8/21/2015

Some – Hydro News TM And Other Stuff i

Quote of Note: “Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.” - Winston Churchill

Some Dam - Hydro News Newsletter Archive for Back Issues and Search http://npdp.stanford.edu/ Click on Link (Some Dam - Hydro News) Bottom Right - Under Perspectives

“Good wine is a necessity of life.” - -Thomas Jefferson Ron’s wine pick of the week: 2012 Odette Petite Sirah "Adaptation" “ No nation was ever drunk when wine was cheap. ” - - Thomas Jefferson

Dams: ( don’t cause pollution, they just collect the crap others discharge into the river. That’s the problem! Henry Ford had a solution, but Congress wouldn’t adopt it – “Put every bodies discharge point upstream of their intake.” You could write a book on what’s wrong with this idea! They forgot Muddy Run Pumped Storage Project. Can you imagine the Susquehanna River Valley covered with solar panels that provide undependable power and only during sunlight? How do you replace over 2750 MW? How do you fix Peach Bottom Nuclear (1140 MW), and remove Conowingo (572 MW) and Muddy Run (1040 MW) projects with undependable wind and solar power? Comparing the Edwards project to Conowingo is like comparing it to tinker toys. These are scientists????? They sound like they’re looking for work!) Undamming rivers can offer a new source for clean energy Many hydroelectric dams produce modest amounts of power yet do enormous damage to rivers and fish. Why not free our rivers from these ageing structures and build solar farms in the drained reservoirs? John Waldman and Karin Limburg for Yale Environment 360, part of the Guardian Environment Network, 7 August 2015, theguardian.com

1 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu Hydroelectric power is often touted as clean energy, but this claim is true only in the narrow sense of not causing air pollution. In many places, such as the US East Coast, hydroelectric dams have damaged the ecological integrity of nearly every major river and have decimated runs of migratory fish.

Environmental concerns have pushed one flagship dam project to the brink of cancellation but a ‘gold rush on the rivers’ of south-east Europe puts these unique ecosystems and their wildlife, including the critically endangered Balkan lynx, in jeopardy. This need not continue. Our rivers can be liberated from their concrete shackles, while also continuing to produce electricity at the site of former hydropower dams. How might that occur? A confluence of factors – the ageing of many dams, the advent of industrial-scale alternative energy sources, and increasing recognition of the failure of traditional engineering approaches to sustain migratory fish populations – raises fresh possibilities for large rivers to continue to help provide power and, simultaneously, to have their biological legacies restored. The answer may lie in “sharing” our dammed rivers, and the concept is straightforward. Remove ageing hydroelectric dams, many of which produce relatively small amounts of electricity and are soon up for relicensing. When waters recede, rivers will occupy only part of the newly exposed reservoir bottoms. Let’s use these as a home for utility-scale solar and wind power installations, and let’s employ the existing power line infrastructure to the dams to connect the new solar and wind power facilities to the grid. This vision both keeps the electricity flowing from these former hydropower sites, while helping to resurrect once-abundant fish runs, as has recently happened in Maine.

More than a half-century of modern attempts to allow fish to traverse what often are sequences of dams that block access to their historical spawning reaches in eastern US rivers presents a dismal record. Highly unnatural conveyances such as fish ladders are often only marginally helpful to fish on their upstream spawning runs, which is one reason why some migratory fish runs have fallen as much as five orders of magnitude. Take Atlantic salmon, a revered game and food fish that once may have numbered a half-million in US rivers. In 2014, fewer than 400 attempted to reach their New England spawning grounds. Such relict populations are often protected from harvest, yet are still not meaningfully restored. No other action can bring ecological integrity back to rivers as effectively as dam removals. Yet such efforts may come at the cost of a loss of hydropower. And so, what many hoped would be a precedent-setting breaching of the Edwards Dam on Maine’s Kennebec River in 1999 – which had yielded only 3.5 megawatts (MW) of power annually — has not been followed by the dismantling of other, higher-wattage dams on the East Coast. Yet, the efficacy of dam removal to restore migratory fish was shown in the Kennebec after the Edwards Dam fell; for the first time in more than a century-and-a-half, alewives, a species of herring, were able to access an upriver tributary, the Sebasticook. Within just a few years the Sebasticook’s run of alewives swelled from non-existent to almost three million, supporting scores of bald eagles and an “alewife festival” that celebrates the Sebasticook’s extraordinary renewal.

In “sharing” a river more equitably between energy production and its ecological imperatives, the critical step would be the breaching of existing dams. Though that may seem improvident – if not downright radical – it is important to remember that many of these concrete walls are middle-aged or older and will be reaching their life expectancies in the coming decades. Deteriorating dams 2 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu are a serious public safety concern – one likely to increase as climate change generates more frequent and intense storms. We believe the compelling ecological and impending structural reasons for dam removals should be considered in light of the rapidly evolving national energy landscape, and that, together, they signal exciting possibilities for a dramatically improved stewardship of major rivers. Fortunately, traditional hydropower facilities already offer the real estate that lies under reservoirs and existing electrical transmission lines that could be used by renewable energy sources. In breaching a dam and draining a reservoir, substantial areas of land could become available for new uses. Take the Conowingo Dam in Maryland, for example. The Conowingo is the largest of four hydroelectric dams on the lower 55 miles (88 km) of the Susquehanna River and sits only nine miles above the head of Chesapeake Bay. Its 572 MW capacity is fed by a 3,700-hectare (9,000-acre) reservoir that also serves as an emergency water supply for Baltimore, and provides water for cooling intakes at the nearby Peach Bottom nuclear plant. The pool is also used by recreational boaters and fishers.

If the Conowingo Dam were removed, this would free up more than enough area to replace the lost hydroelectric generation with power from solar parks along the former reservoir bottom, and allow for other land uses, such as creation of fringing wetlands and forests. For comparative scale, California’s new, 392MW Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System has three units occupying 3,500 acres. More sun shines on the Mojave than in the mid-Atlantic region, but according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory calculator, acre for acre, the Conowingo region should support 76% of the power-generating capacity of the desert. Thus, about three- quarters of the river bottom would need to be in solar to match the output of Ivanpah. One other issue facing the Conowingo Dam removal would be the sediments behind the dam that would need to be stabilized. The reservoir itself is close to capacity, and current plans are to dredge the pool, at an estimated cost of $48m to $267m annually. Those who are concerned for the ecological health of the Chesapeake Bay fear that if the dam is removed, millions of tons of sediment, enriched with nutrients and, potentially, toxic substances, could pour into the bay. But sediment stabilization is routinely done in dam removals and could be safely accomplished with careful design and engineering.

Finally, what of the pushback by those who cherish the status quo? Few local residents were alive when the Conowingo Reservoir began filling in 1928, so the big pool is their cultural heritage. Surely, any such drastic change would be hotly debated in many forums. But only a small number of houses exist on the 29 miles of shoreline that would be affected if the reservoir were removed. The same issues were faced in the debates about removing mainstem dams in the Penobscot River in Maine, and eventually a consensus emerged there. Preservation of power generation (diverted to smaller tributaries) was important to closing the deal, and will likely be important in other cases. And although manmade reservoirs have their aficionados, rivers often have more of them – the scores who appreciate the fishing, paddling, and nature watching they provide. One study showed large economic benefits from the Edwards Dam removal. And what about the nuclear plant, and Baltimore’s emergency water supply? The Peach Bottom plant could install water-miserly, closed-cycle cooling towers, and Baltimore could still withdraw water from the Susquehanna in an emergency. There are other potential tools available to help share rivers. Any remaining backwater ponds could be outfitted with floating solar panel arrays, as used successfully in Japan. Also, because reservoirs are nestled in valleys, in some instances the surrounding ridges might host wind turbines. Though combined alternative energy sources such as these might alone make up or exceed the original hydropower lost, “run of the river” hydropower — in which only a portion of the current is routed through turbines — could also contribute. But, critically, while generating some hydropower, the river’s mainstem would remain free-flowing, opening the way for resurgent fish migrations.

On the Penobscot River, the precedent of restoring a major river while maintaining equivalency of energy production was recently accomplished. This was done by increasing hydroelectric generation capacity on a set of tributaries while reopening the mainstem channel through dam removals and more effective fishways – thus returning nearly 1,000 miles of river habitat to 11 species of sea-run fish, including Atlantic salmon, sturgeon, and river herring. Other, once 3 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu biologically productive New England rivers now clogged with multiple dams – such as the Kennebec, Merrimack, Connecticut, and Housatonic – could be prime candidates for some of these new ways of thinking about the future of rivers. It may be that hydro companies should not continue to act as gatekeepers for what could otherwise be healthy rivers. Other innovative approaches could also be explored. The previously submerged but newly available riverfront property might be sold or transferred for conservation easements or for parks or even environmentally sensitive residential development. The revenue from these sales could be used for solar or wind projects in other promising but underutilized locations, such as landfills and urban brown fields. A discussion of new strategies is timely because we are about to double- down on the flawed status quo. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will be evaluating many East Coast hydro dams for relicensing within the next few years — licensing that would lock in the failed fish passage paradigm for as much as an additional half-century. As two conservation biologists who study rivers, we believe it’s time to explore a dramatically different vision. It may be that hydro companies should not continue to act as the gatekeepers for what could otherwise be healthy rivers brimming with life. Certainly, society requires electrical power, and rivers already are part of our grid. The way forward just may be to share a river more equitably between renewable energy production and its natural ecology.

(Now, you’re talking real money!) LETTERS TO THE EDITOR AUGUST 9, 2015, fresnobee.com $10b for dams

My mistake! Gov. Jerry Brown is a genius. He knows full well that high-speed rail — all $60 billion of it — will allow our Los Angeles friends and Bay Area compadres to zip right through the brown, barren, lifeless, Valley and not even have to blink an eye at our demise! Pure genius! But governor, have a little pity and mercy. Give us just $10 billion of your high-speed rail money to create higher dams in areas that already have them: Shasta, Oroville, San Luis, Pine Flat, Millerton, etc. Is $10 billion too much to ask to keep our farms in production, food on our tables and our Valley economy viable? Or do you have a plan to add computer chips to our salads for extra protein? BARRY W. BYERS, FOWLER

(Fluff!) $6 million grant to fund study of dams in New England By - Associated Press - August 11, 2015, washingtontimes.com

DURHAM, N.H. (AP) - A $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation program will fund a four-year study examining the future of dams in New England. The grant was announced Monday by the University of New Hampshire. Paul Kirshen, a research professor of civil and environmental engineering at the university, will the project. The study will look at strengthening connections between scientists and decision-makers about a number of options including maintaining existing hydropower dams, expanding hydropower capacity and removing aging dams to restore fisheries or reduce safety risks. The project is an expansion of the New England Sustainability Consortium, adding Rhode Island to the partnership between Maine and New Hampshire. NEST started in 2013 to focus on the safety of coastal beaches and shellfish beds that are threatened by pollution.

(Is this a safe idea?) Des Moines installing new flashboards on dam Linh Ta, lta, August 10, 2015, desmoinesregister.com

New flashboards will be installed on the Center Street Dam in Des Moines to improve conditions for people who like to boat or on the Des Moines River. The flashboards, which increase the depth of water behind a dam, will be installed Friday at 7:30 a.m., according to a news release. Boaters are advised that water levels will be lower for 24 to 36 hours beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday. The flashboards are 2 feet high and 9 feet long, and they will increase the water level 4 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu by 2 feet on the river. After the installation is complete, the outflow at Saylorville Reservoir dam will be adjusted to fill up and elevate the water level.

(Bad science to some is good to others.) Why is bad science protecting the Lower Snake River dams? Borg Hendrickson | Opinion | Aug. 12, 2015 | Web Exclusive, hcn.org

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the country's dam-building agency, sounded like it knew what it was talking about in 2002. After spending six years and $30 million, the agency confidently recommended not breaching four fish-killing dams on the Lower Snake River. But now, backed by 15 years of data primarily from the Corps itself, we can say that the Corps was dead wrong. Its claims of being able to help salmon flourish while keeping the dams intact were wildly optimistic. Here's what the agency's Walla Walla District staffers believed was better than breaching:

• The agency said it could "fix" the four dams for passage of juvenile threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead. So taxpayers spent over $700 million for improvements to the four dams and McNary Dam on the Columbia. The result? The hydro-system's 2000-2012 average smolt survival for wild chinook salmon was just 52 percent, and for wild steelhead just 45 percent. Most of the highest survival years coincided with the increased spills mandated by Federal District Judge James Redden. In late 2013, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries service concluded: "Chinook survival through the hydropower system has remained relatively stable since 1999, with the exception of lower estimates in 2001 and 2004." So now we know: $700 million essentially did little to boost smolt survival.

• The agency claimed that the four dams were needed because the Lower Snake waterway would see increasing volumes of freight, such as paper, pulp, logs, petroleum, grain and other farm commodities. Not true; over the past 20 years, the total freight transported on the Lower Snake's reservoirs has declined by 69 percent. Agriculture is one of the few industries that hasn't pretty much abandoned the waterway, and even the region's farmers have begun developing cooperative rail hubs and engaging rail companies in shipping discussions. At 2014's end, container-on-barge (COB) traffic, in particular, had declined by 82 percent, and in April 2015, the waterway's only COB port, the Port of Lewiston, indefinitely suspended all COB shipping. In fact, the Corps' itself identifies the waterway as "of negligible use."

• The Corps predicted that loss of power due to dam breaching would be costly and, according to a 2002 Corps' planner, it also considered wind energy "inconsequential." Although the four dams' generating capacity was designed to total 3,033 megawatts, the 2000- 2012 average annual output was just 961 megawatts. Wind power, meanwhile, has surged, and in the Pacific Northwest boasts an 8,976 megawatt capacity. In 2012, wind produced 2,007 megawatts -- twice that produced by all four dams.

• The Corps also said the four dams' 24 turbines (with expected 35-to-45-year lifespans) could be rehabilitated twice, during the Lower Snake project's 100 years, for $380 million. During the next 15 years, however, all 24 turbines will exceed 45 years, and three at Ice Harbor Dam are already being rehabbed at a contract price of $97 million. Thus, calculated in today's dollars, one 24-turbine rehab would cost about $776 million, and two would cost over $1.5 billion.

In 2002, the Corps did identify potential benefits of dam-breaching, such as increased angling, commercial fishing, general recreation, and a benefit it identifies as "passive use" values, including public appreciation of the integrity of a natural river and its availability for generations to come. The total benefit calculated for post-breaching annual passive use alone was a hefty $420.13 million. Yet the Corps ignored its own finding. Doing so today would be illegal. A 2013 policy, "Federal Principles and Guidelines for Water and Land Related Resources Implementation Studies," now requires the inclusion of passive values. If this policy had been in place in 2002, the 5 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu Corps would have had to admit that leaving the four dams intact made no sense from an economic perspective. When Jim Waddell of Port Angeles, Washington, a retired 35-year veteran of the Corps, recently reanalyzed the agency's 2002 study, he found that it had underestimated the cost of retaining the four dams by $160.7 million a year over the project's 100-year life. What's more, he says, internal Corps documents clearly show that the Walla Walla District knew there were false assumptions, errors and omissions in the agency's study. Nonetheless, for reasons of cost and expediency, the Corps chose not to correct those errors. Waddell's analysis is revelatory and deeply disturbing. Let's hope that it opens the agency's eyes so that staffers weigh the true costs and potential waste of keeping these four dams in place. Let's hope, too, that it opens the eyes of national leaders evaluating infrastructural wastes versus needs. It is long past time for the river to run free. Borg Hendrickson is a contributor to Writers on the Range, the column service of High Country News. She lives in north central Idaho, and is co-author of Clearwater Country: The Traveler's Historical and Recreational Guide, Lewiston, Idaho - Missoula, .

(Gotta have a dam removal article.) Greenwood: Dam Removal By CHRIS ALBERTINE • 8/12/15, digital.vpr.net

One of summer’s greatest pleasures is floating down a river. It’s less about the vehicle than it is about the floating: an inner tube, kayak, canoe, or even just your own body. The White River is where I grew up floating and - it’s one of the last free-flowing rivers Vermont. Vermont has over 12-hundred dams that span our brooks and rivers, and some impound water to create ponds and lakes. Many dams used to serve as the center of our communities. They produced power and turned the saw and grain mills around which many of our villages were built. We’ve grown used to seeing them--or not noticing them--as a part of our landscape. But just because they’ve always been there, doesn’t mean they need to stay. As you drive around Vermont, take a look at the dams that segment our rivers. You’ll see silt that’s built up behind them, silt that would have moved downstream in a healthier river system. You’ll see that the water is often shallower behind a dam than it is downstream, meaning it gets hot faster and holds less oxygen. If you’re a fish, you’ll definitely notice that that silt is like a desert if you want to lay eggs. And picture yourself floating over a dam. Foolhardy. Probably painful. These silent barriers are a real problem in Vermont. Of the 12-hundred or so dams, only about 80 produce power. Many of the rest have fallen into disrepair. It’s time to take them out. Most dams are not designed or built to withhold flood waters and may actually increase flooding. Their impacts on fish and biota are well known, and they make our waters warmer. Just a few degrees can impact the available habitat for . And, they make it really hard to float a river. It’s time we started seeing these disused dams, and seeing them for what they often are: not-so- fish-friendly relics from another era that fragment our rivers. They are hazards that can crack and crumble and cause damage downstream. And they create barriers that can worsen flooding. In cases where a dam will never be economical to produce power again, or where a dam is essentially falling apart, let’s take them out. Maybe it’s time to look at Vermont’s dams with a critical eye and decide if they make sense in the 21st century. Some do, most don’t. It’s about a whole lot more than just being able to float down a river, but that’s a good reason to start.

Hydro: 6 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu (Something constructive in CA.) Brown signs bill for Colusa County hydropower By Harold Kruger/appeal-democrat.com, August 7, 2015

Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed legislation allowing a Colusa County reclamation district to construct and operate a hydroelectric powerplant and transmission lines. Brown signed AB 568, carried by Assemblyman Bill Dodd, D-Napa, whose district includes Colusa County. Dodd carried the bill on behalf of the Northern California Water Association and Reclamation District 108, which would benefit from the legislation. The authority granted by the bill expires on Jan. 1, 2021. The district could sell the power it generates to a public utility or a public agency, using the proceeds to pay off debt used to finance construction of the plant.

RD 108 is along the western edge of the Sacramento River, delivering water to nearly 48,000 acres of farmland in southern Colusa County and northern Yolo County. The district was formed in 1870 to build levees and reclaim flooded land. It was the first reclamation district in California to deliver irrigation water. RD 108 is part of a joint powers authority formed to push for construction of Sites Reservoir in Colusa County, which would provide water for hydropower generation. It was the only member of the JPA to lack the authority to participate in the creation of a hydroelectric plant should the JPA decide to do so in the future. "The proposal to allow RD 108 to construct and operate a hydroelectric facility is not particularly controversial," according to a Senate Rules Committee analysis of the bill. "However, development of the Sites Reservoir is controversial. Several conservation and environmental organizations oppose this bill because it facilitates development of the reservoir. These groups contend the reservoir would harm the delta ecosystem while providing few, if any, resource management benefits." Opponents of the bill included American Whitewater, California Outdoors, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Foothill Conservancy, Friends of the River and the Sierra Club California. The bill passed 75-0 in the Assembly and 35-1 in the Senate.

(A piece of history, not an invitation.) Celebrate area waterfalls and dams Tribune editorial board, August 8, 2015, greatfallstribune.com

Great Falls features waterfalls that roar in springtime, then lose vigor by these dog days of summer. Largest of the waterfalls is the Great Falls of the , seen by explorer 210 years ago, and for a century site of . Up river is the Rainbow Falls, location of , which received an upgrade of its powerhouse several years ago. This roller-coaster portion of waterway was ideal for hydropower. Developers created the Electric City in 1884, and electricity from began to flow within a decade of the city’s founding.

In Great Falls this week, the community will celebrate the 100th anniversary of what is now called Ryan Dam. Originally called Volta Dam, it is named for John Ryan, a Montana Power Co. official. NorthWestern Energy bought the dams last year in a deal with Pennsylvania-based utility PPL. An open house at Ryan Dam and adjacent Ryan Dam Island is set from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the dam, as well as NorthWestern Energy’s acquisition of some of Montana’s finest hydropower facilities. At the celebration, posters will be offered for sale by Great Falls native , now of Missoula. Dolack was commissioned to depict Black Eagle Dam and Falls, where the first hydroelectric dam in the area was built. Dolack also will attend a private, invitation-only event Wednesday at the Meadow Lark Country

7 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu Club where he will unveil original artwork of the dam. We are big fans of Dolack’s work, and we are pleased he was chosen to depict a landscape with which he is intimately familiar. “These dams are fabulous,” said Claudia Rapkoch, director of corporate communications for NorthWestern Energy. “It’s a great time to celebrate.” Rapkoch said the idea of commissioning Dolack to depict Black Eagle Dam was rooted in honoring all the hard work that went into the sale by NorthWestern employees, as well as PPL workers. Many PPL workers were hired by NorthWestern after the sale.

PPL completed the upgrade to the Rainbow Dam powerhouse before the dams were sold. So, is NorthWestern interested in upgrading other dams, such as towering Ryan Dam? “Not at this time,” Rapkoch said. Another NorthWestern spokesman, Butch Larcombe, said there could be interest in upgrades in the future “if it’s feasible,” but reiterated Rapkoch’s statement there are no specific plans at the moment. “We think hydropower is a great way to generate electricity,” Larcombe added. One matter still up in the air is what will happen to the old Rainbow Dam powerhouse, located close to the new one. The classic structure is pretty solid and beautiful, but it has no heat, little electricity and no water, and it’s accessible by a poor road far from the city, Rapkoch said. She has been meeting with Great Falls area residents to talk about possible uses for the old powerhouse. “There’s no determination one way or the other,” Rapkoch said. “It’s not going anywhere anytime soon.” Eventually, she said, NorthWestern will need to tell the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission what it plans to do with the powerhouse. Meanwhile, NorthWestern this week will celebrate its dams in Great Falls. Some 60 percent of the company’s electricity in Montana is generated by water and wind power, two types of renewable energy. “This was something that a lot of people put a lot of work into,” Rapkoch said. Montanans are pleased that these clean sources of energy are now owned by a company that’s close to home. Plan to attend these free events Thursday at Ryan Dam and Island. — Tribune editorial board, where and when, Celebrating 100th anniversary of Ryan Dam Thursday, Aug. 13, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Ryan Dam and Ryan Dam Island Take Havre Highway north from Great Falls; turn right on road to Ryan and Morony dams (watch for sign); turn right at turnoff to Ryan Dam Free admission; tours, food, booths and information about hydropower generation; posters by Monte Dolack depicting Black Eagle Dam and Falls also will be offered for sale.

(Doesn’t look like a hydro site, more like a sand pile.) National Park Service looks at expanding Joshua Tree By Sammy Roth, The Desert Sun, August 9, 2015, desertsun.com

Plans to build a hydroelectric power plant in the shadow of Joshua Tree National Park are moving full-steam ahead. But even if the hydropower plant gets built, land in the Eagle Mountain area could still be added to the national park. Local activists have long wanted to see Eagle Mountain become part of the park, citing its importance to at-risk species and its potential value as a historical attraction. The National Park Service is now deciding whether it should try to make that happen, launching a “boundary study” that drew several hundred people to public comment meetings this week. “The park service is going to do an examination to determine if The east pit is the biggest and deepest mine at the Eagle Mountain facility. The old mining boomtown could be a major those lands are of national park quality or draw for Coachella Valley residents, and for tourists who not,” said David Lamfrom, California might not otherwise visit Joshua Tree National Park, a desert program director for the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association spokesperson said. National Parks Conservation Association. (Photo: Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun)

8 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu Conservation experts say the Eagle Mountain area is critical to desert tortoises, bighorn sheep and golden eagles. It’s also home to a well-preserved ghost town, the remnants of an iron mine founded by industrialist Henry Kaiser in the 1950s. Lamfrom believes the old mining boomtown would be a major draw for Coachella Valley residents, and for tourists who might not otherwise visit the national park. He mentioned Bodie State Historic Park near Mono Lake, a long-deserted gold-mining town that draws 1,200 visitors per day over the summer. “There’s just this fascination people have with mining history,” Lamfrom said. “Having one of the most complete mining towns (at Eagle Mountain) that even has working streetlights, a school — it’s crazy.” Park officials and local activists have harshly criticized the proposed hydroelectric power plant, which they say would waste water, harm several threatened species and use more energy than it generates. Proponents say it would help California build more solar and wind power, a key priority as the state moves toward a 50 percent clean energy mandate.

In a twist, the National Park Service is studying whether it would be feasible to add just the land surrounding the proposed hydropower plant to Joshua Tree. The park service is also studying whether it could add all of the land to the park, without impacting the ability of Eagle Crest Energy Company to build its hydroelectric plant. The scope of the study probably reflects the fact that the park service has few options for blocking the hydroelectric plant, Lamfrom said. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the project last year, and barring a lawsuit, that decision is likely to stand. Any lawsuit is more likely to come from local activists than from the National Park Service. The park service is studying the potential addition of 32,000 acres, including 22,500 acres of federal land overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. The Secretary of the Interior, who oversees both the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service, likely would need to approve the transfer of federal land, Lamfrom said. Steve Lowe, president of Eagle Crest Energy Company, indicated he might support adding at least parts of the Eagle Mountain area to Joshua Tree. He said in an email that he “appreciates the Park Service’s recognition of the rights associated” with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license issued last year. “Our company is dedicated to providing sustainable and renewable energy solutions, and we are committed to conservation. With that mindset, we look forward to working with the National Park Service on expansion efforts that are compatible with the pumped storage project,” Lowe said. The National Park Service plans to complete its study by mid-2016. The public can submit comments on the park service website.

(Hydro - 100 years young!) Monte Dolack helps NorthWestern Energy celebrate the centennial of Ryan Dam By: Margaret DeMarco, August 12, 2015, .com

GREAT FALLS - NorthWestern Energy is celebrating this week its new ownership of Montana hydroelectric facilities, including the 100th anniversary of Ryan Dam. On Wednesday, employees came out to plant some trees along the Black Eagle side of River's Edge . The group also extended a water pipe from their building to the trail for a water fountain. NorthWestern Energy spokesman Scott Patera noted, "We love to be a part of the community. We try to do a lot things in the community. This is important to us along the river. It's a big part of our heritage." On Thursday the public is invited to visit Ryan Dam help celebrate one century of operation. The event starts at 10 a.m. and will include tours, lunch, and refreshments. 9 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu Famed Montana artist Monte Dolack created a painting and poster to celebrate the centennial. During Thursday's event at Ryan Dam, posters of the painting will be available to buy, and Dolack is scheduled to attend. Dolack, a Great Falls native, was commissioned by NorthWestern Energy for the project after they saw his painting of . He researched all the dams and decided to focus on Black Eagle Dam. Dolack wanted to capture the landscape by painting the river and the dam, and showcasing the beautiful sunset. The painting is called "Clean Energy - Celebrating Montana Hydroelectric Power." Dolack noted, "It's nice to dig into your own family history and background when you are making art, and I think that's what I liked about it most. One of the reasons I was interested in accepting the commission and doing this particular piece is because it did kind of bring me back to my roots." A press release from NorthWestern Energy includes this description: In 1912, John D. Ryan, soon to be named president of Montana Power, ordered testing on the sandstone and shale to gauge its suitability to hold a dam. Actual construction began in 1913 on a 1,250-foot long concrete arch type structure, with a 1,000-foot spillway.

Work on the dam, just above the 78-foot drop of the falls, proceeded quickly. Concrete work on the dam was completed by early May 1915, ahead of high-water season.

The first generation unit was started on Aug. 11, 1915 in the presence of Ryan and other finely dressed dignitaries. Three more units came online in 1915, with the final two of the six beginning service in 1916.

The project used nearly 205,000 cubic yards of concrete, 3,200 tons of steel and more than 958,000 bricks helped form the powerhouse.

Environment: (What else did they expect?) Environment | Port Angeles Journal A River Newly Wild and Seriously Muddy By KIRK JOHNSON, AUG. 2, 2012, nytimes.com

PORT ANGELES, Wash. — The Elwha River drains out from Olympic National Park, a pristine place in the world. And as recently as a year ago, the river looked the part: it babbled its final miles in water clear enough to see the bottom. Now it runs thick with grainy sediment the color of chocolate milk. But believe it or not, that is a good thing, or at least the roundabout result of one. The first of two dams built on the river in the early part of the 20th century was torn down in March, and the second, larger one, farther upstream, is One of the two dams that are being removed on the Elwha now partly demolished. The dams all but River in Olympic National Park. Credit Kevin P. killed the river as a wild place once Casey/Reuters 10 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu renowned for its bounty of fish, especially the salmon that spawned in tributaries deep inside what became, in 1938, a national park. But with the river’s restoration — or redemption, as some fervent supporters of the $325 million project put it — has come a mind-bogglingly large surge of sediment. More than 24 million cubic yards of silt, sand, clay and rock — enough to fill the area of a football field to a depth of 2.2 miles, according to the Geological Survey — accumulated behind the dams, much of it the detritus of glaciers.

No other dam removal project in the nation comes close to the earth-load in the Elwha, scientists say, and most of it, after decades in the making, has yet to come down the river. “Right now, the sediment is the story,” said Jeffrey Duda, a research ecologist with the federal Geological Survey, a scientific research organization that led a joint team of divers last week surveying life on the seafloor near the river’s mouth. The divers were checking in on the animals and plants that need light and might be smothered by the gathering gloom in the silt-laden water above. But even as the river has turned cloudy going down, at least a few fish have found a way back up. The first dozen or so wild steelhead — their spawning run blocked for a century by the now- demolished Elwha Dam — were spotted last month upriver from the dam site, four months after its final concrete pieces were hauled away. “With the dams down, fish are going to move, and these fish proved it,” said Brian D. Winter, the Elwha project manager for Olympic National Park. There could be more fish in the river than the few counted so far, said Mike McHenry, a fisheries biologist for the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, a partner in the river restoration project. But because of the temporarily silt-choked conditions, he said, no one can be sure.

An alignment of political interests pushed the 45-mile-long Elwha on its journey back to something that will approximate wild nature — at least as much as it can in a popular national park, with residential areas Before the dams, built early in the 20th century, the river was known for its abundance of fish; they are starting to near its banks and a bustling tourist town, return. Last month, wild steelhead were seen in a tributary Port Angeles, a few miles away. Olympic to the river above the site of the now-demolished dam. park administrators wanted habitat and fish Credit John Mcmillan/NOAA, via Associated Press restoration. Washington State wanted to restore commercial and recreational fishing. Klallam tribal leaders wanted to make good on their legal rights under treaties to harvest fish. The river’s setting, in a place that never had much industry, mining or agriculture, is also a factor in the hopes for what it could become. Much of the sediment here, unlike that built up behind many dams in the United States, washed down from the peaks of a protected park, and is mostly free of human-caused pollutants, according to numerous studies. That makes the problem one of temporary clogs and cleanup, not of toxic material that rings environmental alarm bells. But even so, the quantity of sediment heading downstream will still make for a river that is very different, if for only a season, than what it was or what it will be. Researchers say the bedload, as it is called, will peak starting later this year as demolition work advances on the 210-foot-tall Glines Canyon Dam farther upriver, with resulting releases of pent- up material that could reshape the coastline near Port Angeles, reoccupy old channels of the river and change conditions for creatures that staked out a place when the waters were clear. Some fish, like the coho salmon, arrive in the fall for spawning, which could mean they will be fighting far worse sediment surges than the steelhead had to face this summer. But so far, the kelp, crabs and other creatures on the seafloor near the river’s mouth are holding tight and showing little sign of stress. The swift currents in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which separates the Olympic Peninsula from Canada, are apparently keeping the sediment plume moving in wide dispersal, government divers said as they climbed out. “Twenty feet of visibility,” said Sean A.

11 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu Sheldrake, a unit diving officer from the federal Environmental Protection Agency as he dripped on the deck. “More than you would expect.”

(Eels are slimy little buggers!) Conowingo Dam fish-lift overhaul urged to restore Susquehanna's shad, eels By Timothy B. Wheeler The Baltimore Suncontact the reporter, 8/12/15, baltimoresun.com

Bigger fish lifts called for at Conowingo Dam to restore Susquehanna River's depleted shad, eels Federal wildlife officials are calling for Exelon Corp. to overhaul its fish lifts at Conowingo Dam, arguing it's the only way to revive the Susquehanna River's depleted stocks of the iconic American shad, eels and other once-important fish. In comments submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommended the lifts be rebuilt and enlarged as a condition of renewing Exelon's license to generate hydroelectric power at Conowingo. The service also wants the power company to help more eels get upriver — by truck for now. Rebuilding the dam's fish lifts could cost millions of dollars. Exelon is reviewing the wildlife service's prescription for improving fish passage, said Robert Judge, a spokesman for the Chicago-based parent of Baltimore Gas and Electric.

The service's proposal comes after years of negotiations between Exelon and officials from Maryland, Pennsylvania and federal agencies over the dam's relicensing, which has been hung up in part by debates over how to deal with a buildup behind the dam of bay-fouling sediment and nutrient pollution washed down the river. The company's license to operate Conowingo expired last year, but the federal commission has extended the permit while the parties attempt to work out their differences over the sediment buildup, fish passage and other issues. "We've reached a crucial period," said Genevieve LaRouche, supervisor of the wildlife service's Chesapeake Bay field office. "It's a 46- year license. It's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something." LaRouche said the service hasn't costed out the upgrades yet. But state and federal officials have previously said current fish passage facilities could be tweaked for less than $1 million, while replacing both fish lifts could run $24 million or more. In earlier talks, Exelon had proposed making only minor adjustments in its current fish passage operations, arguing that upgrades to the lifts weren't warranted. The company has 30 days from the filing to either accept the wildlife service's proposal or offer an alternative. If Exelon challenges the service's plan, the parties' differences would be hashed out in a trial-type administrative hearing. A Maryland official endorsed federal officials' plan for getting more fish and eels upriver, though he noted it's just one of many issues tangled up in the relicensing of the Conowingo Dam. "We're comfortable with what they're putting forward," said Bruce D. Michael, director of resource assessment for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. But Michael stressed that the Hogan administration's top priority is reducing the threat to the bay's water quality posed by the nutrient-laden sediment trapped behind the dam.

12 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu Big tropical storms and heavy spring flows stir the muck up from the river bottom, periodically fouling the upper bay. A study indicated the buildup could prevent upper bay waters from being completely cleaned up, despite extensive efforts to reduce nutrient and sediment pollution throughout the watershed. American shad, river herring and American eels are all far less abundant in the bay's largest tributary than they were before Conowingo was built in 1928. Shad and herring once swam far upriver every spring to spawn, and in the 18th and 19th centuries fishermen netted them by the millions. Elvers, or small juvenile eels, also thronged the river as they completed a long migration from their spawning grounds in the Sargasso Sea. Shad once played a prominent role in the Chesapeake Bay region's culture and economy and eels help keep the water clean.

While historic overfishing also decimated the fish species, the service attributes their declines in the Susquehanna largely to the barriers posed by Conowingo and three other hydroelectric dams upriver. Aided by commercial harvest moratoriums imposed decades ago, shad have rebounded in the Potomac and some other rivers not impeded by dams, officials note. In earlier attempts to reverse the declines, Conowingo's operators built lifts in 1972 and 1991 to hoist migrating fish up and over the 94-foot dam. The elevators seemed to be working for a while, and the number of American shad passed upriver peaked at 193,000 in 2001. The tally has been declining since, with a record low of just 8,341 picked up this spring. Wildlife officials say the lifts never performed to expectations, and want them retooled and replaced to accommodate more fish — with a goal of handling up to 5 million American shad and 12 million river herring annually one day. But given the meager numbers showing up in recent years, the service proposes to expand gradually. Initially, Exelon should alter water flows at the base of the dam to attract more migrating fish to the larger lift, then replace the smaller, older lift on the western bank of the river with a much larger elevator. The proposal calls for ultimately expanding the larger lift as well, adding a second hopper to double its fish-carrying capacity.

The new lift on the western bank also would be designed to help eels make it upriver, either using the lift or by trapping them and trucking them to various release points, as the wildlife service is doing now. Unlike shad and herring, eels are showing a modest resurgence in the river, with about 65,000 tiny elvers collected so far this year. "This year's not living up to last year, but it's still pretty good," said Mike Mangold, assistant fisheries project leader with the wildlife service, on Wednesday as he and biologist Jennifer Malavasi checked on about 100 elvers lurking in their holding tanks. Environmental advocates backed the federal fish passage plan, though one said he wanted to see even more done for eels. Michael Helfrich, the lower Susquehanna riverkeeper, said he would like a more detailed prescription for spreading eels throughout the lower Susquehanna and its creeks, noting that could help to clean up the bay. The snake-like fish are hosts for a tiny freshwater mussel that is a prolific filter feeder. The mussels, like eels, have been decimated in Susquehanna waters. Scientists hope that by reviving the river's eels, they can boost the depleted mussel populations and clear up murky water in the process. William Goldsborough, senior fisheries scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said enhanced fish passage might begin to finally restore the river's vitality to what it was centuries ago. The largest river on the East Coast once supported massive spring spawning runs of shad and herring, Goldsborough said. They were a staple on many a table and "essential parts of American culture for a couple centuries," he added. "We ended all of that when we blocked the river off early in the 20th century," Goldsborough said.

Water: 13 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu (Now, that’s a lotta balls!) L.A. fighting drought with millions of black plastic balls Arden Dier, Newser staff, August 13, 2015, usatoday.com

55,000 black shade balls are released onto the surface of the Los Angeles Reservoir. Shade ball deliveries like this one occur weekly and by the time all the balls are in place, there will be about 77 million, forming a floating cover. Black shade balls in the Recycled Water Reservoir at the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District in Calabasas, Calif. still allow for helicopters to use the water

(NEWSER) – The Los Angeles Reservoir has now turned black, but not from any kind of pollution. Over several months, city officials have been unleashing 96 million black plastic balls into the city's 175-acre reservoir in an effort to fight the effects of California's drought. The final 20,000 were dropped in on Monday. How is turning the reservoir into what Gizmodo calls a "goth-looking PlayPlace" going to help? Well, the so- called shade balls actually help keep water clear of dust and critters; hinder algae growth; prevent chemical reactions between sunlight and chlorine; and reduce evaporation as they float on the water's surface. At a cost of $34.5 million, or 36 cents each, the city says they're a "cost-effective way to reduce evaporation each year by nearly 300 million gallons, enough to provide drinking water for 8,100 people for a full year."

The 4-inch balls — treated with a chemical to block UV light and designed to last up to 25 years, reports Bloomberg — are also expected to save $250 million compared with another method of complying with clean-water laws, the Los Angeles Times reports. As the EPA recommends water reservoirs be covered, the alternative would be to build a dam dividing the reservoir and install floating covers for $300 million, reports NPR. The Department of Water and Power says it's "the first utility company to use this technology for water quality protection." The shade balls have also been used at three other nearby reservoirs, including one since 2008. "In the midst of California's historic drought, it takes bold ingenuity to maximize my goals for water conservation," L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti says, per the Huffington Post. This "is emblematic of the kind of creative thinking we need to meet those challenges." (Meet the drought's latest casualty.) This article originally appeared on Newser:

  Other Stuff: (Interesting!) Tall ship passes through McNary Dam Aug 11 2015, ktvz.com

PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) — A replica of the first American ship to visit the West Coast recently passed through the McNary Dam's navigation lock. The East Oregonian reports (http://bit.ly/1TqPAT1) that dozens of people gathered at the dam Monday morning to catch a glimpse of the replica of the Lady Washington, which made landfall in the West in 1787. The 638-foot-long McNary Dam holds 38 million gallons of water. The Lady 14 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu Washington was passing through Monday on its way back toward the coast after spending a week docked in Richland. The tall ship has appeared in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Star Trek: Generations and the television shows Revolution and Once Upon a Time. __ Information from: East Oregonian, http://www.eastoregonian.com

15 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu i This 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. Any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment from those who have an interest in receiving this information for non-profit and educational purposes only.