3/02/2012 Some Dam – Hydro News TM And Other Stuff i Quote of Note: “I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them.” - Adlai Stevenson “Good wine is a necessity of life.” - -Thomas Jefferson Ron’s wine pick of the week: Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet-Shiraz 2008 “No nation was ever drunk when wine was cheap.” - - Thomas Jefferson OOtherther SStufftuff: (You wonder if this scam is going to spread south from Ontario Hydro) Hydro scam: Local briefs thebarrieexaminer.com, 2/19/12 Several Barrie area residents have reported phone calls by a company named Hydro Power Saver who offer to lower their hydro bill by 40%. The bogus company employees tell the homeowners they're endorsed by the government and have provided fake credentials and contact information. DDamsams: (The benefits of dams) Years after construction, Vermont flood dams showing their worth benningtonbanner.com, February 21, 2012, Wilson Ring, Associated Press Montpelier, VT -- For more than 50 years the Army Corps of Engineers has monitored the flow of the Black River through the North Springfield dam. The dam was built in the late 1950s to help reduce downstream flooding, and over the years it has prevented flood damage, but probably never more so than last summer. After Tropical Storm Irene dumped inches and inches of rain on Vermont, some of the communities up the Black River from North Springfield, including Cavendish and Ludlow, sustained heavy damage. Springfield, about three miles down the Black River, escaped almost unscathed. The reason for the difference was because the water stored behind the dam was released slowly, helping to prevent flooding downstream. Without the dam, 1 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu the flooding would have been 10 times more severe, said Greg Hanlon, an engineer with the Army Corps' reservoir regulation section in Hanover, N.H., who monitored the North Springfield dam during Irene. "If the North Springfield dam wasn't there, Springfield would have been destroyed," Hanlon said. The worth of the dam wasn't lost on Springfield officials. Police Chief Doug Johnston said the floodwaters held back by the dam would probably have inundated the shopping plaza near the intersection of Vermont Routes 11 and 106, and could have threatened the police and fire stations further downstream, not to mention dozens, if not scores, of homes and businesses. "There's no doubt in my mind there would have been a lot of damage in the town if we wouldn't have had it," said Johnston The Army Corps estimates that during Irene its flood control projects in Vermont prevented an estimated $31 million in damage across the state. Throughout New England, the estimate is $1.4 billion. Johnston said he felt the number was probably low. The need for flood control dams in Vermont, with its mountains and narrow valleys that can funnel heavy rain into flash floods in a short period of time, was first recognized after the flood of 1927, the state's worst natural disaster. The 1927 flood killed 84 and destroyed 1,200 bridges, as well as hundreds of miles of roads and railroad tracks. A study at the time suggested that a system of 85 flood control dams across the state could prevent another catastrophe on the scale of the ‘27 flood. But the dams would have inundated thousands of acres of prime farmland, changing the face of Vermont. During the 1930s, a number of flood control dams were built, including dams on the Little River in Waterbury, the North Branch of the Winooski River in Middlesex and the East Barre dam on the Winooski's Jail Branch. The North Springfield Dam was one of a series of flood control projects that grew out of flood damage caused by a series of hurricanes and other storms that hit New England in the late 1930s. Construction in North Springfield began in 1957. The dam is 2,940 feet long, 120-feet high and 610-feet wide at the base. It can hold 16.6 billion gallons of water from a drainage area of 158 square miles. Hanlon and his co-workers spend their professional lives monitoring the dam, preparing for a big storm, like the one that happened in August. "We have smaller events that don't get the publicity all the time," Hanlon said. "It is a little gratifying to see it work this good. We take a lot of heat very often for the environmental concerns of the projects. The arguments are always, you know, these are here for a reason and someday we may know why they are here," he said. "The main purpose of our job is to perform this emergency operations function, to regulate these dams day-to-day, but really the most important part is during emergencies like this," Hanlon said. "It's pretty obvious this doesn't happen every day, thankfully. But what we do every day is, we prepare for it." How Water Changed the West -- New Online Travel Itinerary Visits Historic Dams and Water Projects National Park Service Press Release For Immediate Release: February 01, 2012 Contact(s): Kathy Kupper, [email protected]; 202-208-6843 Washington – The American West was dramatically transformed in the early 20th century by dams, reservoirs, and canals built to provide water for irrigation and hydropower generation. The introduction of water to the arid landscape spurred settlement, farming, and economic stability. Learn the fascinating history of 25 engineering marvels that permitted the desert to bloom in the National Park Service’s newest online travel itinerary Bureau of Reclamation Historic Dams and Water Projects: Managing Water in the West. The itinerary, loaded with essays, images, information, and maps, is available at www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/ReclamationDamsAndWaterProjects/index.html Each of the 25 historic dams in the itinerary is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, which is maintained by the National Park Service. The dams represent the complexities and challenges of building water projects and the significant role the Bureau of Reclamation played in shaping life in the West. Bureau of Reclamation projects, today as in the past, have a sweeping impact on irrigation and municipal and industrial water supplies, hydroelectric power, navigation, 2 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu flood control, and recreational opportunity. The National Park Service’s Heritage Education Services and its Intermountain Region Heritage Partnerships Program produced this itinerary in partnership with the Bureau of Reclamation and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers. This itinerary is the 54th in the online Discover Our Shared Heritage travel itinerary series. The series supports historic preservation, promotes public awareness of history, and encourages visits to historic places throughout the country. HHydroydro: (Now, they’re dreaming they can be another New York Power Authority! The Niagara project is an over 2 Million kW project. The ALCOA Project is miniature in comparison. Santee Cooper is a full- fledged utility where hydro is a small part of their generation which includes large thermal capacity. The article is incorrect. The FERC Cannot recommend State takeover. Congress would have to pass special legislation for the State takeover.) NC leaders consider public agency for water power By Emery P. DaLesio, Published In: North Carolina, Charlotteobserver.Com, Feb. 25 Raleigh, N.C. State and civic leaders waging a year’s long fight over the hydroelectricity produced by North Carolina's Yadkin River say a public power agency could attract jobs to the region rather than channel profits to current operator Alcoa Inc. They point to the success of similar public agencies in South Carolina and New York. But getting the cheap, clean energy to attract thousands of jobs would require a never-before act of Congress to give an operating license for the dams to a North Carolina entity that doesn't yet exist. Still, leaders who favor fighting for the hydropower license Alcoa has held for decades and wants to lock up for another half-century are beginning to talk up a public power agency as an alternative. The idea of creating a public entity to operate dams that have been in private hands since the early 20th century conjures "an image of big, bad state government taking over," said state Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco, Gov. Beverly Perdue's top business booster. So a power agency could be centered in the six counties nearest the dams and their reservoirs instead of Raleigh. But look to the example of South Carolina, which if anything is even more politically conservative, he said. The state-owned electric and water utility, Santee Cooper, announced this month that it would cut its power rates by up to 20 percent to attract new companies or encourage existing ones to expand. With the state's electric cooperatives passing along the discount, the offer extends statewide, including South Carolina's rural pockets. But Alcoa is committed to extending its right to operate the four dams on the Yadkin, which flows into South Carolina as the Pee Dee River. Company figures estimate that the dams could generate revenues of more than $2 billion over 50 years, the period for which Alcoa seeks a new license. Those revenues could multiply if demand for clean power booms or the dams increase their output. The contest for who will control a key water source for one of the country's fastest growing states and what the electricity would be used for is likely to continue for years. If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission decides against renewing Alcoa's hydroelectric operating license, the regulators could recommend to Congress that a state or municipal body run the dams instead.