavor. "You need to look at all possible sources of energy. Our lives are full of batteries, and they are not very ecological. Anything you can use to reduce the need for them or extend their use is a good thing to look at," said Inman.

1 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

Dams Millions for bridges, dams in budget plan (Excerpts) Gov. Rendell to unveil complete spending initiative on Tuesday February 03, 2008, By Tracie Mauriello and Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG, PA -- When Gov. Ed Rendell delivers his 2008-09 budget speech on Tuesday, he'll unveil an $860 million initiative to improve the state's infrastructure, including major investments to fix 1,000 ailing bridges by the time he leaves office in early January 2011. Under the initiative, called Rebuilding Pennsylvania, he'll also propose action to improve lesser-known transportation and infrastructure projects, such as fixing 24 state-owned "high-hazard" dams by 2010, expanding the rail freight system, building flood prevention projects and improving aviation hangars and other facilities. The three-year proposal will call for $250.9 million in new spending for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Funding would increase to $289.3 million in 2009-10 and $318.7 million the following year. Most of the money, $200 million per year, will come from the state's capital budget, which has to be approved by the Legislature. Federal funds and money from the state's General Fund also are involved. A major goal of this "fast-track approach" is to do repairs over the next three years for 1,000 bridges identified as having structural problems. That work would be in addition to the 1,381 bridges that have been repaired or rebuilt since Mr. Rendell became governor in 2003. Even with those repairs, however, Pennsylvania still has 5,935 deficient bridges, more than any other state. They remain safe to use, officials insist, but need structural repairs to their decks, substructure or supports. Mr. Rendell is trying to put in place a funding mechanism that will continue long after he has left office. It calls for a continued $200 million annual investment in bridge projects through 2018. The money would be raised through bonding, or borrowing. "The governor recognizes the failure to invest properly in infrastructure over the course of time, and we've gotten ourselves into a situation where we can no longer afford to wait," said Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo. The surge of new money won't eliminate the problem but it would go a long way toward helping, said Roy Kienitz, Mr. Rendell's deputy chief of staff. "The governor is trying to create a vision for what the pathway is, but this funding still doesn't get us to the ultimate goal," he said. ------.

Spurred by bridge collapse His emphasis on infrastructure spending in this budget proposal was spurred by last summer's catastrophic bridge collapse in Minneapolis and the failure of dams and levies in the south during Hurricane Katrina, Mr. Ardo said. He also is concerned about flooding because of increased development along the state's 54,000 miles of waterways. That's why his infrastructure funding proposal calls for $100 million in new spending over three years on programs to protect flood-prone communities. The funding would pay for levees, waterway diversions and improvements to river banks, said Secretary of Policy Donna Cooper. A separate item in the budget proposal would repair or replace 17 state-owned dams at a cost of $37 million over two years. The dams are categorized as "high-hazard unsafe, which means they get a lot of water, there are people living below them and they are deteriorating," Ms. Cooper said. "The governor really felt it is a moral obligation to repair every unsafe dam owned by the commonwealth before he leaves office." Repairs to seven other hazardous state-owned dams are already in the design or construction stages. Mr. Rendell wants to address problematic, locally owned dams, too. He is proposing a matching grant program in which the state would contribute 30 percent of the cost of dam work.

Immunity for Dam Owners Proposed by Brooks Baehr, February 04, 2008, kgmb9.com, Honolulu, HI

Severe weather, 42 days and 42 nights of rain, contributed to the collapse of Kaloko Dam on Kauai in March, 2006. Victims of that dam break have sued the dam's owners. But a bill being considered by state lawmakers would give people who own dams and reservoirs immunity from such suits. The Kaloko dam burst did millions of dollars in damage. The human toll was immeasurable as seven lives were lost. If a similar tragedy happens in the future, dam and reservoir owners could be protected from lawsuits under a bill being discussed at the State Capitol. Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu introduced the proposal (HB2823). His goal is to protect island agriculture. "There's fear, at least by the farmers and those that use the water system, the irrigation system from the dams, they're worried if there's a huge amount of lawsuits against the

2 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu land owners, the private dam owners, that they might see shut downs in the water systems to their farms," Karamatsu told KGMB9.

The state administration is against granting immunity. "We're just opposed to the measure because we think it may have the potential of putting risk to public safety," said Eric Hirano, chief engineer at the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Hirano said if owners know they cannot be sued, they may not maintain and repair their dams and reservoirs. And that, he said, could compromise public safety. "Any time you give someone limited liability or indemnification against liability, they (owners) may not give the proper resources or care to their facilities. They feel like they're protected, so (they'll ask), do I need to place money in it and make repairs?" Karumatsu does not think granting immunity would compromise public safety. He told KGMB9 owners would still need to comply with state and federal regulations governing dam safety. And he said, under his proposal owners would need to carry insurance to pay for damages in the event of a dam break.

Kauai Rep. Hermina Morita told KGMB9 Karamatsu's proposal needs to be amended before it will get her support. She said as written the bill shifts liability from the private dam or reservoir owner to the state. Morita said if the state grants immunity, it, and not the dam owner, will be targeted in lawsuits. Morita suggests identifying dams that are critical to agriculture, then finding ways to keep them open without granting immunity. "What we really need to do is identify the agricultural systems that have public benefits, and then work at looking at different methods to make sure that insurance is affordable for these systems, or if the state has to subsidize to make these systems safe, make sure that we put the resources in there. But a broad policy to indemnify land owners that have reservoirs and dams and other irrigation systems I think is not a good policy," Morita said. HB2823 passed out of the House Committee on Water, Land, Ocean Resources & Hawaiian Affairs Monday, but faces lots of scrutiny before becoming law.

Dam-break studies include two in Maui County Potential impacts reviewed in wake of Kauai reservoir failure February 9, 2008, The Maui News HONOLULU — Studies of two reservoirs in Maui County have been completed as part of a U.S. Corps of Engineers review of 11 dams around the state, Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye reported Friday. ‘‘The studies will play a significant safety-related role because their purpose is twofold: to determine the downstream impact if a dam were to fail, and to be part of the evaluation process if a danger declaration needs to be issued for a particular dam,’’ Inouye said. The dam-break studies were initiated after the collapse of the dam at the Kaloko Reservoir on Kauai in 2006, resulting in a 20-foot flood surge that swept away homes and killed seven residents in the Kilauea area. ‘‘The collapse of Kaloko dam amid storm flooding drove home the importance of the need to ensure the strength and durability of Hawaii’s dams,’’ Inouye said. In Maui County, the dam-break studies involved Reservoir 24, a Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. facility above Paia, and the state’s Kualapuu Reservoir, a 1 billion-gallon earthen-dam reservoir supporting the Molokai irrigation system. The Kualapuu Reservoir is in active use although it has never been filled to capacity. Also on Friday, Gov. Linda Lingle said she had released $10.25 million for safety improvements to the state irrigation systems, including the Molokai irrigation system and the Kualapuu Reservoir. The reservoir was constructed in a former pineapple field makai of Kualapuu town but mauka of the Maunaloa Highway and the Molokai Landfill. HC&S’ Reservoir 24 is no longer in use and is kept empty, according to a company official. It is between Baldwin Avenue and Haleakala Highway, about 8,000 feet mauka of the Skill Village subdivision.

Inouye, who secured a $2 million appropriation for the studies in 2006, said the findings will be turned over to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, which oversees the dam safety program. After the Kaloko Reservoir failure, the state Dam Safety Program Office inspected dams throughout the state, assisted by the Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, finding no immediate threats of failure. The dam-break studies were focused on whether there were downstream threats created by the location of the dams, and not specifically to establish the condition and integrity of the dams. Inouye said safety and stability of the dams are the responsibility of the owners, which includes the state as well as private landowners. Other dams studied were: • Aepo Reservoir, Kauai, Alexander & Baldwin • Elua Reservoir, Kauai, Kauai Coffee Co. • Puu Lua Reservoir, Kauai, Kekaha Sugar Co. • Twin Reservoir, Kauai, East Kauai Irrigation Co. • Waita Reservoir, Kauai, Grove Farms • Wahiawa Dam, Oahu, Dole Foods • Upper Kapahi Reservoir, Kauai, Department of Land and Natural Resources. 3 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

• Nuuanu Dam No. 4, Oahu, Honolulu Board of Water Supply

The study of the state-owned Halamanu Field 21 Reservoir on Kauai is scheduled to be finished in March. Inouye said he was told by the Corps that the techniques used in the Hawaii dam-break studies will be applied by the Corps nationally in its training. “A standard has been set. I am pleased that the techniques used in Hawaii can be applied across the nation to aid officials in other states and counties to mitigate against dangers that would result from a dam failure,” he said.

(You have to wish that someone would explain to people in plain English that floods cannot be controlled by dams that have no flood control capability, and that an unprecedented flood that exceeded all previously recorded floods was just more than a few small dams could handle. This can’t be difficult to do!) NIPSCO: Dams not at fault By MERANDA WATLING, Journal and Courier, Lafayette, IL, 02-10-08

Like many residents below Oakdale Dam, Pam Mansfield is a bit angry and confused about the way NIPSCO handled the recent floods. The Horseshoe Bend area resident said she built her current home two years ago and has owned a nearby cottage for about 17 years. In that time, she's never experienced a flood like either the one in January or last week, and she wants to know how it could happen twice. "They knew the water was coming," Mansfield said of the power company that operates both the Oakdale and Norway dams. "We had snow, and the rain was forecast. Why didn't they let some water out?" NIPSCO spokesman Jim Fitzer said both hydroelectric dams are "run of the river" dams. "Whatever water flow comes into the dam, we discharge from the dam," Fitzer said. "We don't have a reservoir for control, nor are we licensed for flood control." The flood last week happened after rain fell on the already saturated, snow-covered ground and had nowhere to go except into river and lakes. That caused record flows for the dams.

Prior to this year, the record for the dams was in 1959, when Oakdale topped out at just more than 22,000 cubic feet per second, Fitzer said. In January's flood, that rate topped 30,000 cubic feet per second, and in the latest flood it was nearly 26,000 cubic feet per second. Fitzer said there are floodgates that offer limited balance between the dams, which create lakes Freeman and Shafer. But both floods were beyond the dams' control and would have occurred regardless of the dams. "I can't stress enough to the general public -- it's just the unbelievable volume of water that did this," Fitzer said. "It ... shouldn't happen. It did." Mansfield said she wanted to see NIPSCO take some responsibility and be more proactive. "Are they watching out for the people who live there or just worried about making money from the electricity?" Mansfield said. Sherry Wagner, who lives just below Oakdale Dam next to the Oakdale Bridge, hasn't returned home from the first flood, but she's talked to several disgruntled neighbors who are asking the same questions. She said there wasn't enough warning that the waters were coming through the dam either time. "There may be reasons," Wagner said. "But it seems they could release, not 100 percent, but if they're being neighbor-friendly, 75 percent. It might have bought some time to get maybe a vehicle out." Fitzer said there is a voluntary automated call list, which residents can be put on to be notified when a flood is imminent. Residents are notified once as the flow rate reaches each of the stages from flood watch, to flood warning to flood emergency. "It's not in advance. It's when we hit those three levels," Fitzer said. He said calls were put out both times, and Mansfield acknowledged she did receive them, though neither time offered much advance warning.

Dam repair ranks high on Rendell’s must-do list 02/10/2008, The Times-Tribune

HARRISBURG — Gov. Ed Rendell helped launch a bipartisan coalition last month to focus attention on the nation’s infrastructure needs. So the governor couldn’t very well ignore the issue at home when he presented his own state budget proposal.

Infrastructure spending emerged as a major theme of Mr. Rendell’s budget address. The governor pitched it as a way to both safeguard public safety and help stimulate the economy. Under the banner of “Rebuild Pennsylvania,” the budget is chock-full of proposals to fix roads, repair bridges, improve and expand rail freight lines, modernize airports, undertake flood-control projects and repair unsafe dams. Mr. Rendell is emphatic on not wanting a dam collapse on his watch. “The repair of these dams is a moral and physical imperative that I am determined to get done before I leave office,” he said. He wants to borrow $37 million through bond sales to repair 18 state-owned dams that are considered high-hazard and unsafe and either have to be repaired or breached. The state Fish and Boat Commission maintains most of these dams. County and local governments own some 172 dams that need repairs. For them, Mr. Rendell proposes that 4 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu the state contribute up to 30 percent of repair costs under a new aid program managed by Penn-VEST, the agency that provides state aid to upgrade water systems. In the northeast region, the following state-owned dams are on the Department of Environmental Protection’s priority list for repairs: Lake Nessmunk, Tioga County; Lower Woods Pond and Belmont Lake, both in Wayne County, and Minsi Lake, Northampton County. The following municipal-owned dams, all in Schuylkill County, are considered unsafe by DEP. Lower Owl Creek, Kehly Run No. 5, Mount Laurel, Kauffman Reservoir, Upper Owl Creek, Indian Run, Pine Run. They would be eligible for the matching state aid if lawmakers approve.

Hydro February 7, 2008 DOE R&D Budget Delays Hydropower Industry Benefits for All Americans Press Release from National Hydropower Association , Washington, DC

The National Hydropower Association expresses its strong disappointment over the significant funding cut proposed for the U.S Department of Energy (DOE) research and development program that supports conventional hydropower and new ocean, tidal, and instream hydrokinetic resources. DOE requested only $3 million dollars for the FY 2009 program – a whopping 70% cut from the $10 million appropriated by Congress for FY 2008. “New reports demonstrate that hydropower and new waterpower technologies could offer Americans 95,000 megawatts of clean, climate-friendly electricity as well as jobs and investments that support local communities. We need federal R&D support to make this potential a reality, to conduct more detailed resource assessments and technical feasibility studies, and to gather environmental impact data,” stated Linda Church Ciocci, NHA executive director. DOE Secretary Samuel Bodman this week told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that the DOE is “…accelerating the development of clean and renewable energy technologies to dramatically increase the amount of clean energy produced in the United States.” Unfortunately, the cuts to the DOE water power R&D program tell another story.

“For the last several years, the Department has zeroed out funding for hydropower and new waterpower R&D initiatives. We believe Congress has made abundantly clear its strong support for this program through directives contained in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and its FY2008 appropriations. By choosing to cut funding once again for FY 2009, the DOE will stifle, not stimulate, the growth of these cutting edge renewable energy technologies,” added Church Ciocci. NHA urges Congress to restore funding for hydropower and waterpower R&D initiatives, which directly support the development and deployment of new clean technologies that will meet both the nation’s increasing energy demands and climate change goals.

Mont.: PPL settles tax dispute 01 Feb 2008

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - The Department of Revenue says it has reached a settlement with PPL Montana on its contested taxes, and says the company will pay 94 percent of the taxes assessed over the past eight years. The settlement follows a Supreme Court decision that largely went in the department's favor and a recent offer from PPL to pay 85 percent of its disputed 2000-07 tax bill. The company owed about $121 million over the eight year period, and had paid $76 million of it. The other $45 million was placed in a protest account. State Revenue Director Dan Bucks said state and local governments will get $38 million of the money in the protest account, and PPL will get $7 million back. The money is owed to the state and to local governments and school districts in nine counties. Cascade, Sanders, Lewis and Clark, Rosebud, Yellowstone and Lake Counties have the most property owned by PPL. PPL fought in court and negotiations to pay 63 percent of its overall tax bill, before recently increasing the offer and saying it just wanted to end the case. "The state prevailed in the fundamental constitutional issue before the court," Bucks said. "I believe that both sides recognized the value of reaching an agreement now that the legal issues have been decided by the court." PPL said it believes the agreement is fair. "PPL now considers this matter closed," Brad Spencer, PPL Montana's vice president and chief operating officer, said in a statement. PPL Montana operates all or part of 15 power plants, including 11 hydroelectric dams. The state also is dealing with tax protests from a half-dozen other large utility and energy companies that own property in multiple counties, including NorthWestern Energy, Qwest, Verizon and ConocoPhillips. "I hope other major corporations that have protested their taxes will read this decision carefully, recognize the department's determination to 5 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu defend the laws of Montana, and come to the table to do what is right for Montana's school children," Bucks said.

(It’s interesting how things seem to work out north of the border in Canada, although the deal seems a little too generous.) Native towns support dam plan; High Falls hydroelectric proposal sparks talks with communities Posted By Brandon Walker, The Daily Press, Timmins, Ontario, 2/12/08

The executive director for the Wabun Tribal Council says two of the council's First Nation communities are in support of the High Falls hydroelectric dam proposal. Shawn Batise said Matachewan and Mattagami are still developing an agreement with Woods Power Generation, the Englehart-based company proposing the dam on Grassy River. "You have to weigh the economics against the environmental impact," Batise told The Daily Press on Monday. "In our view it isn't a done deal yet. If the profit doesn't outweigh the environmental concerns there's no point. "If at the end of the day the business deal isn't favourable for the First Nations then they won't support it and (without their support) I doubt it would go through." Batise said the province's policy states there must be local support from the First Nations in order for the proposal to become a reality. All hydroelectric sites in the last few years have included an agreement with one or several First Nation communities, Batise said, and that aspect often isn't reported. "Any deal will offer substantial benefits for the First Nations," he said. "Four megawatts may not be a huge amount of power but it could generate a revenue that lasts a lot longer than forestry and mining." He said First Nations always negotiate for long-term ownership, but don't always receive it. "The companies put in millions of dollars, so the First Nations aim for full ownership after 20, 30, or even 50 years down the road," said Batise. "In the interim, they will have some ownership and some revenue." Batise said the Wabun Tribal Council is assisting the communities with the proposal.

(The Big Story on Water is the last article in this Section re Lake Mead and Hoover Dam.)

Water Brimful of confidence If water users tap into ideas, we'll all thrive By CHARLES KRAUTLER, 02/12/08, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Last Tuesday, the water suppliers in metro Atlanta and a group of Southeastern hydropower customers received an unfavorable decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals on a settlement agreement made in 2000 with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This decision was not about Atlanta's right to grow and prosper, nor was it about water supply for metro Atlanta. This decision was about an administrative process regarding compensation for hydropower users. As a result of the decision, the U.S. government and the hydropower customers will be denied revenues. Planners and lawyers will have to go back to the table to develop a solution that passes legal muster. Comments by some that Atlanta's water supply is now in jeopardy, or that Atlanta must stop issuing building permits, are more akin to shouting fire in a crowded theater than thoughtful and reasoned analysis based on sound science and empirical facts. Let's unpack the issues and define them for what they are. First, Georgia is still in the grip of an exceptional drought. The Atlanta region did not cause this drought any more than any of the other users of water in the state. To get through this drought, metro Atlanta has responded to the call. Businesses, government and individual citizens are conserving our precious water resources like never before. While more needs to be done, we are moving toward a greater appreciation of every precious drop. We believe that all users, particularly those with whom we share the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river basin, must conserve water as well.

Beyond the drought, we have the larger issue of long-term water management. The question of how to best manage our water resources is the source of discussion between Georgia, Alabama and Florida in the so- called "tri-state water wars." It is our fervent hope that negotiations between the three governors, mediated by the U.S. Secretary of Interior, will continue to yield progress. In the area of long-term water management, Georgia has demonstrated its leadership. In 2001, the Georgia General Assembly created the Metropolitan 6 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

North Georgia Water Planning District. Gov. Sonny Perdue recently signed into effect the Statewide Water Plan. While these tools aren't perfect, they represent positive steps forward, and they are leaps ahead of others who challenge our best efforts to balance the complex political, environmental and economic issues at stake. Long-term water management goes beyond conservation and better planning. It also encompasses the need for better management of our regional reservoirs. Secretary of the Army Pete Geren recently announced that the Army Corps of Engineers has started the three-year process to update the federal reservoir-water control plan. This should have happened years ago. It would have, if not for Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby's efforts to keep the Army Corps of Engineers from doing its job. In the end, the view of the Atlanta Regional Commission is that we have sufficient water to meet the reasonable demands of all users and to protect endangered species — if the reservoirs are managed properly and all users adopt effective water-conservation measures. We call on all the water users upstream and downstream of our region to join us. Help us in our efforts to move beyond the current state of the discussion — one of divisive finger-pointing and Atlanta-bashing — to a new discussion whereby we work toward replenishing our reservoirs to sustain us through the drought and usher in a new era of best-in-class water resource planning.

Snow Melt Great For Hydropower By Valerie Hurst, Feb 12, 2008, kimatv29.com, Yakima, WA

Stop worrying about the snow pack. It's not gonna melt and flood us. Snow pack experts tell us it would take summer temperatures or a hefty rainstorm for flooding to be a worry. But the rivers will be high this spring, which is great for hydro-flows. Experts call the snowpack our sixth reservoir, and right now it's good and full. "You can see that in recent years we've been above normal," demonstrates Bureau of Reclamation's Chris Lynch. Lynch says we've been here before, and had no problems with flooding. Even the flood of 96 was caused by a heavy rainstorm--not snowpack. So Lynch is looking at the benefits of high rivers. They're great for hydropower, and our energy bill. "There's a lot of it and hit has helped us historically in the northwest have lower power rates..." he explains.

The last couple years have been great for hydro-flows. But Pacific Power says 2005 wasn't a good year for water power. And it's one reason it plans to raise energy rates, again. The average homeowner would pay 13 bucks more a month. "If we have short supply then they have to do other types of power generation to make up for what the hydroplant doesn't generate," Lynch says. There are other benefits to high rivers. Lynch hopes the fast-flowing water will help move our local fish population. But one local fisherman isn't so excited about that. "Last year wasn't good coz we had a lot of snow melt early," Lee Yamakawa tells us. Yamakawa's been fishing 35 years. He likes the water low and clear, like today. He worries the melting snow pack could ruin his game. "The fish couldn't see the bait for one thing..." But there's not much any of us can do about the weather. Yamakawa says he'll keep trying to catch a fish. Pacific Power says if it is a great year for hydropower--your bill could go down as early as next year. The last rate increase went into effect in June. If this one passes the commission, you'd see the 14.6% increase in January of 09.

(Here’s a scary prospect. Does the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation agree with this assessment?) Lake Mead may go dry by 2021 Posted by Michael Kanellos, February 12, 2008, Green Tec Blog, C/Net News.com

There is a 50 percent chance that Lake Mead, which was created by the Hoover Dam and the Colorado River, will go dry by 2021 because of escalating human demand and climate change, according to a study by Tim Barnett and David Pierce of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California at San Diego. Lake Mead straddles the Arizona-Nevada border, and Lake Powell is on the Arizona-Utah border. Aqueducts carry water from the system to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and other communities in the Southwest. By 2017, there is a 50 percent chance that the reservoir could drop so low that Hoover Dam could no longer produce hydroelectric power. Water conservation and mitigation technologies and policies thus need to be implemented now, the study stated. The disappearance of the manmade lake would create a tidal wave of ill effects for the southwestern U.S. The lake provides water for large cities like Los Angeles and Las Vegas, as well as for several agricultural interests. The power also keeps on the lights in that region of the country. Imagine Los Angeles on a summer day with sporadic air conditioning and only a trickle of water coming out of the faucet. Then imagine that goes for a week. "We were stunned at the magnitude of the problem and how fast it was coming at us," Barnett said in a statement. "Make no mistake, this water problem is not a scientific abstraction, but rather one that will impact each and every one of us that live in the Southwest." "Today, we are at or beyond the sustainable limit of the Colorado system," he added. The level of the lake has been dropping for years. In the photo below, the white band marks the difference between the old high water level and the current one. It was taken two weeks ago. Barnett and Pierce estimated that there is a 10 percent chance that the lake could go dry as 7 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu early as 2014. The full report will be published in Water Resources Research, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. Barnett and Pierce examined annual river flow averages for the past 100 years, evaporation rates, climate predictions, water allocation schedules, past water demand, and future projections, among other factors. Water allocation from the dam has been a political flash point for California, Nevada, and Arizona for years. And the estimate is conservative, the scientists state. The study goes on the assumption that human-induced climate change factors only began in 2007. Currently, the Colorado River system, which includes Lake Mead and nearby Lake Powell, is running a deficit of 1 million acre feet of water per year. An acre foot of water is the amount of water that it would take to cover an acre of land with a foot of water. It is enough water for 8 million people. Other studies have forecast reductions of between 10 percent and 30 percent over the next 30 to 50 years in the Colorado River system. Such a decline could affect the water supply of between 12 million and 36 million people.

Venture capitalists, scientists, and others have said water will likely be one of the first manifestations of problems associated with climate change. China and Australia have already experienced droughts and agricultural problems. Several companies specializing in water management, purification, and desalination have received venture capital investments in recent years. Some companies to keep your eye on include NanoH20 (a desalination company), Vidler Water (a water rights broker) and Altela (artificial rain. No kidding.) In some places, conservation strategies have been implemented. In Singapore, a small percentage of the country's water comes from the NEWater program, which takes human sewage water and makes it drinkable again. In Las Vegas, the water district offers residents money to remove lawns and replace them with desert landscaping. Still, implementing these technologies has moved slow in most places in the world. Even if mitigation factors are put in place, the study warned that may not be enough to insulate the Southwest from problems associated with droughts.

Environment State tightens restrictions on Androscoggin water discharges THE BOSTON GLOBE, FEB. 8 2008

AUGUSTA, Maine—Tightened restrictions on water discharges into the Androscoggin River by two paper mills and a hydroelectric dam face potential challenges. By a unanimous vote Thursday, the Board of Environmental Protection approved more restrictive wastewater discharge levels for the Verso Paper mill in Jay, NewPage in Rumford and Florida Power and Light's dam between Lewiston and Auburn. The rules also increase the amount of oxygen to be pumped into the river. The new standards, which must be met by 2010, could face challenges by environmentalists as well as the mills affected. "It's not a dead issue," said Nick Bennett of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, which sees the new rules as too weak. "We're not sure yet if we are going to appeal this or not." Verso Paper spokesman Bill Cohen said the changes required by the new rules would be costly and the company is looking at further legal action. "We'd like to avoid an appeal but we have to take a step back and evaluate what our approach will be," said Cohen.

Commissioner David Littell of the state Department of Environmental Protection said that adoption of the new rules has been "an extraordinarily polarizing process." "But our job is to protect the resources of the state, not make people happy. These permits are more restrictive and if they are complied with, the water quality will improve," Littell said. The Conservation Law Foundation hailed the BEP's action, saying the Androscoggin is the last of Maine's major rivers to finally get the protection required by the federal Clean Water Act. Molly Saunders of the Androscoggin Lake Improvement Corporation said her group doesn't

8 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu agree with all of the science or process leading to the decision, but it supports the state's action to upgrade the clean water standards for the river.

$25 million raised to begin ambitious Penobscot River Restoration Project February 11, 2008, by: Gale Courey Toensing / Indian Country Today

INDIAN ISLAND, Maine - The Penobscot Indian Nation and its public and private partners have raised $25 million for the first phase of the Penobscot River Restoration Project, an unprecedented collaborative effort between tribal, federal, and state governments, industry, and conservation groups, working to restore self sustaining populations of native migratory fish while fulfilling the need for hydro electric power generation. The Penobscot River is the second largest river system in the northeast. The river and its tributaries and brooks are the arteries, veins and capillaries of an 8,570-square-mile watershed - the eastern third of the state of Maine. From time immemorial until the 1800s, the river was a highway for Atlantic salmon - dramatic wild creatures of muscle and instinct that swam across the ocean to the coast of Greenland where they grew to adulthood, then navigated back to spawn in the clear water and gravel bottoms of the very same streams and brooks where they were born. The Penobscot Indians traveled the river and its tributaries in birch bark canoes, following the paths of the salmon and other migratory fish that came and went with the seasons.

Although the Atlantic salmon and other species were reduced to near extinction by the dams, the American fishing industry, and pollution from the paper mills and towns that sprouted along the river's banks, water quality in the river had improved greatly years since the 1977 amendments to the Clean Water Act were passed. Now with plans to remove the dams closest to the ocean and to install fish passages upstream, the Atlantic salmon and other beautiful dwellers of the deep may soon have a chance to come home. For the Penobscot people, the restoration of the river is meaningful beyond expression. ''It's difficult to describe in words what that means to the tribe,'' said John Banks, director of the nation's Department of Natural Resources. ''You often hear people talk about we are the river, the river is us. It defines us as a tribe, it defines who we are, where we came from, and many of our cultural traditions are tied to the river and its resources. We've evolved as a riverine tribe for 10,000 years here. The river has provide all of our needs - physically, culturally, spiritually and allowed us to prosper for thousands of years,'' Banks said. The Nature Conservancy has called the Penobscot River Restoration Project ''perhaps the most important freshwater restoration project under way in North America.'' The Penobscot River Restoration Trust announced in November that it had met its first private campaign milestone by raising $10 million toward the approximately $25 million purchase price of three hydropower dams at the core of the restoration project. ''Tremendous private commitment has helped inspire federal investment in the future of the Penobscot River for Maine and the nation,'' said Laura Rose Day, the executive director of the trust, a nonprofit organization that holds an option to purchase the dams. Just a month later, the trust announced the project would receive a $10 million appropriation from the federal government to be directed through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. With approximately $5 million previously raised, the project can move forward toward its first phase - the purchase of Veazie, Great Works, and Howland dams.

Veazie and Great Works, the two dams closest to the ocean, will be removed. At Howland, a fish bypass will be built. When the project is fully implemented, native fisheries will be restored in nearly 1,000 miles of key habitat that will open up for Atlantic salmon, American shad, shortnose sturgeon, and several other species of migratory fish. The project had its beginnings in the 1990s deregulation of the electric industry when the PPL Corporation purchased the dams and hydro electric generation plants. The company, the tribe, the Interior Department, the state and conservation groups began to explore a comprehensive vision for hydropower re-licensing, migratory fish passages, and ecological restoration of the river. The Penobscot River Restoration Trust was formed in 2004 as a nonprofit organization for the purpose of implementing the restoration project, and includes representation from all the partners. In addition to the Penobscot Indian Nation, federal, and state governments, the trust partners include American Rivers, Atlantic Salmon Federation, Maine Audubon, Natural Resources Council of Maine, The Nature Conservancy, and Trout Unlimited. The restoration will not only benefit the fish and river's ecology, but, in this era of diminishing fossil fuels and the need for green energy, will continue to provide clean hydroelectric power. As part of the restoration agreement, PPL Corporation can increase electricity generation at six other existing dams, which means the electric company will maintain its current levels of generation. The initial phase of energy increase were approved and implemented in 2006. The decommissioning and removal of a dam is as complex as creating and licensing one. The trust and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have held a series of scoping sessions - meetings where public comments are gathered for the record and considered. The project will require environmental impact studies as well as various state and federal permitting. Banks said he hopes the actual dam removal will begin within two years. The project will have a tremendous impact, Banks said. ''For the Penobscot people, it will mean the ability to exercise our sustenance fishing 9 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu rights, but this is about much more than salmon. There's the human dimensions of it. There are fishermen, paddlers, boaters, hikers and the communities along the edge of the river - who will benefit from the restored resources of the river,'' Banks said.

Logan River cries out for Wild and Scenic River protection By Christopher Cokinos, 02/11/2008, The Salt Lake Tribune

What might we have heard? The bass groan of shifting rock as uplift occurred? Before that the sound of inland seas, Paleozoic waters filled with life we know through fossils? What was the sound of mountain water cutting through quartzite over eons, creating the entrenched meander we call the Logan River? Sometimes when I'm in Logan Canyon, I imagine more recent events: the mute snowfall of ice ages, the creep of glaciers, their retreat. I wonder if I might have discerned the scrape of ice and rock, the thump of glacial erratics dropped. Wild, vast forces created these rocks, these mountain rivers. Today beside mountain water live humans, deer, willow. Hermit thrush, yellow warbler, American dipper live above the mountain water, and cutthroat and browns live in it. The Logan River is a thread of dark water, sometimes placid, sometimes rumbling with melt, rapids white as snow, white as a bufflehead's chest in summer. It's also a river that 80 years ago some folks studied for dams, studies that seem to be at the heart of the U.S. Forest Service's baffling refusal to grant the Logan River - most of which runs wild - the status it deserves as a Wild and Scenic River. Yes, there are dams on the Logan. Anyone who has visited the lower reaches of Logan Canyon knows them, and their ponds are popular with mallards and students, mergansers and swimmers. No one is saying those dams should go. But some of us are incredulous that minor dams conceived nearly a century ago may be keeping the Logan from getting its due designation as a Wild and Scenic River.

All that is required for a river to be so defined is a stretch of free-flowing water and one or more "outstandingly remarkable values." Logan Canyon and Logan River are wildlife havens, recreational magnets and geologic wonders. The river runs through a canyon whose road has been designated a National Scenic Byway. How ironic that the road would be called scenic but not the river itself. Of course, this is because of the sounds behind mountain water: the sound of calculators, the sound of faxes from - I can imagine - the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration and real-estate developers, and the sound of whirring computers on which, perhaps, blueprints are drawn. Wallace Stegner once wrote of how stunned he was by his first encounter with a river in the Rockies, "how it sped by and yet was always there." Again and again, we can experience such wondrous encounters. But for how long? Including only 24 stretches of river out of 86 potential Wild and Scenic listings in Utah, the Forest Service plan for Utah Wild and Scenic designations falls woefully short. Although the recommendations are better than the current number of Wild and Scenic river miles in Utah - which is zero - many waterways are not part of this plan. From the Logan River to Bunchgrass Creek, from the Stillwater Fork in the Uintas to Yellowstone Creek, long stretches of eligible creeks and rivers are excluded from the Forest Service draft Environmental Impact Statement's recommendations. If we wish to keep more Utah waters free of dams, we need to convince the Forest Service to cast its net more widely. In a March 2006 issue of Rocky Mountain Game and Fish, a Utah wildlife official says that the Logan River is "unique." "It's the only major river in the state with no major dams on its headwaters or tributaries." The magazine calls the Logan "untamed." And it notes that through this canyon, beside this river, the Shoshone traveled and camped, frontiersmen such as Peter Skene Ogden brought furs for trading in Cache Valley. Before that, what was the sound of ancient water, the deep-time symphony of currents, deposition of shells that became accumulations of rock - the mountains we see outside our subdivision windows and on which we hike? At Tony Grove, I sit beside such boulders, staring at wind-tossed Indian paintbrush. I've driven through Logan Canyon countless times now, and I've stopped beside the Logan River to bird, to watch, to read. To breathe. History's river is our river.

iThis compilation of articles and other information is provided at no cost for those interested in hydropower, dams, and water resources issues and development, and should not be used for any commercial or other purpose.

10 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

SSoommee DDaamm –– HHyyddrroo NNeewwss and Other Stuff i 2/22/2008

Quote of Note: “Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.” - - Unknown

Dams (I hope somebody is kidding. How can anyone prevent a good Italian Restaurant from serving food overlooking a river?) Our view: Lawrence needs access to the Merrimack February 13, 2008, The Eagle Tribune

Federal energy regulators are scheduled to be in Lawrence today to meet with the owners of the Great Stone Dam and developer Sal Lupoli. They will discuss what should be done about a deck overlooking the Merrimack River at Lupoli's restaurant, Salvatore's. That's the specific purpose of the meeting. But the decision that emerges will have a far-reaching impact on development along much of the riverfront in Lawrence. Officials from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should keep that in mind while formulating their decision. The problem the regulators are seeking to resolve dates to the founding of Lawrence by the Essex Company in 1853. The company, which built the Great Stone Dam, owned all the property along the river's edge as well as the canals and raceways that powered the mills. Enel North America purchased the assets of the Essex Co. and is operating the Great Stone Dam as a hydroelectric power generator. But the company was uncertain of just how much land it acquired with the purchase until recently. A study connected with Enel's operation of the hydroelectric plant revealed that it owns much of the riverbank — including the piece over which Lupoli built a deck for outdoor dining at his restaurant in the Riverwalk complex.

The FERC regulators and Enel are concerned about public safety if the Great Stone Dam should fail. Such a dam-breach study is part of FERC's oversight of hydroelectric projects. If the regulators decide that public safety is at risk in the unlikely event of a dam failure, that could spell the end for Lupoli's restaurant deck, as well as a planned pedestrian walkway along the south bank of the river and any other development effort that seeks to open that portion of the river to public access. Enel has been very cooperative with city officials about access to the river and says removing the deck is "not the preferred solution." But Enel is, after all, a power company and at the mercy of federal energy regulators. It's our hope that all parties can work out a satisfactory solution. Lupoli's Riverwalk has become a valuable asset to Lawrence, a shining example of 1

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu how best to redevelop the city's mill space. Enel, too, has been a good corporate citizen. We're sure that, left to themselves, they could work out an amicable agreement. That leaves it up to the regulators, who should recognize that access to the river is just as vital to the restaurants, businesses and residents of Lawrence today as it was to the manufacturers who founded the city more than 150 years ago.

(WKBW TV, Buffalo, NY had a similar article, but with less detail and a good title –“How 'bout some 'dam' oversight?” I hope the article is quoting the new regulations incorrectly. It would seem that every 10 years is not enough and it should be about a professional engineer determining the safety of the dam – the hazard potential comes with that incidentally.) New regulations, more inspectors to protect against dam failures February 13, 2008, NewsDay.com ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ The state Department of Environmental Conservation has proposed new dam regulations that would require owners of the 5,000 dams in New York to keep detailed design and modification records, as well as operation, maintenance and emergency action plans available for state inspection. Citing a high-profile dam failure and some dangerous deficiencies found the past few years, the agency said it has increased dam safety staff statewide from three to 20, and the proposal clarifies that its enforcement authority applies even to smaller dams. "These regulations finally address a legislative mandate to improve dam safety that dates to 1999 and which brings New York's regulations to a level consistent with other states," DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis said Wednesday. For larger dams, owners will have to schedule inspections by a professional engineer at least every 10 years to determine if their classification remains accurate. The DEC said its staff has completed inspections the past few years of all 389 high hazard dams, those whose failure would pose a serious threat to downstream communities.

In July 2005, about 200 homes in a northern New York village were evacuated after a recently rebuilt dam crumbled. It was at the south end of the mile-long Hadlock Pond in Fort Ann, about 55 miles north of Albany. The same year, emergency repairs began on an aging dam just north of the Catskills that serves New York City's drinking water supply to protect 2,500 upstate households and businesses. They would have been in the path of some 20 billion gallons of water if the 80-year-old Gilboa Dam failed. The $24 million project, finished in 2006, included installing 80 anchoring cables to pin the dam to the bedrock. A $315 million reconstruction project is scheduled to start this year. The DEC is taking public comments until May 17 on its proposal and scheduled three hearings. On the Net: http://www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/propregulations.html County to Shore Up Frail Dams $3 Million Effort Will Start in April By Annie Gowen, Washington Post, February 14, 2008

This spring, Fairfax County and the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service will embark on a pricey effort to shore up three lake dams that have been determined by state engineers to be at a high risk of failing. Work will begin in April on a $3 million project to shore up the spillway around Royal Lake, and plans are in the works for reconstruction at Woodglen Lake and Lake Barton. The dams are three of six in the Pohick Creek watershed that were built in the 1970s and 1980s to aid storm-water management by the federal government; they were designed during a time when the county was undergoing rapid development. Paths and trails were added later, and they have become 30- to 40-acre oases for joggers and dog walkers. The packed-earth dams must be upgraded, however, because they do not meet soil-erosion standards. A heavy rainfall or hurricane could erode the spillway and flood nearby homes and businesses.

"These were created in the 1970s and 1980s as flood control for growing communities as the area was being developed," Supervisor Sharon S. Bulova (D-Braddock) said. "Thirty years later, the federal government is telling us that if the dams were to be built today, the soils in the spillway are not sufficient to hold back a high velocity of water should there be a big storm or hurricane." The state has granted the county conditional use permits for the dams that require the upgrades. Officials say that the risk is minimal. A 2001 study by a private engineering firm, however, showed that the overflow spillway of the Woodglen dam could wash away during an extremely heavy rain of 25 to 33 inches over a 24-hour period, and that the dam could be breached. Such an event would jeopardize 157 nearby homes, two major roadways, a railway line, 14 industrial sites, six commercial sites and local utilities, said Dipmani Kumar, project manager for the county. Work on the Royal Lake project is slated to cost $3 million, about 65 percent from federal funds and the rest from Fairfax.

Neighbors have been concerned about the construction in the neighborhood as well as the loss of 2.5 acres of trees. The trees have to be cut down to redirect the flow path from the spillway from a row of townhouses that sits in its path, the result of a decades-old planning mix-up, Bulova said. After federal budget cuts in 2

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu dam rehabilitation money nationwide, the Natural Resources Conservation Service is reevaluating its budget to try to come up with the funds to cover staff costs for planning and design at Woodglen Lake and Lake Barton, said Wade Biddix, assistant state conservationist for water resources.

Hawaii dam inspections find no immediate risk By Dan Nakaso, Honolulu Advertiser, February 15, 2008

New studies of 10 dams and reservoirs that sit above populated areas — most of them on Kaua'i — show no immediate threats of failure, according to an initial review. But engineers with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources are still poring over the reports commissioned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to see if the owners of the dams and reservoirs need to make improvements, said Laura H. Thielen, DLNR chairwoman. "We just received these reports ourselves," Thielen said late yesterday. "Our engineers are reviewing the corps' study. If there is information that requires immediate action, we will be working with the owners on that." The $2 million worth of studies — ordered by the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee — are part of the state's program to inspect and monitor 136 dams and reservoirs following the catastrophic collapse of Kaua'i's Kaloko Dam on March 14, 2006, which killed seven people. The 10 dams were primarily picked for review because they are "upstream from urban development," Thielen said. The Army Corps of Engineers commissioned a Mainland contractor to conduct the studies. Both the corps and the contractor, Seattle-based Tetra Tech, declined to comment yesterday. The results of an 11th study are expected in March. The most alarming report concerned the Twin Reservoir on Kaua'i, which has several critical problems, such as debris that is clogging spillways, according to the study. "These items require immediate attention by the dam owner," the report said. Representatives for the Twin Reservoir — listed as East Kaua'i Irrigation Co. — could not be reached for comment yesterday. But Thielen said the owners already have drained the reservoir and it poses no immediate threat. The owners are considering what to do next with the reservoir, she said. "Other owners are talking about the possibility of decommissioning their dams as well," Thielen said.

REPORTS RELEASED The reports on six dams and reservoirs on Kaua'i and four more on Maui, O'ahu and Moloka'i use computerized modeling to project dangerous situations that could result in breaching and failure. The Army Corps of Engineers gave the reports to DLNR on Feb. 8. DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward said the agency wanted to review them and forward them to the owners of the dams and reservoirs before making them public. The studies appeared Wednesday night on a Web site set up by DLNR. But yesterday, some of the owners said they had not been given the reports and that they could not access the Web site. Thielen said her engineers were continuing to review the reports. Representatives of some of the property owners who own the dams and reservoirs yesterday wondered what they are supposed to do with the information when they eventually receive it. "Once we obtain it, I suppose we need to be proactive with DLNR and find out exactly what it means for us," said Mike Tresler, vice president of land management and renewable energy for Grove Farm, which owns Kaua'i's Waita Reservoir. "My understanding of this study is it's basically a simulation of a worst-case scenario of what could possibly happen. It's very technical. What is the value? It's very concerning if they put stuff out like this and don't explain what it really means. I would hate for it to cause any panic."

FUNDED BY CONGRESS Mary Daubert, spokeswoman for Kaua'i County, said in an e-mail: "This is the first time I heard of the study. We haven't had a chance to review it yet. Certainly, the safety of our residents is of utmost importance to us." Like others, Daubert yesterday said that county officials could not immediately access the DLNR Web site that posted the studies, after being contacted for comment by The Advertiser. U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, a member of the Appropriations Committee that funded the Army Corps of Engineers' studies, said in a statement that they "will play a significant safety-related role because their purpose is twofold: To determine the downstream impact if a dam were to fail, and to be part of the evaluation process if a danger declaration needs to be issued for a particular dam. "The state of Hawai'i will use the findings from the dam-break studies to work with dam owners and managers on preparing emergency action plans, while it continues to work with them on correcting any possible problems with the dams."

'CONTINUING PRIORITY' In addition to the Army Corps of Engineers studies, federal and state inspectors inspected dams after the Kaloko disaster and again following the October 2006 earthquakes that rattled the Islands and knocked out power across O'ahu. Another round of inspections is being conducted this year. The reports are expected to be delivered in the middle of this year, Thielen said. "The state's dam safety inspection program is pretty complex," Thielen said. "Frankly, the dam safety inspections are going to be a continuing priority. It's pretty 3

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu unprecedented nationwide to have annual inspections of every dam in the state and we've done more than that."

Officials to keep close watch on 2 dams in Taunton Meteorologists warn of rainfall in next few days By John R. Ellment, Boston Globe, Feb. 16, 2008

Taunton, the city that was largely evacuated in 2005 amid fears that a dam would fail and cause widespread damage, faces new concerns about flooding as forecasters warn of heavy rainfall in coming days. The new sense of danger is focused on two dams on Sabbatia Lake off Bay Street, which are owned by the same firm that owned the dam endangered in 2005, officials said yesterday. State and city officials and the owner of the dams said they remain confident that the two structures, Morey's Bridge Dam and a cofferdam built by volunteers last summer that might have structural flaws, will hold. But they are planning to conduct an extended watch the next several days on the lake, already swollen by 2 inches of rain this week.

"I was down there all [yesterday]. I will be down there all day [today]," said David Murphy, whose company owns the dams. "I will be down there all day [tomorrow]. If there are any problems, we will be there to make sure there is no damage." Murphy, who has been working with neighbors, the city, and at least three state agencies on how to upgrade Morey's Bridge Dam, believes there is no imminent danger. "It is highly, highly, highly unlikely" the dams would fail, he said. "But just to be on safe side, we will all be there." Murphy's company has been ordered by two state agencies to ensure safeguards on both structures. The Department of Conservation and Recreation ordered the company to repair parts of the Morey Bridge Dam by March 1 or face fines of $500 a day. Murphy said he is working with all state agencies involved to resolve their safety concerns as quickly as possible.DCR Commissioner Rick Sullivan said state engineers are concerned about the safety of the Morey Bridge Dam and will have inspectors onsite in the coming days. "People believe that everything will be OK, but obviously nobody is taking any chances," Sullivan said. "Everybody is prepared for any kind of contingency that may arise." The Department of Environmental Protection has ordered Murphy's company to confirm the structural integrity of the cofferdam, said state Senator Mark R. Pacheco, a Taunton Democrat who has pushed for more state funding for dam inspections since 2005. Pacheco has also tried to get state officials to work with Murphy to correct problems at both Morey Bridge Dam and the cofferdam. Pacheco praised the volunteers, mostly from the nonprofit Help Save The Lake, for building the cofferdam last summer but said the work was not overseen by a civil engineer, raising questions about its structural integrity. "The fact that you had a group of volunteers that did this as a community was well- intended work," he said. "Unfortunately, it could have some unintended consequences." Leaders of the nonprofit group did not respond to phone calls seeking comment yesterday. Murphy, who worked with Help Save The Lake on the design of the coffedam, said a civil engineering firm involved in the planning has been hired to inspect it and will do so once waters recede. Mayor Charles Crowley said in a phone interview that there was no direct parallel to the crisis in 2005 involving the Whittenton Pond Dam, which has since been replaced. He said the city has sandbags ready in case they are needed.

Hydro Hydropower plan generates friends Scenic Hudson backs proposed plant upstream from Cohoes Falls By LARRY RULISON, February 13, 2008, Times Union

COHOES, NY -- An influential environmental group has joined the Green Island Power Authority (GIPA) in its fight to build a new hydropower plant on the Mohawk River upstream from Cohoes Falls. Scenic Hudson Inc., a Poughkeepsie nonprofit group formed to protect the Hudson River, has filed a friend of the court, or amicus, brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City. That is the court in which GIPA has appealed a decision last year by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to grant a 40-year license to Brookfield Power to run an existing 38.8-megawatt hydropower plant below Cohoes Falls on the Mohawk. GIPA, which owns a hydro plant on the Hudson, has been fighting furiously to develop a 4

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

100-megawatt hydro plant upstream from the Brookfield plant, known as the School Street station. It is partnering with Adirondack Hydro Development Corp., an Albany hydro plant developer, on the project. FERC declined to hear GIPA's case and instead granted Brookfield a license. Because of their close proximity, only one of the two projects could harness the energy of the river at one time.

On Feb. 6, Scenic Hudson, along with local governments and groups like the Capital District Regional Planning Commission and the Public Utility Law Project of New York, submitted the brief to try to reverse FERC's decision. Cohoes Falls is the second largest waterfall in the state, measuring 75 feet high and 1,000 feet across. But diverting the water for power has caused the falls to run dry most of the year. Both GIPA and Brookfield have argued over who would be able to best restore the beauty of the falls with competing plans. Brookfield's new license requires that it send more water over the falls and improve recreational opportunities in the area, something the company has already spent $2 million doing. An amicus brief typically is submitted by an outside party in a case for which it wants to volunteer information. Scenic Hudson contends FERC violated the Federal Power Act and the National Environmental Power Act by not considering GIPA's project because it would have been a "far superior" alternative to the School Street plant. Brookfield officials declined to comment on the brief when contacted Tuesday.

(The FERC rarely rejects Preliminary Permit applications. It doesn’t require too much effort to file an acceptable Preliminary Permit application. Apparently, this application was so poor that it was designated “patently deficient”.) Feds reject proposed hydro plants along McKenzie By Mark Brown The Register-Guard, February 16, 2008

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has rejected a California hydroelectric company’s preliminary permit application to build multiple small hydroelectric power plants along the McKenzie River. Principle Power Hydro submitted the permit application one month ago, requesting preliminary approval to explore the feasibility of building up to nine small hydro projects along the McKenzie, from Scott Creek to Vida, at an estimated cost of $6.3 million.

Water, water everywhere — and not a drop for hydro power February 17, 2008, By Bill Kirk, Eagle Tribune

LAWRENCE — Pacific Mills, a vast complex of buildings at 300 Canal St., wants water. A lot of it. The company wants to use water from the adjacent North Canal to power three hydroelectric turbines sitting unused in the basement of one of its buildings. But this is Lawrence, and when it comes to water, or, more specifically, water rights, nothing's simple. It's apparently going to take resolution of a lawsuit later this year for the Pacific Mills to use one drop from the canal — and only then if it wins the case. In 1845, when the city was created from land taken from Andover, North Andover and Methuen, the Essex Company owned everything. It built the Great Stone Dam and then the canals adjacent to the mills. Water from the canals coursed through raceways that traveled under the mill buildings, flowing over enormous paddles that turned huge belts that powered equipment for making textiles.

One of the primary sources of income for the Essex Company was the money it charged mill owners for use of that flowing water. Over the years, as the source of power shifted to coal or oil, the need for the raceways and the adjacent canals slowly dissipated — with at least one exception. Around the turn of the last century, according to Alida Davis, property manager for the Pacific Mills Industrial Complex that houses commercial and manufacturing tenants, the Essex Company installed three hydroelectric generators in the basement of one of the mill buildings. Those generators created enough power to provide the energy for Pacific Mills from the early 1900s to 1989. Fast-forward to the present: Enel, one of the world's largest energy companies, buys the Essex Co., along with the Great Stone dam, the canals, waterfront property, alleys all over the city and a host of other parcels across Lawrence. "We own a lot of property" in Lawrence, said Julie Smith- Galvin, director of corporate affairs for Enel North America, a subsidiary of an Italian company that is one of the largest energy companies in the world. When Enel bought the Essex Company, it also bought a functioning hydroelectric facility on the south side of the Great Stone Dam, which it uses to generate power that it sells into the regional electric grid. Several years ago, Pacific Mills realized it had a similar opportunity on its hands: It could refurbish the old hydroelectric turbines in the basement for just $500,000 to $600,000, Davis said. Open the raceways from the canal, flip a few switches and Pacific Mills could provide a clean, cheap source of energy for its tenants as well as other buildings in the vicinity, the company thought. "Our hope was to generate 12 million to 14 million kilowatt-hours of energy per year — we'd be able to offer our 5

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu incoming tenants better rates for our electricity as well as overflow to other mill owners on the island," she said. Any surplus could then be sold into the regional power grid, helping Pacific Mills make an extra return on the investment. She said Pacific Mills uses just 1 million to 1.3 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually, leaving plenty of power for other mill owners on the island. However, as the plans progressed, Pacific Mills hit a snag when it was discovered that Enel wanted to plug the raceways. A story in The Eagle- Tribune in May 2004 reported that Enel wanted to cover the openings that lead to the raceways, which would block the water from the hydroelectric turbines. The result was that in late 2004, Pacific Mills filed a lawsuit against Enel to prevent it from blocking the raceways. Pacific Mills is hoping, through the case, which is in Massachusetts Land Court, to force Enel North America, based in Andover, to maintain the North Canal, fill it all the way with water and fix some of the machinery, such as floodgates, that allow water into the raceways.

Enel North America is refusing to comment on the lawsuit, actually brought against the Essex Company and Lawrence Hydroelectric Associates, subsidiaries of Enel North America, citing the active legal dispute. But the attorney for Pacific Mills, Thomas Moriarty of Marcus, Errico, Emmer & Brooks, P.C., of Braintree, said the suit is based on what Pacific Mills claims is an obligation by the Essex Company to provide enough water to run the turbines. "It's a question of the right to use water power to generate electricity," Moriarty said. "In order to use the water power, you need the water in the canal." He said part of the suit is about the canals themselves. "Even if you weren't trying to generate electricity, it's an aesthetic obligation of the Essex Company to maintain the canals." He noted, "Our case is based on the original grants of water power going back to the 1800s. It's based on agreements going back to 1845." In fact, the Lawrence History Center on Essex Street is filled with detailed, old records of water usage by all the mills in the city, because engineers had to account for every drop of water used to power the mills' looms and textile machinery. Moriarty noted that Enel's "position is: 'You don't have a right to the water, and we are maintaining the canal.' " Maintenance and ownership of the canals has been an issue for years. In the past, Enel has disavowed ownership of the canals. City officials have said they don't want the canals, either. In 2005, Groundworks Lawrence conducted a North Canal Restoration and Enhancement Study, during which the nonprofit group raised a number of questions about ownership of the mile-long canal, the nine bridges over it and the machinery built into canal walls used to carry water under the mills. While the canal walls were deemed by the study to be "essentially intact in most places," there was at least one cave-in noted as well as problems with weeds and overgrowth along the edges of the waterway. Perhaps more important was that the penstocks and gates that allow water into the raceways are in terrible condition. Davis said Pacific Mills would be willing to do some of the repair work needed for the penstocks and gates. But she said the canal is really the obligation of Enel. "The canal has to be full in order for us to use it for power," she said. "They'd need to make repairs. It's an obligation of the Essex Company to maintain the integrity of the canals." Moriarty said attorneys for both parties have filed motions for summary judgment with the Land Court in an effort to avoid a trial and get an opinion from the judge. He said he is "optimistic" that the case is "nearing the end."

Missouri River hydropower hits low Feb 18 2008, Associated Press

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP). Less water flowing through the turbines at the Missouri River dams means less electrical production. Hydropower generation last year was a record low 4.9 billion kilowatt hours. Normal is 10 billion kilowatt hours. This year, the forecast is for 61 percent of normal. The Western Area Power Administration sells the power to cities, Rural Electric Cooperatives, American Indian tribes, and other nonprofit providers. When it can't fulfill its contracts with electricity from the Missouri River dams, it has to buy power elsewhere which costs money. WAPA raised rates 11.9 percent in 2006 and 5.8 percent in 2007 to cover those costs. Another 25 percent increase that's good to December 2010 was implemented this month.

(These folks are certainly optomists. The cost is too high per kilowatt and there is no way to get around that reality. And, the anti-dam folks will find a way to oppose this technology too.) Hydroelectric power Ending a dammed nuisance Feb 19th 2008, Economist.com A new generation of free-standing turbines will liberate hydroelectricity from its dependence on dams IN TODAY’S green world, hydroelectric dams are often unwelcome. Though their power is renewable and, on the face of it, carbon-free, there are lots of bad things about them, too. Blocking a river with a dam also blocks the movement of fish upstream to spawn and the movement of silt downstream to fertilise fields. The 6

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu vegetation overwhelmed by the rising waters decays to form methane—a far worse greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. The capital cost is huge. And, not least, people are often displaced to make way for the new lake. The question, therefore, is whether there is a way to get the advantages without suffering the disadvantages. And the answer is that there may be. The purpose of a dam is twofold. To house the turbines that create the electricity and to provide a sufficient head of water pressure to drive them efficiently. If it were possible to develop a turbine that did not need such a water-head to operate, and that could sit in the riverbed, then a dam would be unnecessary. Such turbines could also be put in places that could not be dammed—the bottom of the sea, for example. And that is just what is starting to happen, with the deployment of free-standing underwater turbines. The big disadvantage of free-standing turbines is that they are less efficient in transforming the mechanical energy of water into electrical energy than turbines in dams are. They are also subject to more wear and tear than turbines protected by huge amounts of concrete. They can be hard to get at to repair and maintain. And the generators they run, being electrical machines, need to be protected from the water that surrounds the rest of the turbine. A discouraging list. But in the past three decades computing power has become cheaper, helping developers to simulate the behaviour of water and turbine blades—something that is hard to do with paper, pen and formulas. Moreover, prototypes can be built directly from the computer model. All this has helped scientists and industry to solve the weaknesses inherent in free-standing turbines.

The first new design was by Alexander Gorlov, a Russian civil engineer who worked on the Aswan High Dam in Egypt. He later moved to America where, with the financial assistance of the Department of Energy, he produced the first prototype of a turbine that could extract power from free-flowing currents “without building any dam”. The Gorlov Helical Turbine as it is known, allows you to use any stream, whatever the direction of its flow. The vertical helical structure, which gives the device its name, provides a stability that previous designs lacked. It increases the amount of energy extracted from a stream from 20% to 35%. In addition, as the shaft is vertical the electric generator can be installed on one end above the water—without any need of waterproof boxes. In 2001 Mr Gorlov won the Edison patent award for his invention, and the turbines have now been commercialised by Lucid Energy Technologies, an American company, and are being tested in pilot projects in South Korea and North America. A second design is by Philippe Vauthier, another immigrant to America (he was originally a Swiss jeweller). The turbines made by his company, UEK, are anchored to a submerged platform. They are able to align themselves in the current like windsocks at an aerodrome so that they find the best position for power generation. As they are easy to install and maintain, they are being used in remote areas of developing countries, as well. Finally, a design by OpenHydro, an Irish company, is not just a new kind of turbine but also a new design of underwater electric generator. Generators (roughly speaking) consist of magnets moving relative to coils. Why not have the magnets encapsulated in the external, fast moving part of a turbine? The turbine is then installed in an external housing, containing the coils. The result looks like an open-centre turbine contained within a tube. OpenHydro’s generators do not need lubricant, which considerably reduces the need for maintenance, and are said to be safer for marine life.

These new designs, combined with the fashion for extracting energy from the environment by windmills and solar cells, means money that previously shied away from the field is now becoming available. According to New Energy Finance, a specialist consultancy, investments in companies proposing to make or deploy free- standing turbines have risen from $13m in 2004 to $156m in 2007. Projects already underway include the installation by American Verdant Power of a tidal-turbine in New York's East River and pilot projects in Nova Scotia with UEK, OpenHydro and Canadian Clean Current. And that, optimists hope, is just the beginning. Soon, many more investors will be searching for treasures buried in the ocean sea beds—or, rather, flowing above them.

IRS Allocates $406 Million in Clean Renewable Energy Bonds DOE eNewsletter, 2/12/08 The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced last week that it has allocated $406 million in Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) for a total of 312 renewable energy projects to be located throughout the United States. Unlike normal bonds that pay interest, CREBs are known as "tax-credit" bonds, and they pay the bondholders by providing a credit against their federal income tax. In effect, the CREBs will provide interest-free financing for certain renewable energy projects. And because the federal government essentially pays the interest via tax credits, the IRS needs to allocate such credits in advance to the lending authorities, which can be state or local governments or electrical cooperatives. The IRS allocates the CREBs under a program established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. See Internal Revenue Bulletin 2006- 10. The new bond allocations range from $15,000 to $30 million and are set aside for 139 solar energy facilities, 102 wind power installations, 45 landfill gas facilities, 18 hydropower plants, 5 biomass power plants, and 3 trash combustion facilities. Three of the biomass plants are intended to be "closed loop" 7

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu facilities, that is, they will have dedicated sources of biomass crops to supply them. Of course, each of these projects may require other forms of financing and will probably need approval from permitting authorities, so it is unlikely that all 312 projects will actually be built. In fact, the IRS notes that some of the bond allocations were relinquished after its first round of allocations back in November 2006, when $800 million in bonds were allocated for 610 projects. The IRS had to select the projects from among 342 applications for 395 projects, for which the lending authorities requested a total of $898 million in bond allocations. And although the IRS couldn't release information on the projects in 2006, this time around the agency received permission to publish the information for 310 of the 312 projects. Most of the projects are located in California and Minnesota, with the remainder located in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. See the IRS press release and the list of 310 projects (PDF 29 KB).

Water TVA loses $17 million in first quarter of 2008 By: Dave Flessner, February 12, 2008, Chattanooga Times Free Press

The Tennessee Valley Authority announced today it lost $17 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2008 as drought conditions continued to push up its operating costs. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing released this afternoon, TVA said its operating expenses in the three-month period ended Dec. 31 rose 14 percent from a year ago to $2 billion. TVA said the lack of rainfall limited its production of hydroelectric power, its cheapest source of electricity. Rainfall for fiscal year 2008 through the end of January was 28 percent below normal, while runoff – the amount of water that reaches the river and reservoirs – was 67 percent below normal. “When these factors are unfavorable, TVA must increase its reliance on more expensive generation and purchased power,” TVA President Tom Kilgore said in a statement today. A year ago, TVA earned $51 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2007. Mr. Kilgore said TVA expects to face continuing challenges from higher fuel and purchased power costs through the remainder of 2008. The utility board is scheduled to vote Friday on a rate increase to help offset the higher expenses.

(Maybe, a few more dams could store some of that precious water. As we know, it never rains where or when you need it, so you have to store it for where and when you need it!) Green lawns could lead to brownouts With wide swaths of the country drying up, water-hungry utilities scramble to meet surging energy and water demand. By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com, February 15 2008

HOUSTON (CNNMoney.com) -- Whisky is for drinkin', water is for fightin'. It's a saying from the Old West, but one invoked Thursday when talking about electricity at Cambridge Energy Research Associates' annual energy conference in Houston. Power generation takes water. Pumping water takes power. As the nation struggles to meet electricity demand - expected to surge 50% in the next 30 years - big sections of the country are suffering from drought conditions. "We're going to have both water and power shortages, maybe in areas where we aren't used to them," said Peter Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute, an environmental research organization. "Atlanta in the last few years is a good example of that." Most people don't realize how closely power and water are linked.

In California, the water pumps that keep the Los Angeles area hydrated are the single largest users of power in the state, according to Gleick. Running a hot water faucet there for five minutes uses as much energy as keeping a 60-watt light bulb on for 14 hours, he said. Gleick said that California could achieve 95% of its energy conservation goals 58% more cheaply by targeting water consumption rather than power 8

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu consumption. "Water and energy are tightly linked, but these links are poorly understood and rarely used in policy," he said. Utilities are struggling with this issue as they attempt to build new power plants amid the current water shortage in large parts of the Southeast and Southwest. Most types of power plants use water for cooling - a lot of water. About 40% of the freshwater used in the U.S. - or 136 billion gallons a day - is used for power generation, nearly as much as is used for crop irrigation, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A typical nuclear or coal energy plant could use 30-40 million gallons of water a day. While most of this water is returned to the source, about 3 billion gallons a day are lost to evaporation. In places where water sources are drying up, utilities are scrambling to reduce the amount of water they use. "Water is becoming one of the most contentious issues when siting a new power plant," said John Maulbetsch of Maulbetsch Consulting, which specializes in electricity and energy issues. "People feel fresh water is too precious." In the Southwest, where Lake Powell has lost half its water amid a 7-year drought, the New Mexico utility PNM Resources is finding ways to cut its water use or utilize new reserves. It has started using waste water from sewage treatment plants and oil wells, capturing water lost to evaporation, promoted energy efficiency, and considering installing massive arrays of solar power cells, said Greg Nelson, director of Advanced Generation Development at PNM. In the Southeast, the Florida and Carolinas utility Progress Energy Carolinas is installing additional pumps, considering drilling additional wells or shipping in water via pipeline to bring scarce water to its power plants. Utilities could also install systems that cool their equipment with air instead of water, although these systems are expensive, costing $20 million or more on a new, small plant and reduce plant efficiency. Nonetheless, "I think you'll have more dry systems, more retrofits in your future," said Maulbetsch.

Environment Lawsuit hits feds on delay over salmon By SETH HARKNESS, Blethen Maine Newspapers, Kennebec Journal Morning Sentinel, 02/20/2008

A Bowdoinham-based environmental group announced Tuesday it will sue two federal regulatory agencies in an effort to have Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec River protected under the Endangered Species Act. Friends of Merrymeeting Bay first sought protection for the salmon under the federal act when it co-signed a petition submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service in 2005. Ed Friedman, chairman of Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, said the Endangered Species Act required the National Marine Fisheries Service to make a final determination on the petition within 12 months of receiving it. Two-and-a-half years later, the petition organizers are still waiting for a decision. "It's a straightforward deadline case and they certainly have exceeded the deadline," Friedman said. The agency's spokeswoman, Teri Frady, said Tuesday it will decide on the case this summer. She said she could provide no more specific information about when the decision would be issued, or why the agency has exceeded the 12-month deadline.

A Boston attorney representing Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, David Nicholas, said the federal regulators have not informed his clients of their intention to make a ruling this summer. He said his clients are seeking a more formal commitment to a decision within an exact time frame. Friends of Merrymeeting Bay was joined in its notice of intention to sue by the Maine Toxics Action Coalition and the Center for Biological Diversity. The notice names the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 2000, Atlantic salmon populations in seven of Maine's smaller rivers were given protection under the Endangered Species Act. At the time, federal regulators said they needed more information to determine whether salmon in the state's largest rivers also needed protection. If salmon in the larger rivers were listed, owners of dams along the rivers could be required to alter fish passages so that the salmon could migrate freely between the ocean and upstream spawning grounds. Friedman said he believes the federal government now has ample information to justify protecting salmon in the Kennebec under the Endangered Species Act. In response to the petition in 2005 to have Kennebec salmon protected, the National Marine Fisheries Service issued a finding in November 2006 suggesting that the petitioners' request had merit. "The petition presents substantial scientific information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted," the finding reads, in part.

The agency also issued a comprehensive review of the Atlantic salmon population in 2006 that detailed the fragility of salmon stocks throughout the Gulf of Maine. The report said that fewer than 1,500 salmon return to spawn in the Gulf of Maine each year. It put the probability of extinction for the fish as high as 75 percent 9

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu in the next 100 years, even with current restocking efforts in place. Last year, only 15 salmon were collected in a fish trap at a dam in Waterville, the first of four dams on the Kennebec River that the fish must pass to reach upstream spawning grounds. Protection of salmon in the Kennebec would likely require the installation of protective screens over turbines at the dams, as well as better fish passages, according to Friedman. Federal law requires parties to a lawsuit to provide a 60-day notice of their intention to sue. If the case is not settled in that time, the lawsuit will be filed in U.S. District Court in Portland.

iThis compilation of articles and other information is provided at no cost for those interested in hydropower, dams, and water resources issues and development, and should not be used for any commercial or other purpose.

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Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

SSoommee DDaamm –– HHyyddrroo NNeewwss and Other Stuff i 2/29/2008

Quote of Note: “Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it.” -Unknown

Dams Pflueger fights dam inspection The owner opposes a planned assessment, arguing that Ka Loko is no longer a dam By Tom Finnegan, February 21, 2008, Star Bulletin

LIHUE, HI - Dam owner James Pflueger is fighting an investigation and inspection of the Ka Loko Dam, which was breached in March 2006, sending floodwaters that killed seven people. Pflueger-owned Pflueger Properties, through attorney William McCorriston, has asked the Department of Land and Natural Resources for a contested case hearing on whether to conduct a stability and safety inspection of Ka Loko. According to department spokeswoman Deborah Ward, the inspection, called a Phase II, would involve taking soil borings and testing soil, taking studies into the dam's ability to take pressure, Ka Loko Reservoir is shown here a few weeks after it breached in March 2006, killing seven people. and other analysis. McCorriston, however, argued in a petition to the Board of Land and Natural Resources that Ka Loko is no longer a dam. He also argued that any study of the area while lawsuits are pending and possible criminal cases could still be brought is a violation of his client's constitutional rights. The attorney general's office would not comment on any possible criminal investigation. The staff recommendation, which will be discussed at today's Board of Land and Natural Resources meeting, is to allow a contested case hearing to go forward on whether Ka Loko is still a dam. The other request, to stop the inspection because of violation of Pflueger's rights, was suggested to be denied.

The Ka Loko breach in 2006 has spurred numerous lawsuits, including one by Pflueger against the DLNR for lack of oversight into the stability of the dam and the spillway. That suit, as well as those brought by 1

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu family members of victims in the flooding caused by the breach and property owners against Pflueger, the state and others, are scheduled for much of 2009 in Circuit Court in Lihue. After the dam breach, the state Legislature, through Act 118, gave the DLNR authority and the finances to inspect all dams in the state, whether on private property or not. The DLNR conducted Phase I visual inspections of all dams throughout the state and identified some, about 90, according to a report last year to the Legislature, as needing more review. Ka Loko was not on that list. McCorriston, in his petition, contends that the DLNR is subjecting only Ka Loko to the Phase II inspection and that it will likely try to collect from the landowner any expenses to conduct the inspection.

(This one is a bit of a puzzle. What the heck is a Dam Safety Action Classification (DSAC)? What ever happened to Hazard Classification? Dworshak Dam has a downstream slope of 0.8 to 1.0 – It’s SAFE!) Eye on Dworshak By Greg Meyer, February 22, 2008 - Lewiston, Idaho, klewtv3.com

LEWISTON - Upriver from the LC Valley is Dworshak Dam. Army Corps of Engineers officials say a new rating system has led to a better way of sharing with the public some concerns about Dworshak that need to be addressed. Donna Street is Chief of the Engineering and Construction Division at the Walla Walla office of the Corps. Street said Thursday her office has been releasing new information about a nationwide assessment underway by the Corps. That process involves rating the nation's dams on a scale of 1 to 5, based on structural and other considerations, as well as the consequences of a dam failure. It’s called a Dam Safety Action Classification (DSAC). Dworshak earned a DSAC score of 2. Street says that is primarily because of the threat to human safety and the economic consequences of a failure. She was quick to point out that there is no indication that a failure is probable in the near or even distant future. While the Corps says the probability of failure is relatively low, they do acknowledge that there are some concerns about seepage and leakage through the dam's foundation and joint drains. This causes what is called uplift pressure, and could lead to cracks in the dam’s monoliths.

Street said inspections show that there are no cracks in the dam. And she added that the new rating process is meant to help prioritize funding for further monitoring, planning and mitigation of problems at Dworshak and other dams. Street said the Corps has finished inspecting about 30 percent of the nation’s 610 dams, first looking at those that pose the greatest risk. She said the remainder of the dams will undergo the rating process over the next two fiscal years. Street said Dworshak is monitored on an ongoing basis, and inspections are conducted every month by staff at the dam. Annually engineers from the district office in Walla Walla inspect the dam. And every five years there is a “formal” inspection with senior Corps engineers and engineers from other agencies. The last formal inspection was conducted in June of 2007. The Corps says, in the unlikely event of a failure at Dworshak, the impact would be “very high” and would extend all the way to McNary Dam.

(Excerpts) Local dam most at-risk in state Otero County, Alamogordo Daily News, By Michael Becker, Managing Editor, 02/22/2008

The Otero Soil and Water Conservation District is asking for the county's help in conducting engineering studies on two dams, one of which has been deemed the most dangerous dam in New Mexico. Bill Mershon, chairman of the district, told the Otero County Commission at its regular meeting Thursday that three dams under the district's control were reviewed by the Natural Resource Conservation Service in 2002. Two of the dams, in Curtis and Graveyard canyons, were determined to be in bad shape. Mershon said the Graveyard dam is silted up all the way to the drainage outlet; the Curtis dam -- the most dangerous one in the state -- is also filled with silt and debris.

The dams were built in the 1950s, Mershon said. "We didn't build them, we only fell heir to them," he said. He said a 3- to 4-inch rain in the right place could overwhelm the dams, endangering residents in the lower reaches of the Rio Peñasco. Mershon said two RV parks are below the Curtis dam. The State Engineer's 2

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu office and NRCS have asked the district to undertake engineering studies of the dams. Mershon said there are three options -- breach the dams and rebuild them, repair the dams, or install early warning alert systems. He asked for the county's help. "We don't have any resources to retain an engineering firm," he said. Commission Chairman Doug Moore said the county has engineering firms on retainer, and suggested a meeting to discuss the dams. Interim County Administrator Ray Backstrom said the county has grant money specifically for the Rio Peñasco watershed and some of that money might be available for use by the district. Moore also recommended that residents downstream of the dam be warned about the potential danger. Earlier in the meeting, the commission approved an agreement between the county, the State Engineer and the Interstate Stream Commission to "plan, design, renovate and construct flood plain detention, retention and diversion along the Rio Peñasco." The state Legislature approved $50,000 in 2007 for this project. The county approved a similar project to create a flood control map and plan for Nogal Canyon, with a $48,000 state grant. ------.

(Somehow, this sounds like a waste of money! The FERC already does this. The USACE already does this. The USBR already does this. The dam that forms Lake Murray is under FERC jurisdiction and is no longer just an earth-embankment; it’s been modified with an RCC dam immediately downstream. What planet is the NSF from? What research?) Old dams, new ideas $2.5 million grant will let USC professor’s team research ways to predict collapses, control flooding By JAMES T. HAMMOND, The State.com, Feb. 23, 2008 A USC civil engineering professor has received a major National Science Foundation grant to develop models for predicting dam and levee failure and responses to the resulting floods. Hanif Chaudhry, who already has conducted research on levee failures in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, will head a team of University of South Carolina researchers who will receive $2.5 million over five years. It is one of the largest National Science Foundation grants a USC researcher has received, said Michael Amiridis, dean of the College of Engineering and Computing. The grant will support the work of Chaudhry, an assistant professor, a post-doctoral student and five doctoral candidates. “Hanif’s work has certainly received attention because of the aftermath of Katrina, but is by no means limited to such catastrophic events. Of equal significance is the issue of the aging infrastructure in this country,” Amiridis said. “The work that Hanif and his colleagues are doing is related to aging levees and dams, many of which will be facing re-licensing issues in the near future,” Amiridis said. “Through this proposal, they will be able to collaborate with experts who work on similar issues in Europe and to educate both graduate and undergraduate students on this very important topic from a global perspective.” The new research will have local implications as well. Columbia is situated downstream of Lake Murray, with one of the largest earthen dams in North America. Chaudhry won $25,000 of the $400,000 in USC research seed money dedicated to Hurricane Katrina research. Vice President for Research and Health Sciences Harris Pastides saw the $400,000 of the institution’s own funds in the post-Katrina research as an investment to attract additional grants. Chaudhry’s new grant alone means a substantial return on USC’s investment. Another $719,000 National Science Foundation grant went to a team of USC researchers to study the recovery from Katrina on the Gulf Coast. Susan Cutter, a Carolina Distinguished Professor, leads that USC team, which includes assistant geography professor Jerry Mitchell, history professor Mark Smith and psychology professor Lynn Weber. Cutter’s three-year grant was also an outgrowth of USC’s CRISIS Initiative, which funded 18 university research projects to examine the social and environmental effects of Katrina. Chaudhry’s $25,000 university grant led to an initial study in 2005 of the breached levees in New Orleans and a subsequent National Science Foundation grant of $100,000 to examine the hydraulics of the 17th Street Canal breach and the closure procedures used in the hours after the devastating storm. Chaudhry, associate dean of the college, will lead a research team that includes Jasim Imran from the college and researchers at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium and the Instituto Superior Tecnico in Portugal. Floods gnaw at Kansas dam safety By Christine Metz, February 24, 2008, The Lawrence Journal-World

With tornadoes, ice storms and flooding, the state of Kansas and the weather weren’t exactly on good terms last year. Dams holding back floodwaters during four major disasters suffered a lot of damage in 2007. During last summer’s flooding in eastern Kansas, more than 100 dams had to use their emergency spillways. Of those, 61 were damaged with costs totaling $2.4 million. Soil and vegetation were carried away in the water, leaving behind steep, eroded drop-offs in flood channels. One dam had an 80-foot breach, and another lost part of a wall in front of its spillway. “Overall we didn’t have any major catastrophes, thank goodness,” said Kim Feldkamp, who is with the Division of Water Resources. “But there was a lot of damage 3

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu to auxiliary spillways that we are still dealing with today.” Brian Lang of the Natural Resources Conservation Service said he doesn’t know of any repairs that have been made to the dams since the flooding. “I think the status is pretty much the same as it was on July 1,” Lang said last week to a group of dam engineers and owners in Manhattan. “I think a lot of (owners) are waiting on dollars.” Lang and Feldkamp were among those who spoke at the Dam Safety Conference, organized each year by the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s Division of Water Resources. A couple of sessions focused on the effects the summer floods had on dams. Repairing dams would require filling the eroded flood channels with soil and plants, changing the slope or location of the spillway or covering the spillway with a hard surface such as rocks or concrete. For those dams where spillways are built on fine-grain soils, another flood could be costly.

“You are looking at a breach of a dam with another storm event,” Lang said. Perhaps the dam with the most expensive repairs from last year’s flooding was Cedar Creek Valley Reservoir, which supplies the city of Garnett with its drinking water. It is expected to cost $645,000 to repair. On June 30 after getting hammered with rain, almost half of a 400-foot wall in front of the dam’s spillway was ripped up and carried downstream. Rocks — some the size of cars — were deposited in nearby fields. Earth was also washed away, exposing ancient rock formations. Lawrence Comfort, an engineer the city hired to work on the project, said the damage isn’t an immediate threat to the dam and its ability to control flooding, but over time it could be. If it isn’t fixed, the dam’s spillway will be used more frequently. “Its integrity is critical for the long-term function of the dam,” Comfort said. The city is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to determine who will pay for what repairs. The Cedar Creek Valley Reservoir wasn’t the only dam to see problems last summer. In Clark County, a dam upstream from a feedlot failed. The 80-foot breech caused sediment to be deposited on county roads. In Dickinson County, a private dam overtopped two or three times during the storms, sending sand downstream and flooding several homes. “The main thing is funding,” Feldkamp said at the conference. “I know several watershed districts and landowners where that is the No. 1 thing right now. How are they going to find the thousands of dollars to repair this damage?” Almost every county in Kansas has seen some kind of flooding since 1976, said Tom Morey, with the Division of Water Resources. But in 2007, many communities saw record flooding events. “This year,” Morey said, “I heard people say, ‘I lived here for 80 years and have never seen it that high before.’”

Warning sirens at local dams to be tested Friday February 26, 2008, Clanton Advertiser

Alabama Power Company will test warning sirens installed downstream of Mitchell and Lay dams on Friday, Feb. 29. The sirens will be sounded at or around noon and will be preceded by a voice announcement. The sirens are in place to warn residents living downstream of the dams in the unlikely event of a structural failure at either dam. Residents do not need to take any action when the warning sirens sound. "The dams are in excellent condition," said Mike Akridge, Hydro General Manager. "The tests are simply an annual requirement of Alabama Power by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which licenses the dams. If there ever were a problem at either dam, the sirens would warn residents to immediately move to higher ground." Akridge said. The sirens are located one-half to three-quarters of a mile downstream from the dams. They are different warning devices than the horns located on the dams to warn the public of sudden water discharges when a turbine is activated or a spillway gate is opened.

Dam Demolition Project Moves Forward The project would remove the West Milford, Highland, and Two Lick Dams. February 26, 2008, by James Shih, WBOY12TV

CLARKSBURG -- The Clarksburg Water Board has authorized a $35,000 study to evaluate the effect of removing three low-head dams on the West Fork River. The water board wants to demolish the dams because they say they are no longer needed. Citizens have voiced concerns to the board about the possible effects of removing the dams. Concerns include how built-up sediments will affect the river and how removing the dams might change water levels upstream. The dams might also be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, which would be another obstacle to removing them. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is deciding whether to fund the removal project, and the study is a part of that investigation.

(Wow, I feel safer now that American Rivers has spoken.) Environmental, Engineering Groups Question Dam Safety Jim Otte, Reporter, February 26, 2008, WHIOTV.com State, Local Authorities Say Dams Structurally Sound

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Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

Vandalia, Ohio - In the aftermath of the Minneapolis bridge collapse last summer, the safety of the nation's infrastructure came under new scrutiny. The American Society of Civil Engineers rated bridges nationwide as a "C", but gave dams a lower ranking of "D." The group said many aging dams, with a large percentage of them privately owned, pose a threat to public safety. Just over a year ago, a 117-year-old dam burst in Hawaii, killing seven people. Ohio has 1,600 dams that are large enough to be inspected by the state. Rodney Tornes, chief of dam safety with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said dams are inspected once every five years. Some dams in the state enforcement program are inspected more often. "There are a lot of dams around the state that are class-one, high-hazard structures that have people downstream. That's the reason we exist, to protect those people to make sure those dams are designed properly and maintained properly," Tornes said. The Miami Valley has several large dams built for a combination of flood control and recreation.

One of them is at the C.J. Brown reservoir in Springfield. Larry Davis, who works at the Boathouse Bait Shop across the street from the dam, said he thinks it is safe. "The safety of the surrounding are is just as important and if this thing goes there's going to be a lot of water to hit Springfield," Davis said. The Springfield dam was completed in 1974 and in good shape. Many others are much older. The Taylorsville Dam and four others were built in the 1920s, following the disastrous 1913 flood. The dams were built and are maintained by the Miami Conservancy District. Kurt Rinehart, Conservancy District chief engineer, said visible cracks in the concrete around the dam are surface cracks and are scheduled to be repaired. Otherwise, Rinehart said, all five dams are structurally sound. The American Society of Civil Engineers is not the only group trying to raise awareness of dam safety problems. The Washington, D.C.-based group American Rivers has also joined the effort. Andrew Fahlund, of American Rivers, said the threat to communities from high hazard dams is great. He said 442 dams in Ohio are consider to be high hazard, meaning if they fail there would be loss of life downstream. State regulators currently have 15 dams, including one in Clermont County, in the enforcement program. Changes have been ordered to improve safety, including increased efforts to control erosion. The call for improved dam safety has not fallen on deaf ears. A new dam safety initiative in Washington has already passed the U.S. House and is currently pending before the Senate.

Hydro Hydroelectric dam plan has friends, foes February 21, 2008, By Sue Sharpe, Hunterdon County Democrat

HIGH BRIDGE, NJ -- Residents like the idea of adapting the Lake Solitude dam for generating electricity, the South Branch Watershed Association hates the idea, and Borough Council thinks it's worth studying some more. Support from residents was strong last week when council approved a resolution to seek financial partners for hydroelectric generation at the dam. But opponents who want the dam breached plan to have their say on Thursday, Feb. 28 when council looks for answers from borough and state dam experts at its 7:30 p.m. meeting at the firehouse. Council is revisiting a 2001 decision to strengthen the 42-foot-high structure, which must be either brought up to current standards or opened up to allow free flow of the South Branch of the Raritan River. That ultimatum was rendered by the state Department of Environmental Protection in 2005. Union Forge Heritage Association is pushing to keep the dam intact and use it to create clean energy for the borough as it once did for the Taylor-Wharton steel works. The borough faces an August deadline to begin repairs or request a breaching permit. Residents who voiced approval of the idea included Harlan Ettinger, who described a similar-sized dam that Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. re- activated to provide clean energy to the campus. "They made it work and I think we can make it work, too," he said. "I love this idea," said another resident, while Alan Craig told council members that his own calculations had proved to him that the idea could bring money into the borough and should be investigated.

But not everyone thinks the dam is good for the environment. Bill Kibler, executive director of the South Branch Watershed Association, calls it "public enemy number one" for maintaining water quality here. "It's like a giant 35-acre bathtub," he said Monday, with "horrible" environmental conditions that prevent the 5

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu existence of specific wildlife and plants that indicate a healthy ecosystem. "Even vegetation that grows in bad environments doesn't grow there," he said of the artificially created lake, because its warm stagnant water exacerbates pollutants and decreases oxygen. By preventing the natural flow of fertile soil and nutrients, he said, the dam sends "sediment-starved" water flowing over the spillway to erode the banks below. Classified by the depth of water behind it, a low-head dam like Solitude is worse than a high-head dam, with deeper water that can maintain consistent, cooler temperatures, he said. Rick Axt, chairman of the state council of Trout Unlimited, agrees. "A healthy ecosystem is allowed to flow free," he said Monday. "We have several hundred dams throughout the state that alter the hydrology and create barriers for migration of fish and wildlife," he said, adding that his group will help the borough find grants for river improvements if it decides to breach the dam. In the state and across the country, old dams are routinely being taken down, according to Garrett Russo, national spokesman for American River, a conservation group whose goal is to protect and restore natural rivers. Benefits of free-flowing rivers to municipalities include increased revenue generated by recreational facilities and avoidance of liability such as property destruction, injury and even wrongful death. The borough holds $2 million in liability insurance for the dam, according to Administrator Doug Walker, but the greater cost to the borough is its increased risk exposure, he said. Other logistical questions remain, including whether a power plant would be allowed on the property, which was purchased with state Green Acres money. Mike Gronsky, president of Union Forge, said that Custom Alloy Corp. owns the adjacent property on which the old power plant sits, but has expressed interest in the idea. The look of the dam would change as water is diverted from the spillway, he said, and the pipe, which is still intact, would likely need to be relined. Jersey Central Power & Light might also act as a middleman, decreasing the financial benefit to the borough. Some, like Mr. Ettinger, however, see the dam as not just a potential money-maker, but a part of High Bridge history. In a letter to council and Union Forge, he wrote, "Personally, few experiences in High Bridge compare with having watched a bald eagle swoop down over Lake Solitude to perch on a tree limb overhanging the South Branch at the north end of the lake, standing in the mist at the bottom of the falls as the late afternoon sun illuminated the autumn leaves above or the experience last winter of walking with our children across the lake on thick ice that was so crystal clear we could see the bottom." Others, like Mr. Kibler, say history isn't marked by the dam, but what existed before it -- a natural flowing river.

China Runs World's Largest Hydroelectric Plant Beijing, Feb 19 (Prensa Latina) China's Three Throats Hydroelectric Plant, built at the world's largest dam, will reach full capacity this year and, among other positives, will rid the area of the deadly floods occurring every ten years. Manager Li Yongan says the giant project will generate 88.1 billion kW/h upon completion, which is slightly higher than the original design. Construction began in 1993 with a 22.5 billion dollar budget and involves a reservoir and 26 generators. So far 21 generators have been installed on both shores of China's largest river, the Yangtze, which waters now form an artificial lake that swallowed 140 towns and 326 villages and necessitated relocation of 1.2 million people. The plant has generated over 77 billion kW/h and profits of $1.7 billion. The company expects similar income this year.

Federal government rejects Hydroelectric Dam PROJECT DISMISSED By BILL SHEA, February 23, 2008, The Messenger

The effort to restart the Fort Dodge Hydroelectric Dam has been stopped by the federal government. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has refused to issue the license that is needed to generate any power at the dormant dam. In a six-page ruling, the commission members wrote that they were rejecting the license application from Fort Dodge Hydroelectric Development Co. because the company’s plan would not address safety problems. That decision effectively killed the power generation plan that was approved by the voters in a 2005 referendum. That vote gave the city the power to borrow up to $7 million for the project.

Last year Mayor Terry Lutz wrote to the commission and asked it to reject the license after studies revealed that cranking up the dam once again would be a money-losing venture. But city officials said Friday they’ll move ahead with repairs to the dam, and they haven’t ruled out some smaller effort to make electricity there. ‘‘This kind of proves the fact that you couldn’t do it as conceived by Fort Dodge Hydro,’’ Councilman Matt Bemrich said. Lutz said the federal action spares the city from paying the company another $600,000 on top of the $195,000 already paid. He said the company’s $795,000 fee was based on securing the license. Now that the company has no chance of getting the license, it won’t be paid another cent. ‘‘We do not owe them the money,’’ Lutz said. The city government has sued the company to try to get the $195,000 back. No hearings have been held on that lawsuit yet. Councilman Don Wilson was the lone elected official who considered the ruling a setback. ‘‘I think it’s pretty sad,’’ he said. ‘‘It looks like the city intervened on this.’’ ‘‘The will of the voters was to have this thing going,’’ he said. ‘‘I just feel that the city put a real stop to this 6

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu through the mayor.’’ He said Lutz persuaded the City Council to hire Stanley Consultants of Des Moines to do two additional studies of the dam which raised questions about the feasibility of the project. He added that Lutz wrote to the commission, asking it to reject the license, without the council’s approval. ‘‘It’s unfortunate that Don feels that way,’’ Lutz said. ‘‘Don has been privy to all of the information the council has regarding the technical and financial analysis. I think it’s just another example of Don’s tactics of trying to discredit everything that the council is trying to do in moving the city forward.’’

(Never fear – taxpayers to the rescue!) State grants may be coming for Hydroelectric Dam issues By BILL SHEA, February 23, 2008, The Messenger

The state government may be giving Fort Dodge some financial help to address problems at the Hydroelectric Dam. The city may receive a $2,685 grant to install signs that would warn boaters of the dam’s presence. It may also receive a $20,000 grant to help pay for an engineering study that would address safety issues. Both grants would require a 50 percent match from the city, according to Nate Hoogeveen, the river programs coordinator for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. That means the city would have to supply a total of $22,685 to get the state money. Hoogeveen said the department’s staff is recommending that the grants be approved. The Iowa Natural Resources Commission will make the final decision when it meets on March 13.

(I’m more surprised that someone from the Low Impact Hydropower Institute (LIHI) would state his surprise about why more hydro projects are not being built at locks and dams. It’s the opposition to hydropower by the principle members of the LIHI and the cumbersome, costly licensing process they created that has essentially stopped most hydro development! Isn’t that obvious?) Run-of-the-River Hydropower in Arkansas Easing Burden of Rising Fuel Costs This article by Derrill Holly is reprinted with permission from Electric Co-op Today.

When the Arkansas River’s navigational locks were planned and designed in the 1960s, electricity was cheap, so interest in the potential of hydroelectric power was limited. But by the early 1980s, the leaders of Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. saw a disturbing trend toward expensive power and began exploring ways to handle the need for new generation to meet growing demand. “There were visionaries on the board,” said Douglas White, now a vice president of the G&T, which signed three 100-year leases on federally controlled navigational rights-of-way, clearing the way for construction of hydroelectric plants that now produce 167 megawatts of power. The success of the Arkansas projects has prompted some observers to call for more of the same small-scale hydro during a time of rising energy prices.

Of 212 lock sites operated by the Army Corps of Engineers nationwide, only 46 dams are producing hydropower. Many others offer some potential for that purpose, with limited additional environmental impact. “You’re essentially just adding a powerhouse to structures that are already there,” said Fred Ayer, executive director of the independent Low Impact Hydropower Institute. He cited a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission analysis, which suggests that modifications to existing dam structures could increase the nation’s hydroelectric capacity by as much as 25 percent. Said Ayer: “I’m surprised there hasn’t been more of a development push at lock and dam sites, because almost everything that’s needed is already in place.” In Arkansas, the first of three plants went on-line in 1988 near Fort Smith. A second plant, also on the Arkansas River at Morrilton, began operating in 1994, and a third, on the White River near Dumas, was added to the G&T’s portfolio in 1999. While the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates the locks and dams, AECC operates the adjacent powerhouses. The three plants represent an investment of $330 million and supply power to 460,000 accounts served by 17 distribution co-ops. “It was a huge investment at the time, and that money still represents about one-third of our overall investment in generation capacity,” said White. The Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas Hydropower Generation Station is built on the Arkansas River near Dumas, Ark. The powerhouse was constructed near the dam that supplies water to the navigational lock. Most of the equipment is buried along 100-yard wide approaches adjacent to the navigational channels. The water used to generate electricity flows into the turbines through a series of underwater pipes and then returns to the rivers. “We don’t affect habitat, or kill fish or other marine life,” said White. The land surfaces at two locations 7

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu have been developed for camping, and anglers are often seen fishing along the river. Changes in federal energy policy and the attitudes of consumer-members have made that investment even more valuable to leaders of the state’s co-ops, who can point to a decades-old commitment to renewable energy capacity that satisfies more than 15 percent of their demand. “We’ve seen natural gas prices increase four-fold, so many utilities around the country are now facing the same decisions we were facing 25 years ago,” said White.

PPL Corp To Start Powerhouse Construction In Spring '09 February 26, 2008, DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

PPL Corp.'s (PPL) PPL Montana plans to construct a new powerhouse with a 60- megawatt turbine at its rainbow hydroelectric plant on the Missouri River, intending to nearly double the amount of electricity produced at the site. The Allentown, Pa., public utility holding company said it will start the construction of the new powerhouse in spring 2009. PPL Montana also said the facility is expected to be in service by spring of 2011. The company added the redevelopment of its rainbow hydroelectric plant is part of PPL Montana's Project 2188 license with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Water Schwarzenegger, Feinstein seek compromise on Calif. water bond By Samantha Young, ASSOCIATED PRESS, February 21, 2008, San Diego Union-Tribune

SACRAMENTO – Unable to broker a water deal last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday enlisted the help of Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the hope she can persuade lawmakers to compromise. Feinstein and Schwarzenegger presided over a private meeting with Republican and Democratic lawmakers in a bid to restart the divisive negotiations on a bond to upgrade California's massive water system. The meeting comes as the California Chamber of Commerce is floating an initiative it intends to place on the November ballot to raise $11.6 billion for water projects. Environmental groups and many Democratic lawmakers oppose the chamber's effort, which includes two ideas Democrats oppose – billions to build dams and a canal funneling water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The Republican governor has said California needs to expand its reservoir and canal system to accommodate its growing population and address the threats posed by climate change. He wants the Legislature to reach a compromise and place its own measure on the ballot. “We believe, and I think the governor agrees, the preferable route is a legislative solution,” Feinstein, a Democrat, said in brief remarks to reporters outside Schwarzenegger's office. “There has to be something bipartisan that comes out of this.” The governor called a special session last year to reach a deal that would boost California's water supply, but lawmakers failed to get it done. The two sides remain divided over how much money – if any – should go to build dams.

Democrats prefer increased water conservation measures as way to meet the needs of California's growing population, now at 37.7 million. Feinstein, a former San Francisco mayor, differs with many members of her own party in favoring additional water storage. She has defended that city's reliance on Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park for its water supply as environmentalists have increased pressure to tear down the dam and restore the valley. “I can tell you that with climate change facing us right between the eyes and the likelihood of the diminution of the Sierra Nevada snowpack, we have to be able to store some water from the wet years to use it in the dry years,” Feinstein said. “With water in California, there is no silver bullet. You have to do a comprehensive plan.” Schwarzenegger said lawmakers have a “few sticking points” to resolve after two years of negotiations. He said lawmakers should embrace a water plan for the November ballot that restores the delta's ecosystem, adds dams and provides money for a canal or pipeline that sends water around the delta to Southern California and some San Francisco Bay area cities. “We've always looked at a comprehensive solution,” Schwarzenegger said. “You don't piecemeal it.” Schwarzenegger said a water bond would win the approval of California voters if Republicans and Democrats crafted a measure together. He declined to say whether he thought the Chamber of Commerce and its partners should abandon its measure to give lawmakers a chance to work out a compromise. The coalition has not yet begun gathering the signatures it would need to put the initiative on the ballot, said the group's consultant, Rick Claussen. He said that process could begin in the next few weeks. “We'll either flip the switch and go, or shut the door,” Claussen said. “We've always said we hope we can avoid a costly 8

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu signature process and do a legislative solution.” Joining the chamber are several business and agricultural groups. Even with a push from Feinstein and Schwarzenegger, there seems to be little appetite in the Legislature for a water bond as the state grapples with a $16 billion deficit projected through June 2009. Political reality also could complicate the effort: The Democrats, who lead the Assembly and Senate, as well as the Senate's Republican leader, will be termed out of office at the end of the year. “Given the state's fiscal predicament it's hard to imagine adding more to the debt with a water bond,” said Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles. “When we're cutting money to the kids and the elderly, we're not going to subsidize dam builders.” Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D- Oakland, led the water negotiations last year in the Senate but lately has said lawmakers should wait to put bond on the ballot given the deficit. After attending Thursday's meeting with Feinstein, Perata issued a statement saying he welcomed the new round of talks while criticizing the business-backed ballot measure. “If the governor is serious about achieving a legislative solution, he will persuade the chamber to drop its divisive water bond initiative,” he said.

Environment Groups suing over decline of fish They say agencies fail to help three species coexist with Yuba River dams By Matt Weiser, Sacramento Bee, February 21, 2008

Two old dams on the lower Yuba River don't make electricity, provide a water supply or prevent floods. They do, however, stand in the way of spawning salmon. The Daguerre Point and Englebright dams upstream of Marysville were designed to capture sediment washed out of the Sierra Nevada by hydraulic gold mining in the early 1900s. But modern efforts to help endangered fish coexist with the dams have not gone well, according to environmental groups who last week sued the federal government and the Yuba County Water Agency. They claim inaction has contributed to the decline of three species, all listed as threatened under federal law: spring-run chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead and green sturgeon. The South Yuba River Citizens League and Friends of the River claim the agencies violated the federal Endangered Species Act by ignoring their own plans to improve fish spawning. The plaintiffs also claim these plans were inadequate in the first place.

"The Yuba has long been identified as the best opportunity for recovering spring-run chinook," said Jason Rainey, executive director of the citizens league. "There's no hope for recovery without expanded habitat." Only 242 spring-run salmon returned to the Yuba River to spawn in 2007, he said, compared to about 400 in 2006. The total Central Valley spring run was about 12,500 fish in 2006. Like other Sacramento River tributaries, the Yuba last year suffered a decline in fall-run chinook that may lead to a drastic fishing cutback this year. The fall run is not protected under endangered species laws. Neither dam provides adequate fish ladders. The Daguerre Point Dam, built in 1906, has a pair of antiquated ladders that often fill up with debris or provide poor water flow. Englebright, built in 1941, has no ladders. Rainey wants studies to find the best way to move fish around Englebright. He wants Daguerre Point Dam removed. It is a diversion point for the Yuba County Water Agency, but that could be accommodated another way, he said. These two changes, he said, could open more than 100 miles of additional spawning habitat. Defendants include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which owns the dams, and the National Marine Fisheries Service, which manages the fish species. Both agencies declined to comment on the lawsuit.

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Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

The Yuba County Water Agency did not respond to a request for comment. Federal agencies acknowledge the dams are a threat to fish. The National Marine Fisheries Service in 2002 imposed a plan to minimize harm to fish, setting deadlines for projects to improve spawning habitat and upgrade fish ladders at Daguerre Point Dam. The plaintiffs claim the corps completed none of the projects. Last year, the fisheries service adopted a new plan to guide corps operations. It required even fewer improvements and imposed no standards to ensure success, the plaintiffs allege. Greg Pasternack, a professor of watershed hydrology at University of California, Davis, has studied portions of the Yuba River below Englebright Dam for the past five years. Unlike many Central Valley rivers, he said, the Yuba has plentiful spawning gravel in some locations to accommodate more fish, and its flows are good because its upstream reaches are relatively undammed. "The Yuba is a pretty ideal location for fish overall," Pasternack said. "The main thing is to manage Daguerre and Englebright appropriately. The habitat is there. We just need more fish."

Court orders extension of plan to save salmon Salmon have a friend in the federal court system. Portland Business Journal, February 26, 2008

Federal District Court Judge James A. Redden ordered Tuesday an agreement between representatives of federal and state agencies and fishing and conservation groups to ensure critical in-river fish passage measures to help endangered salmon survive in the Columbia and Snake River basin will be extended through 2008. The agreement ensures that additional water will be spilled over dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers during the crucial spring and summer salmon migrations. This spill, which creates more natural river conditions for salmon by releasing water over the dams, is widely considered the safest and most effective way to ensure young fish survive the dams on their downstream journey to the ocean. Under the measures to be implemented by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bonneville Power Administration, spill and flow levels for 2008 will be roughly equivalent to those mandated by the court in 2005 for the 2006 migration season, and implemented again by agreement and court order last year. "The court's order is good news for fish and fishing communities in the Columbia River basin, but we are still a long way from solving this problem," said Todd True of Earthjustice, lead attorney for the fishing and conservation interests. "The federal agencies still must deliver a final plan that makes the major changes in dams and dam operations that our region needs." The federal agencies have been given until May 5 to deliver a new final biological opinion that will guide salmon recovery efforts in the seven-state Columbia and Snake River basin for the next decade. The previous plan was thrown out by the court for its failure to meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act to protect and restore imperiled salmon in the region. That ruling was soundly upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

iThis compilation of articles and other information is provided at no cost for those interested in hydropower, dams, and water resources issues and development, and should not be used for any commercial or other purpose.

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Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu