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11/27/2015 Some Dam – Hydro News TM And Other Stuff i Quote of Note: “Te beatn pat is te safest, but te tafc’s trrible.” - - Jef Taylor 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: 2013 Talley Vineyards Pinot Noir "Estate" “ No nation was ever drunk when wine was cheap. ” - - Thomas Jefferson 1 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu Happy Tanksgiving! Dams: (Ask again, are they really dams?) Deadly Brazil dam collapse puts spotlight on mining safety BY GORDON HOEKSTRA, VANCOUVER SUN NOVEMBER 12, 2015, VANCOUVERSUN.COM A deadly mine tailings dam collapse in Brazil has reignited concerns about safety in British Columbia where a similar collapse at Mount Polley mine last year caused environmental damage but no fatalities. The catastrophic collapse of a dam at the Samarco iron ore mine, a joint venture of Vale SA and BHP Billiton, has left eight confirmed dead, another 21 people missing and hundreds of Brazilians displaced. In the aftermath of the Brazil dam failure last week, both First Nations and environmentalists in B.C. are pointing to research released last summer by U.S.-based conservation groups, including the Center for Science in Public Participation, that predicted there would be more mine dam failures around the world as companies pursue lower- grade ore bodies that require bigger operations to make them economical and produce larger amounts of mine waste. Esdilagh First Nation chief Bernie Mack said he was not surprised by the Brazil disaster given what the research says on the global pace of tailings dam failures. The Brazil catastrophe, coupled with the Mount Polley failure, shows that British Columbia must take a precautionary approach to tailings dam safety and introduce new standards, said Mack. He is an advocate for treating water in tailings ponds to remove metals, and then releasing it, as a way to minimize water storage and reduce the heights of dams. “I am pro-mining, but at the same time I want it to be done using best practices,” said Mack, whose Interior community is in a region that has operating and proposed mines. The tailings dam failure at Imperial Metal’s Mount Polley gold and copper mine last year released millions of cubic metres of mine waste called tailings into Quesnel Lake, an important salmon-spawning watershed. A B.C. government-commissioned engineering panel recommended moving away from storing mine waste under water and behind 2 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu dams, suggesting the use of dry stacking, but also calling for strengthened tailings dam design regulations. The B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines is reviewing how it will change regulations to implement recommendations from the engineering panel. Sierra Club of B.C. campaigner Jens Wieting said the Brazil tailings dam collapse should be another “wake-up” call to regulators and the mining industry, including in B.C. “What this means is that our governments absolutely have to move forward with clearer regulations, clearer standards,” said Wieting. He said regulators and the mining industry have to seriously consider moving to technologies such as dry stacking, where water is removed from tailings, they are compressed and stacked. B.C.’s chief inspector of mines Al Hoffman said the Brazil dam collapse was a tragedy and offered the province’s condolences to those affected. He noted the cause of the Brazil disaster is unknown. “B.C. is currently taking a leadership role in Canada and internationally to learn from Mount Polley and will make any necessary changes to regulations and practices to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Hoffman said in a written statement. Mining Association of B.C. president Karina Brino said the industry will be paying close attention to the Brazil incident and to the findings on cause. “The commitment to continuous improvement is there, but we also have to learn how to risk manage and mitigate in light of these two incidents that have happened,” said Brino. She acknowledged that was particularly important given companies are pursuing lower-grade ore bodies, which means larger facilities. A research report by the U.S.-based Center for Science in Public Participation and Bowker Associates released this summer concluded the global rate of serious tailings dam failures was increasing. According to their report, 33 of 67 serious tailings dam failures in the last 70 years took place in the past 20 years. The research was done as a result of the Mount Polley tailings dam failure. Report co-author David Chambers said their research shows that disasters like the one in Brazil are inevitable unless mining practices change. (Gotta have at least one dam removal article!) Removal of Dam on West River Underway November 12, 2015/ Jo Detz, by ecoRI News staff, ecori.org NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Work recently began on the Pond Lily Dam removal project along the West River. The $800,000 project, taking place within the New Haven Land Trust’s Pond Lily Nature Preserve, will restore migratory fish passage and minimize flooding, according to the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). The flood risk at Pond Lily has been a safety and economic concern for Westville Village District residents and business owners for many years. Removal of the dam will not only protect nearby urban communities, it also will restore fish passage and habitat on 2.6 stream miles and 76 acres of Konold’s Pond habitat for herring, eel and shad, according to the NRCS. The removal of the dam is funded in part by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service through the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, which provides federal emergency funding for Hurricane Sandy recovery and to strengthen natural defenses that can help protect Atlantic Coast communities against future storms. Additional funding was provided by the NRCS and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The project is being administered by Save the Sound, a bi-state program of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment. “This project transforms the landscape to yield a profound and significant benefit to the aquatic resources of the West River,” NRCS resource conservationist Todd Bobowick said. “Not only does it improve the morphological and ecological resiliency of the river, but also is a testament to the resiliency of the partnership made up of federal, state and local resource entities — all dedicated to the rehabilitation of riverine migratory corridors to improve their ecological function.” Project partners include the dam owner, New Haven Land Trust, the city of New Haven, the town of Woodbridge, 3 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu Restore America’s Estuaries, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, Solar Youth, Common Ground High School, Trout Unlimited, the Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. (Maintain them or drain them as C says.) Osceola Lake to be drained for dam repairs By Derek Lacey, Times-News Staff Writer, November 15, 2015, blueridgenow.com Bill Harper usually is in charge of operating the valves at Osceola Lake Dam, but at the beginning of November, he refused to open them. That’s because on Nov. 1, the dam was to be opened to let the 32-acre lake drain completely for state-mandated repairs. Harper’s concern, and why he wouldn't open the valves, is the healthy population of fish in the lake, one that includes bream, 12-pound bass and huge carp that eat the grass. He doesn't want to see a massive fish kill like the one he saw the last time the lake was drained completely, in the early 1980s. Owner Todd Leoni said the plan is to leave a small reservoir in the lake to protect the fish, though Harper has his doubts about the plan, and wants state wildlife officials to oversee the project. Leoni said he doesn't want to see the fish killed either. "I've put a lot of fish in this lake," he said. "I've got to take care of the lake. This is what I have to do." “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that dam,” Harper said. “You can look at it. It’s only holding a third of the water it was designed to hold." The rest is silt, he says, most having run into the lake from the construction of the Champion Hills development. State dam safety officials disagree. On Dec. 15, Leoni was mailed a Dam Safety Order, which required him to submit a plan for the dam's repair developed by a professional engineer in 91 days, or by March 16, 2015. The safety order cited "spalling and cracking of the concrete structure of the dam, depressions, ruts and embankment degradation on the upstream and downstream slopes, unknown operational condition of the early warning system and trees and other vegetation in the emergency spillway, and large trees on the upstream and downstream embankments." The primary issues are adequate spillway capacity and the removal of the trees, said Toby Vinson, section chief in land quality for the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. The N.C. Department of Transportation owns the road and bridge above the dam, and Leoni owns the dam itself. Leoni, who's owned the lake bed and dam since 1990, said the N.C. Department of Transportation will work to remove the stumps of trees NCDOT cut down in June and fill in the holes left.