Some Dam – Hydro News - National Performance of Dams Program · foundation supports the structure; it dates from 1952, and engineers say the design wouldn’t be approved today

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

i 5/02/2008

Other Stuff: Can renewable energy make a dent in fossil fuels? April 25, 2008, C/Net News, Green Tech Blog, Posted by Michael Kanellos 4.2 billion. That's how many rooftops you'd have to cover with solar panels to displace a cubic mile of oil (CMO), a measure of energy consumption, according to Ripudaman Malhotra, who oversees research

on fossil fuels at SRI International. The electricity captured in those hypothetical solar panels in a year (2.1 kilowatts each) would roughly equal the energy in a CMO. The world consumes a little over 1 CMO of oil a year right now and about 3 CMOs of energy from all sources. Put another way, we'd need to equip 250,000 roofs a day with solar panels for the next 50 years to have enough photovoltaic infrastructure to provide the world with a CMO's worth of solar-generated electricity for a year. We're nowhere close to that pace. But don't blame the solar industry. You'd also have to erect a 900-megawatt nuclear power plant every week for 50 years to get enough plants (2,500) to produce the same energy in a year to equal a CMO. Wind power? You need 3 million for a CMO, or 1,200 a week planted in the ground over the next 50 years. Demand for power also continues to escalate with economic development in the emerging world. "In 30 years we will need six CMOs, so where are we going to get that?" Malhotra said. "I'm trying to communicate the scale of the

SSoommee DDaamm –– HHyyddrroo NNeewwss aanndd OOtthheerr SSttuuffff

Quote of Note: “Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.” - - Alexander Hamilton

(Credit: SRI International)

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problem." The CMO is a figure you might begin to hear more as utilities and governments map out their renewable energy strategies. SRI's Hew Crane came up with the term as a way to normalize all the different measurements (kilowatt-hours, BTUs, million barrels of oil equivalents, cubic feet of gas, etc.) in the energy business. It's also a big enough measure to suit the global energy market without saddling everyone with a train of zeros. Many of these stats and a far lengthier discussion of the issue will be found in a book coming from Oxford University Press by Crane, Malhotra, and Ed Kinderman called A Cubic Meter of Oil. And judging by some of the stats Malhotra gave me, the book will alarm policy makers, environmentalists, and pretty much anyone else interested in weaning ourselves from fossil fuels. (To be honest, one of the truly great things about this job is getting the bejeezus scared out of you on a regular basis. One day, China is plunging into a water crisis. The next day, doctors report seeing malaria spreading to new regions because of climate change.) One of the more compelling aspects of Malhotra's research is how it highlights the amount of energy, particularly in the form of fossil fuels, that the world consumes. Oil provided about one-third of worldwide energy (1.06 CMO) in 2006 followed by coal (0.81) and natural gas (0.61). Together, the three fossil fuels accounted for 2.48 CMOs of the 3 CMOs consumed that year. The figures drop quickly after that. The fourth largest source of energy is biomass, mostly in the form of burning wood. Biomass, however, only provide 0.19 CMOs, while hydroelectric and nuclear provided, respectively, 0.17 and .015 CMOs. Wind and solar accounted for less than 0.005 CMOs. The minuscule size of renewables, unfortunately, also means progress will come slowly. Some more comparisons: A large hydroelectric dam can generate about 18 gigawatts of power a year. To get an annual CMO from new hydroelectric dams, you'd need to build the equivalent of 200 Three Gorges Dams. There aren't that many available rivers in the world left to dam up. Solar thermal? 7,700 plants, or 150 a year for 50 years, required for an annual CMO. One plant went up last year, and it was the first in over 15 years. In his calculations, Malhotra takes into account the fact that solar, wind, hydroelectric, and even nuclear plants don't operate at optimal conditions 24-7; in other words, he has baked in real-world assumptions. If consumers worldwide could replace 1 billion incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents, it would save only 0.01 CMOs in a year. "What is truly humbling is that we aren't going to make any impact on CO2 emission levels for the next 20 to 30 years," Malhotra said. Much of the growth for energy demand will come from emerging markets. Still, North Americans will continue to consume far more energy per person than people in China and India, according to SRI's figures. Ultimately, the world will likely have to continue to burn fossil fuels and buy time with nuclear power and carbon capture technology, particularly capture technology that can pre-treat and clean fossil fuels before they get burned. GreatPoint Energy, GreenFuel Technologies, and others are looking at capture technology, but the whole field is in the embryonic state. If there's a bright spot here, it's that the world has a lot of fossil fuel, he claimed, so we won't be plunged into darkness yet. Oil reserves come to around 46 CMOs, while natural gas reserves total 42 CMOs. There are 121 CMOs of coal out there. These numbers all go up when difficult-to-extract energy such as tar sands are added. "It's been 30 years of (oil) reserves for the last 50 years," he joked. "It's like your pantry. Do you look at it and say 'Oh, no. I'm going to run out of flour in two weeks'? You go out and buy more." (Since Congress can’t seem to come up with an Energy Plan, maybe this will help.)

Dams

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(The full article for the following excerpt is good reading and recommended for all. The article covers what needs to be done to fix levees and dams, the electric generation grid, bridges, ports, and navigation locks. Very Interesting! Here’s the web site for the full article: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/transportation/4258053.html) (Excerpt on dams) Rebuilding America Special Report: How to Fix U.S. Infrastructure American infrastructure is in trouble, from collapsed bridges to leaking dams. In a yearlong investigation, Popular Mechanics uncovered the fresh ideas, smart engineering and new technology we need to fix it. Here’s the plan. By Erik Sofge and The Editors of Popular Mechanics Photographs by Christopher Griffith, Published in the May 2008 issue. On March 14, 2006, Ka Loko Reservoir was full. Heavy rains had swamped the island of Kauai, Hawaii, since February, triggering flash floods and road closures. Shortly after 5 am, the dam breached and 400 million gal. of water exploded into Wailapa Stream, sweeping away trees, cars and two houses. Among the three bodies later identified was that of 22-year-old Christina MacNees, who was seven months pregnant. Four victims, including 2-year-old Rowan Fehring-Dingwall, have yet to be found. There are more than 83,000 registered dams in the United States, and federal law requires them all to receive regular inspections. When the Ka Loko Dam breached, it had never been examined. A civil probe found that the dam’s owner had been uncooperative—inspectors made two attempts but never gained access. They may have been lulled by a bureaucratic blind spot: Years before, Hawaii had classified the dam as “low-hazard,” implying that even if it failed, lives wouldn’t be at risk. “It’s called hazard-classification creep,” says Dan Johnson, a civil engineer with GEI, a geotechnical consulting firm that specializes in water resources. “When a lot of dams were built, they were considered low hazard. If one failed, it would maybe wash out an antelope. But today, that’s a city.” In addition, the database of dams ignores some low-probability/high-consequence events, according to Victor Saouma, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado in Boulder. “If a dam were to collapse following an earthquake in California, we’re talking about thousands of people dying,” Saouma says. Researchers haven’t determined which dams are in greatest danger, let alone how to fix the problem. This is an age in which banks track millions of accounts on a second-by-second basis. Ordinary people can call up satellite images of every corner of the globe in seconds, day or night. So it’s remarkable that the victims of Ka Loko Dam died—and more people could die—because engineers lack up-to-date data. (And it’s not just dams. Three years after Hurricane Katrina, there’s no central registry of the nation’s levees. It’s unknown how many thousands of miles of earthen walls may be on the verge of collapse.) There is a better way. Hawaii is working with the Pacific Disaster Center to develop computer models for predicting the consequences if a dam were to fail. Such models, which incorporate weather and mapping data, should be employed nationwide. New technology can help—the Army Corps of Engineers has begun using remotely operated vehicles to inspect underwater structures. Other tools have been developed but aren’t yet in use as broadly as they could be. These include GPS sensors to detect subtle shifting of a dam’s structure, and geographic information systems to make it easier for officials—and perhaps concerned citizens—to access the data. Fixing the country’s dams will also take a sense of urgency. Kentucky’s Wolf Creek Dam, upstream from Nashville, Tenn., is considered one of the most dangerous in the country. In 2005, the Army Corps of Engineers noticed an alarming amount of seepage under and around the dam, despite major repairs in the 1960s and ’70s. A permeable limestone foundation supports the structure; it dates from 1952, and engineers say the design wouldn’t be approved today. Crews have begun adding concrete grout to the foundation (about 500,000 gal. by early 2008) and installing an additional concrete wall. However, it remains an open question whether the dam can hold out until the project is completed in 2012. (Wonder what the land around this little lake is worth now?) Hominy Branch dam break dries up Moon Valley Lake By KATIE UNDERHILL, April 23, 2008, The Missourian COLUMBIA, MO — Moon Valley Lake was once part of the charm of the neighborhood, providing recreation for residents who fished and canoed its waters and a home for an array of wildlife. But the 17-acre lake has gone dry, leaving just a large mud flat and a trickle of the Hominy Branch, a tributary of Hinkson Creek. Sometime during the week of March 17, the dam on Hominy Branch that made the lake broke, and within a couple of days, the lake was gone. Heavy rainfall was likely the cause of the dam failure, and what will happen to the property is uncertain. Since the failure, owner Margaret Rogers has

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been looking into donating the land for preservation, but its location in the Hinkson Creek watershed is making the parcel a hard sell, said Scott Hamilton, an urban conservationist for Show-Me Clean Streams who’s involved with the Hinkson Watershed Restoration Projection. “Although the land is free, it comes with a price tag to repair it,” Hamilton said. Sixth Ward Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe said the city sought Hamilton’s advice on how to restore that stretch of Hominy Branch after the dam failure. The goal is to stabilize Hominy Branch and the surrounding area because every time the stream changes course, it releases sediment into the creek, Hamilton said. The sediment could be an issue because the state Department of Natural Resources has listed the creek as an impaired waterway since 1998. Hamilton said he met with city parks officials and the Greenbelt Land Trust about taking the acreage, but the liability if sediment washed into the creek and the potential for fines from the state were too much of a drawback, he said. “I think once people get over their initial fears of potential erosion, they’ll warm up to the idea of acquiring the land as a green space,” Hamilton said. Hoppe said the first priority should be restoring the stream and natural vegetation — not restoring the lake itself. Although the area is privately owned, Hominy Branch’s effect on Hinkson Creek makes it a public matter, she said. Simply restoring the stream would involve restoring the dam as well; an endeavor Hamilton estimates could cost $20,000 to $60,000. It would involve installing a temporary dam made of large rock, then gradually lowering the dam in intervals until the stream system above it has a chance to adjust. The new dam would be installed downstream from the broken one, which would be removed, he said. The previous dam was unregulated, meaning it did not meet the 35-foot height requirement to have regular inspections under the state Dam Safety Program, said Kerry Cordray, division information officer for the Department of Natural Resources. Rogers, who owns the dam and area where the lake used to be, will not be held responsible for any sort of negligence because the resources agency considers this a natural disaster-like situation, Cordray said. Mark Ryan, director of the MU School of Natural Resources and a 17-year resident of the Moon Valley Heights neighborhood, said he remembers coming home one night after a big rain expecting to see the lake higher. Instead, it was lower. By the next evening, the lake, which abuts his back yard, had practically disappeared. Ryan said his family has recently begun to feel the loss of the lake, especially after spending part of the weekend outside working in the yard. “We’re all realizing we’re missing the lake a lot more than we expected to,” he said. Ryan said he didn’t foresee a problem with the dam, though he knew a failure was possible. “It was wonderful living on the lake,” he said, recalling the times his family went canoeing or watched the animals living there. “We miss seeing the birds. As a wildlife biologist, this was heaven.” Another neighborhood resident, Al Vogt, said the lake was one of the things that attracted him to buy his house. “I’d like to see it restored,” he said. Both Ryan and Vogt said they don’t know how the loss of the lake might affect property values. “I just don’t know where to see this going,” Ryan said. “The aesthetics could have some impact on the value of the house.” Bob Smith, Rogers’ attorney, said it’s still too soon to make a decision about the property because several factors are still unknown, including cost. That means a time frame for action is not yet known, but construction officials have been out to look at the property, he said. Rogers couldn’t be reached for comment. Hamilton said he was also interested in the lake situation because he manages a $10,000 grant that’s earmarked for bank stabilization and thought the area might be a good candidate. The money would come from a cost-share program, meaning the amount would need to be matched by another source such as the city. Hamilton also said that in addition to the short-term financial help under the grant program, there might be some long-term funding available through the statewide Stream Stewardship Trust Fund, which could possibly pay for putting in trees or the rock dam. “You can do development now and pay into the statewide fund, and I think this would be an appropriate area for that,” Hamilton said. “It would be nice to get the money back into the community.” Hamilton said a timeline for stream restoration can’t be made until the property owner, whether it be Rogers or eventually another entity, agrees on a plan of action and has appropriate financial resources. And even without human involvement, the area will continue changing itself naturally, he said. “It’s anybody’s guess as to what it’s going to look like,” Hamilton said. “In a matter of a couple weeks, we’ll be seeing weedy species and in a couple months, cottonwoods.” (We’re fortunate that vandalism hasn’t caused more serious problems at dams. Vandalism is a National problem.) Vandals damage Forge Pond dam Gannett News Service • April 23, 2008 PARSIPPANY, NJ -- Vandals used planks to raise the height of the dam and the water level at the historic spillway and dam at Forge Pond. An employee of Forge Pond Developers called police on Sunday afternoon to say that planks had been used to dam the flow of water out of the pond, increasing

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the water level and damaging wildlife and vegetation around the pond. As a result, the historic spillway and dam had degraded, fractured and leaked due to increased water pressure. A number of fish also were killed. Employees of the developer removed the planks and called police. "No Trespassing" signs are posted around the property. Dating to 1735, the dam powered a forge that purified the iron used to make cannon balls and other armaments for Gen. George Washington's army during the Revolutionary War. It also powered a tannery and sawmill along Troy Brook, as well as a grist mill in use into the 20th century.

County Water Authority OKs project to raise dam level at San Vicente Reservoir by Anne Krueger, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE, April 24, 2008 SAN DIEGO – A $568-million project to raise the level of the dam at the San Vicente Reservoir by 117 feet was approved Thursday by the San Diego County Water Authority. Water authority officials said the higher dam level at the reservoir near Lakeside will increase the county's water storage capacity if a disaster such as an earthquake struck, and provide more capacity to store rain water. The water authority had already gotten permits to raise the dam by 54 feet for emergency water storage, but decided to raise the dam another 63 feet to increase the storage capacity during dry years. The project has aroused little controversy. During a public comment period, the water authority received only 25 letters, and only three people spoke during Thursday's meeting. The environmental impact report for the project was approved without comment Thursday by the water authority board. The reservoir, owned by the city of San Diego, now has a 220-foot-high dam and holds about 90,000 acre-feet of water. The higher dam can store more than 152,000 additional acre-feet of water. An acre-foot equals more than 325,000 gallons of water. Kelly Gage, an environmental project manager for the water authority, said construction will begin after the authority receives state and federal permits expected by October. The work, which will be going on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, will take about 18 months. The reservoir will be closed to water sports during construction, but officials say a new marina will be installed when the work is complete. (Does it look like the failure of this dam will cause a problem? The locals say it can be fixed for $4,500 because it’s not the dam – it’s a rock wall along the left abutment.) Future of the Mantorville Dam in Question

(KAALTV.com, 04/29/2008)--- The city of Mantorville, MN has a long, rich history. The old brick buildings downtown were built in the early 1900's. But one piece of the town's history could end up in the cross hairs of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources: the Mantorville dam. This dam has been here near downtown Mantorville since the 1860's. John Olive is a 4th generation Mantorville resident. His dad was one of the people who made the most recent repairs back in the mid 1950's. The dam was built to provide waterpower to feed mills, to help grind

flour and later to create electricity. But Olive and Mantorville city councilman Jamie Jencks say the DNR is trying to get rid of dams like it across Minnesota. They say the DNR wants to take out dams to improve safety for communities who could be damaged by floods if the dams were to break. They also want to return rivers to their natural habitat and improve water quality. But Jencks and Olive don't think the Mantorville dam is a safety threat, and say it's important to preserve it. The city needs to pay for any fix up costs. Jencks says it could cost $160,000 to replace a damaged wall. It's a move he feels is a bad idea because it would replace the original rock, most of which is in good shape. John Olive says he could fix the problem for a lot less than that. Time will tell what the city does to keep the dam in place.



Hydro (This takes big to another dimension. The Grand Inga dam would be nine miles long and 670 feet high. The average river flow is over 1.5 million cfs. The installed capacity would be about 40 GW, which is about one-half of the total U.S. capacity excluding pumped storage. Total cost of project is estimated at $80 billion. The article should state that the electricity production is 320 terawatt-hours.) World’s largest dam planned for Africa Thursday, Apr 24, 2008, The Tide Online The world’s biggest hydro-electric dam will be in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), if financing for the 80 billion dollars (N9.3 trillion) project can be secured, its promoters say. “If built, the Grand Inga project on the Congo River would generate twice as much power as the Three Gorges dam in China, providing power to half-billion Africans without electricity”, the BBC reported. The report, which was monitored by news men in New York, came on the heels of two-day meeting of the World Energy Council in London. The meeting, the newsmen learnt, will try to entice financiers to back the “immense project”. “We have to raise the level of access to commercial energy all through Africa and other parts of the world”, where this poverty is faced”, the council’s secretary-General Geraid Doucet told the British network. “We can’t do it without building these projects, but of course, on a sustainable basis that takes into account the social, civil and environmental issues”, he noted. The BBC also reported that, “the goal to start construction in 2014, with power eventually transmitted to other African nations through a new distribution system”. It also said that the council wanted to have a feasibility study done soon. “It would be 670 feet high, more than nine miles long and produce 320 terawatts of electricity each year, boosting Africa’s current output by a third”, the BBC said. (Excerpts) River power plants touted Hydrokinetics harnesses water power By GARY PERILLOUX, The Advocate, Baton Rouge, LA, Apr. 24, 2008 Imagine nine new electric power plants built from Donaldsonville to the Mississippi line in the next decade. And they’re all under water. Hydrokinetics, the science of harnessing electric power from moving water currents, is poised for a renaissance, and the science behind building small-scale power plants in the Mississippi River is not all wet, a Massachusetts energy executive said Wednesday at the 2008 LSU Alternative Energy Conference. Because of a complex five-year application process with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, such river-based plants won’t come on line until about 2012 or 2013 for Free Flow Power Corp., said Christopher Williams, the firm’s chief technology officer. The company is less than a year into that process and is deploying the first of its 2-meter-diameter turbine generators in a Massachusetts canal test. In the Mississippi River, Free Flow plans to place about 150 such generators in each linked system on the river bed, transmit the hydropower through an onshore converter and sell the power to captive customers like large industrial users. “We believe flowing water is complementary to wind, solar, biomass and other areas of (alternative) energy,” Williams said. Free Flow has applied for more than 100 river-based power plants nationwide, about half of them between St. Louis and the mouth of the Mississippi River. Three hydropower plants would be located from roughly Southern University to Morganza moving north and another half-dozen between Brusly and Donaldsonville moving south. The plants would have about a 200-square-foot pad onshore for the converter, Williams said. For a $20 million investment, Free Flow could generate 10 megawatts of power with each system. If all the river-based plants were permitted — including Ohio and Missouri River-based systems — Free Flow eventually could generate about a tenth of the total power produced by Entergy Corp., for example. It’s just a small piece of the energy supply puzzle, but the establishment of green — or non-carbon-producing energy solutions, things that don’t burn fossil fuels and pollute the air — is what the annual conference staged by LSU’s Center for Energy Studies is all about. “It’s that kind of planning that needs to be done,” said Charles Reith, a former Tulane University professor who directs carbon management for Pace Global Energy Services LLC, a Fairfax, Va., consultant. With the election of a new president, the United States likely will see its new leader sign a bill from Congress that raises the stakes tremendously on reducing the impact of greenhouse emissions, he said. -----------. Tri-City Electricity Rates Go Down While Americans Across the Country See Increases April 30, 2008, KNDO/KNDU TV

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TRI-CITIES, Wash. - If you live in the Tri-Cities your electricity rates could be going down despite the fact Americans across the country are seeing an increase. Benton PUD said hydropower is saving people in Washington money. Snowstorms and heavy rains have caused coal shortages around the world which could effect electricity rates for those who use coal as a main source, but in Washington we use hydropower. Benton PUD leaders say local customers have actually seen their bills go down and they're getting credit on their bills starting June first. The Manager of Communication for Benton PUD Karen Miller said for the next year the average customer will receive about 70 dollars in credit because of an overpayment to Bonneville Power. Miller said, "Benton PUD gets about 87 percent of it's electricity from hydropower and this power is inexpensive, clean, renewable power that we are very proud of and lowers rates are pushed to our customers." In Franklin County, the PUD Board of Commissioners recently approved a four percent rate decrease effective May first. (Was this the beginning of pumped storage hydro?) Tidal power and Henry Ford’s cold feet Fundy proposal would have built plant at Cape Split By ED COLEMAN, Apr 27, Halifax, NS, The Chronicle Herald Nova Scotian IN 1916, automotive giant Henry Ford was a whisker away from financing an enormous pioneer project in the Bay of Fundy. The project would have generated enough electricity to light up the entire Maritimes and make Nova Scotia a world leader as a tidal power pioneer. Ford was just about "ready to sign on the dotted line, but at the last moment he drew back," Dr. William L. Archibald used to relate. Archibald was secretary and a founder of the Cape Split Development Company, which formed early in 1916 to assess establishing a tidal power project in the Bay of Fundy. As chief fundraiser, Archibald had sought out Ford when only a handful of local supporters stepped up to invest in the project.

The plan to harness the Bay of Fundy to generate electricity, which the Halifax Herald said in 1917 was an "enormous project, and one that cannot be given enough attention," certainly appeared possible. In a nutshell, the plan was to build a structure at the base of the cliffs at Cape Split, which would house power generating tidal motors. Activated by tidal movement, the motors would run generators that pumped seawater into storage tanks stationed on cliffs some 91 metres above sea level where in turn, it would be used to drive generating turbines at a lower level. This unique scheme to harness Fundy was the brainchild of a group of professors at Acadia University. The enormous power potential in the Bay of Fundy had long been talked about,

and apparently had caught the attention of Dr. George B. Cutten, a Nova Scotia native who graduated from Acadia in 1896. When Dr. Cutten returned from the United States to assume the presidency of Acadia University in 1910, he found that the institution’s recently appointed professor of engineering, Ralph P. Clarkson, was obsessed as well with the potential of the Fundy tides. Clarkson was an electrical engineer who had taught in university. For a time he was an electrical engineering expert for the United States government and had worked in the U.S. patent office in Washington. With this background he was ideally suited to find a practical method of realizing Fundy’s hydroelectric potential. Within three years of arriving at Acadia, Clarkson came up with what he dubbed the Clarkson current motor; an invention he hoped would solve the problem of harnessing the Fundy tides. Once the current motor was patented, Cutten and Clarkson formed the Cape Split Development Company. Joining them was Dr. William L. Archibald, principal of Acadia Collegiate and Business Academy, Professor Alexander Sutherland of the university’s engineering department, and former Wolfville mayor T. L. Harvey, who was treasurer of the new company. Cutten and Clarkson were the prime movers in the enterprise. In a prospectus widely circulated at the time, they spelled out their four-fold purpose: To examine the economic viability of developing a hydroelectric power plant at Cape Split; to obtain an engineer’s report; to carry out experimental work; and to raise the capital necessary to complete the project.

Artist’s conception of how turbines might have been installed at the foot of Cape Split to generate electricity from the Fundy tides flowing through the area. (Acadia University archives)



The last aim proved the most difficult, but the fledgling group eventually raised about $31,000 from the sale of shares and then proceeded with the next steps. The company hired the services of the New York consulting engineer, Bogart and Pohl, to conduct an engineering survey of Cape Split. Assisted by a party of Acadia students under Sutherland, the engineers of Bogart and Pohl began a survey of Cape Split in the summer of 1916. On its completion, the firm reported that Cape Split, where the tides race by at the speed of about 18 kilometres per hour, was suitable for hydroelectric power and the project was technically feasible. There was still the question of whether the hydraulic current motor would efficiently handle the task Cutten and Clarkson had in mind for it — powering the generators that would pump sea water into 200-million-litre holding tanks at the top of Cape Split. Consulting engineer Charles M. Allen was hired to find out. Allen tested a five-metre prototype of the motor, first in Pennsylvania where it had been manufactured, and later in the Gaspereau River a few kilometres south of Wolfville. Both tests proved the motor highly efficient; the engineer’s report noted that the motor, of which four would be used at Cape Split, was more than capable of doing the job. With the survey and tests completed, the company proceeded to buy the land needed for the storage reservoirs and the site of the generating facilities. The company sought and was granted a charter as the Bay of Fundy Tide Power Company, which authorized it to proceed at Cape Split. Everything was now ready for construction except for the all-important capital. Only the financing stood in the way. The initial $31,000 the company had raised by selling shares was a drop in the bucket. Cutten and Clarkson determined that the project needed $2.5 million. Potential investors such as Henry Ford were assured that the capital cost would quickly be retired by earnings. Unfortunately, those assurances fell on deaf ears and the $31,000 would be all the capital the company would raise. The project fell through, perhaps because the idea of generating hydroelectric power from the tides was too ahead of its time. The First World War was raging in Europe at the time; and we can only speculate that with the entire western world geared up to fight the Boche, the last thing on anyone’s mind was venturing into a risky, futuristic scheme to harness Bay of Fundy tides. After failing to raise the money, the Cape Split Development Company quickly became inactive. In the fall of 1917, Ralph Clarkson returned to New York to work for the U.S. government. A few years later, in 1922, George Cutten left Acadia to become president of Colgate University. With their departure from Acadia the idea of harnessing the Fundy tides appears to have been dropped. The Cape Split Development Company wound up in 1929, sold its assets, and paid shareholders $4.41 for each $50 share they had bought in 1916. There’s more to this harness-the-Fundy-tides saga, however. Most of the records of the defunct company, which had been left in the care of William Archibald, were turned over to Acadia in 1942. In 1955, the Nova Scotia Power Commission decided to study the records with the view of reviving the project. The commission obtained the records held at Acadia and additional documents Archibald still possessed. But after analyzing the records the commission decided the Fundy project wasn’t feasible. All the documents the power commission had obtained were returned to Acadia in 1989. They rest in Acadia’s archives today. Ed Coleman has been writing about Annapolis Valley history for over 20 years. He is the author of All the Old Apples.

Water (It never rains where you want it, or when you want it.) East Bay water managers plan for drought Kelly Zito, San Francisco Chronicle, April 24, 2008 East Bay water managers are mulling a slew of measures - from ordinary bans on car washing to drastic water bill increases - to protect their critically low reservoirs. Other Bay Area water districts haven't reached that point. Yet. But amid concerns about changing weather patterns and the ailing Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, many consumers and businesses in the region could see changes over coming years in where they get their water, how it gets to them and what they will be permitted to use it for. One

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element isn't likely change: Water users will be asked to do less with less. "All the research around the impact of climate change in California shows potential prolonged droughts, drier winters, more wild swings between drier years and wet years," said Tony Winnicker, spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which provides water to residents of the city as well as communities on the Peninsula. "As water agencies and as consumers, we need to manage our water more wisely. There will never again be a period in California where we don't have to think about water conservation." Winnicker and officials from 10 other regional water agencies met Wednesday to renew a campaign urging consumers to use less water. The meeting came one day after the East Bay Municipal Utility District, which provides water to 1.3 million customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, announced that its board is examining mandatory water restrictions, price increases and even water allotments in an effort to stretch its dwindling supply. Unless rains soak the Bay Area in the next several weeks, the district expects to have about 425,000 acre-feet of water by early fall - 175,000 acre-feet below its optimal 600,000 acre-feet. The board will vote on whether to impose rationing May 13. One acre-foot is the amount of water it would take to flood an acre to a level of one foot. One acre-foot of water equals about 325,000 gallons, which can supply a household of four for one year. "The danger is, if we don't protect our water supply now, it could be dry again next year and that 175,000 could turn into 300,000, and then you start to devastate the area," said Charles Hardy, spokesman for East Bay MUD. He is convinced his district's stepped-up measures will preserve its supply until its reservoirs can refill. Growth not to blame Hardy discounts population growth as a factor in the water shortage: He said the district uses the same amount of water - about 230 million gallons a year - as it did nearly four decades ago when the population was two-thirds what it is today. Currently, the snowpack feeding into the Mokelumne River, which in turn flows into the district's large Pardee and Camanche reservoirs, is about 50 percent below average. Last winter also yielded meager water; and this March and April are among the driest in the district's 85 year-history. The agency does face some quirks and limits that others do not, Hardy said. For one, the Mokelumne River watershed is fairly small in relation to others; second, this year's winter storms dumped more rain south of the river basin. So far, agencies in the North Bay, San Francisco and the Santa Clara Valley have escaped with only voluntary water reductions - on the order of about 10 percent. But even with some comparatively flush reservoirs in the region - Marin's are at 101 percent of capacity - experts say consumers may see more restrictions. "This is a wake-up call that's been a long time coming, and it's not going to be confined" to East Bay MUD, said Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security in Oakland. "This is going to be a challenge for water districts throughout the state." Gleick said water planners have largely tackled the low-hanging fruit of conservation - helping pay for low-flow toilets and the like. Now they must set more ambitious goals, such as recharging aquifers and reusing treated wastewater to flush toilets and to irrigate lawns and golf courses. "Currently we dump a lot of it in the ocean," he said, speaking of treated wastewater. Let's put it to use where we need it." Erratic rainfall The Bay Area has enjoyed a run of relatively wet years, following a drought from 1987 to 1993. In the last few years, however, rainfall has become more erratic, making water planning difficult. The 2006-07 winter was particularly tough. "That winter was so dry we had to release water from reservoirs to meet demand in the summer," said Don Strickland, spokesman for the state Department of Water Resources. "And we haven't had much since then to put back in - so the reservoirs are getting really low." Strickland spoke recently with a Central Valley pistachio farmer who is only getting 35 percent of his request from the state's water project. He's now digging a 2,000-foot-deep well. In the Bay Area, water supplies pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta have fluctuated due to a court battle over protecting endangered fish. The Santa Clara Valley Water District, for instance, said its flows from the delta are down by nearly one-third, forcing the agency to rely more heavily on its reservoirs. "We're still in good shape now, but with water you never know what's around the corner," said Susan Siravo, agency spokeswoman. "With the uncertainty in the delta right now, we don't know what's going to happen." Unlike other districts that aim for a four-year supply of water, the Marin Municipal Water District system is built to handle only half that. General Manager Paul Helliker said Marin is "always two years away from a drought." To forestall that, Marin supervisors are planning a desalination plant on the San Quentin peninsula that would pump about 5 million gallons out of the bay each day, satisfying about one-sixth of the county's annual water needs. East Bay MUD is working on a large-scale project of its own: a $690 million cooperative system with Sacramento that would siphon water from the Sacramento River at Freeport, a town south of Sacramento on Highway 5. If completed as planned, the project could pump tens of millions of gallons a day to consumers during dry times. "We knew a drought was coming, and that's why we do the work on conservation," Hardy said. "When Mother Nature shuts that spigot off, your planning has to take in more than that."



(Wasn’t too long ago that we saw reports of the Colorado River being over drawn? Where’s the water?) Officials discuss S. Utah pipeline Residents learn about plan to bring water from Lake Powell By Mark Havnes, The Salt Lake Tribune, 04/24/2008 ST. GEORGE - Money. Drought. Growth. Those issues and more surfaced this week as dozens of Washington County residents debated the pros and cons of a proposed water pipeline to Lake Powell. The residents showed up Tuesday night at the Dixie Center in St. George to hear officials talk about plans for the pipeline, which they claim will be needed by 2020 to meet projected water demands. The pipeline would distribute 100,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water from Lake Powell to water conservancy districts in Washington, Kane and Iron counties. Larry Millis, deputy director of the state's Division of Water Resources, reported on the status of permits to build and to operate the pipeline and hydroelectric stations planned along the route. He and consulting engineers said the project's price tag - once pegged at more than $800 million - still is being finalized. He said the state would pay for it and then be reimbursed by the water districts. The lead agency on whether to approve the project likely will be the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission because of the proposed hydroelectric generation. That agency needs to follow all federal environmental laws and would issue the environmental impact statement for the project. FERC officials tentatively plan to take public comment June 10-12 in Kanab, St. George and Cedar City, Millis said. Bob Routsong, who moved to St. George four years ago, worries the water will bring growth and erode the lifestyle he came to enjoy. "Nine out of 10 people I talk to do not want to see the growth and congestion it brings," he said. Low river flow sapping utilities 2008 could be third-lowest year in past 15 for hydropower, corps says Terry Woster, April 27, 2008, Argus Leader PIERRE, SD - Electric companies and their power customers are paying the cost of continued low flows on the Missouri River, reservoir managers warn. The Army Corps of Engineers, noting the likelihood of a ninth successive year of below-average flows through the dams along the upper Missouri River, predicts power generated by those dams to produce 5.8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2008. That's up from barely 5 billion kilowatt hours but still 40 percent off the average annual production of 10 billion kilowatt hours, said Jody Farhat, the corps' team leader for power production. "Last year was a record low," Farhat said. If the forecast for 2008 materializes, it would be the third-lowest hydropower year for the Missouri River dams in the past 15 years. Data from the Corps of Engineers show a record high of well above 14 billion kilowatt hours of power in 1997. That year also saw record water levels on some reservoirs. Power suppliers that rely on the river dams for hydroelectricity will need to supplement the shortfall from the river with power generated from other sources, such as coal-fired plants, Farhat said. "They have to go out on the market to buy energy," she said. During the past three years, Western Area Power Administration's (WAPA) Upper Great Plains region has had to buy an average of $180 million of additional power to meet obligations, Jen Neville, public affairs specialist for the agency, said in an e-mail. The cost of that power has increased from 2005 to 2007 because of the drought, she said. The difference in cost between river power and purchased power on the market is stark. Neville said the composite rate for power from the Pick-Sloan projects of the Missouri is about $25 per megawatt hour. That compares, she said, to market purchases that can range from $65 to $70 per megawatt hour on Mondays to as much as $90 or more on poor-weather days. Power wholesalers such as East River Electric Power Cooperative are aware that rising costs probably will continue. The company warned in September that drought-related costs were prompting WAPA to propose a 25 percent bump in its bulk power rate for this year. Jeff Nelson, general manager of East River, said WAPA is beginning a rate process that could result in an additional 10 percent to 15 percent increase on top of the 25 percent in place. Two decades ago, East River got as much as 50 percent of its electricity from hydropower, Nelson said. Today, it's 25 percent to 30 percent of the mix.

http://npdp.stanford.edu/mailto:[email protected]?subject=Salt%20Lake%20Tribune:%20Officials%20discuss%20S.%20Utah%20pipeline


Environment Sea lion trapping at dam starts today by Lisa Stiffler, April 24, 2008, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Up to 20 sea lions could be trapped and shipped to zoos and aquariums beginning today and over coming weeks in an effort to cull the herd that's eating diminished Columbia River salmon runs. State officials with Washington and Oregon got permission last month from the National Marine Fisheries Service to remove up to 85 of the California sea lions annually. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco Wednesday put a temporary stay on the killing of the marine mammals, pending action on a lawsuit. Homes in captivity are lined up for 20 of the animals. The Humane Society of the United States, Wild Fish Conservancy and

two individual citizens filed the lawsuit to save the sea lions. Arguments in the case should start early next month. The enviros said that the government's case for killing the sea lions that nosh on fish at the base of the Bonneville Dam doesn't hold water: "Blaming sea lions is nothing but a distraction," said Kurt Beardslee, Executive Director of Wild Fish Conservancy. "The National Marine Fisheries Service needs to look objectively at dam operation and over-harvest, which together kill significantly more salmon and prevent them from reaching high-quality spawning habitat." Regulators for fish harvests recently shutdown chinook fishing off the coast of Oregon and California. In Washington waters, tribal, commercial and recreational fishermen will be able to catch 122,500 coho and chinook this year. The government offers this rationale for removing the sea lions: Despite three years of efforts to deter them, sea lions consumed more than 4 percent of the returning spring chinook salmon run last year, in just the area visible to observers on the dam. As of this week, approximately 50 sea lions were observed feeding on salmon and steelhead immediately below the dam.

-Intelligencer 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. Any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have an interest in receiving this information for non-profit and educational purposes only.

http://npdp.stanford.edu/mailto:[email protected]://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/sealions/index.htmhttp://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/sealions/index.htmhttp://www.nwr.noaa.gov/Marine-Mammals/Seals-and-Sea-Lions/Sec-120-Authority.cfmhttp://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/marine_mammals_news/bonneville_suit_032408.htmlhttp://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004341601_salmon11m.html


i 5/09/2008

Factoid: “There are only three countries in the world that do not use the metric system—Liberia, Myanmar, and the United States.”

Dams Flood Survivors Talk About Possibly Rebuilding the Teton Dam April 29, 2008, By: Bridget Shanahan, LocalNews8.com

As talk of rebuilding the Teton Dam is filtering throughout the valley, some of those hit hardest haven't forgotten the tragedy the first dam brought to the Teton basin but the need for more water storage is weighing on the Idaho Water Resources Department. There are several dam sights being considered for storage across the state, including Galloway, Minidoka and Twin Springs but only one in Eastern Idaho. A new $400,000 study will look at the cost and feasibility of reconstructing a new Teton Dam at the sight that failed back in 1976, killing 11 people and destroying more than 1500 homes. The water traveled one hundred miles in 72 hours. "I don't want to go through that again. I don't want to go

through another Teton flood. I've still got land here that has been disrupted and has not been repaired because there isn't the top soil to repair it," Representative Raybould said. Del Raybould is a lawmaker, but also a flood survivor and most importantly a farmer. He can still point out where the flood tore apart his Rexburg fields; 30 acres have never been restored. The force of the floodwaters is etched in hollowed out pits and gravel-mounded hills haphazardly formed. Gravel and trees stand where crops used to grow. In 1976 he said, "Once the topsoil is gone from it, it is virtually worthless. You see what's taken centuries and centuries to build in the way of fertile topsoil, and then to look at it like this is and see that it's gone." Today Raybould understands the need to prepare for a drought and keep pace with one of the fastest growing regions in the country, and for him that means water storage is a must.

SSoommee DDaamm –– HHyyddrroo NNeewwss aanndd OOtthheerr SSttuuffff

Quote of Note: “We would all like to vote for the best man but he is never a candidate.” - - Kin Hubbard



"Water would be shut off to businesses or manufacturing all of that. Look at the chaos that it would present," he explained. Raybould believes a new dam could be the solution, if it's built right. Those thoughts resonate with Mel Bean. "Everybody says, ‘No we really don't want it,' but I can understand where there's probably a need and a use for one. And I wouldn't be all that opposed to it, if they did it right," Bean said. Bean runs Sugar City Furniture and Hardware. His building's been here for close to 90 years and flood lines are now part of his antique décor. "We're really fortunate that we didn't lose a lot of people, we lost a lot of other things...First impression was why don’t we leave? But,

if we leave, where would we go? And what we do when we get there? So we just went back at it," Bean explained. Although things are back in order, no one's forgotten the chaos and damage ten feet of rushing water can cause. "It was an experience, and I've said it was an experience and something that happens in your life. But I would not want to have another one of that same thing. I've always said if we're going to have this thing why don't we go for fire or earthquake just for variety? I don't want any more of those floods," Bean said. (Is this a good idea?) Pott Co. may reverse amendment Times News Service, Manhattan Mercury, Kansas, 5/1/08 A year-old zoning amendment restricting construction of habitable structures in Breach Impact Areas below watershed dams faces probable reversal by the Pottawatomie County Commission. The commission tabled the issue Monday, but indicated a likelihood to rescind the amendment after hearing from several property owners and receiving that recommendation from the county planning commission. The commission approved the amendment in January of 2007, as a safety measure and to preclude watershed boards from possible state-mandated upgrades to their dams. At the time, commissioners believed the measure would impose little threat to the rights of downstream property owners. The subsequent development of BIA maps, however, indicated thousands of acres countywide were affected. "We couldn't have dreamed it would impact that much area or I'd have never gone along with it," said Commissioner Stan Hartwich. "I apologize if we've caused some people some grief and I know we have. It was presented to us in a hurry-up manner and we just acted too quickly." Several property owners were present to urge the commission to rescind the amendment. "You're taking away a lot of rights for a little bit of good for the watershed boards," said Lance Rezac, who said he has six watershed dams on his property. "I think it's just wrong to take this much ground for something (a dam breach) that has such a remote chance of happening." Mark McAtarian said the move was an attempt by watershed districts to relieve themselves of liability. "What the watershed districts are doing is saying, 'We don't want to have to upgrade our dams, so don't let people downstream build," McAtarian said. "My main objection to this is it was all done to remove the liability from the watershed districts. Once your land is condemned, it's condemned. It's going to be for all of eternity and you can't build on it." James Bradley, a member of the Rock Creek Watershed Board, opposed rescinding the amendment as an issue of safety. Bradley said his primary concern was for properties below the dams and who was responsible in the event of a dam breach. If watershed districts were sued into insolvency, the county commission may bear responsibility, he said. Currently, there are 26 watershed dams in Pott County, with one under construction and another on the drawing board. In tabling the issue, commissioners asked zoning administrator Gregg Webster to meet with watershed boards to determine possible ramifications of rescinding the amendment. "Maybe before we undo this we should determine what difficulties it creates if we do undo it," said Commission Chairman Corwin Seamans. Region's Reservoirs Under Increased Scrutiny April 30, 2008, WJACTV.com Dubois, PA - They are massive walls of soil that hold back millions of gallons of water. As the citizens of Johnstown learned in 1889, these dams aren't always perfect. Channel Six News took a closer look at the region's largest reservoirs and how workers maintain the dams. In Elk County, the East Branch Dam was built by the Army Corps of Engineers to control flooding on the Clarion River. Shortly after the dam was completed, a seepage problem developed. That problem was one of the reasons the East Branch Dam was placed on a watch list earlier this year. But Army Corps officials are quick to point out, that doesn't mean the



dam isn't safe. "We've heard there are rumors that there is a massive crack in the dam," said Gary Froelich. "That is simply not true." Many people in the communities of Johnsonburg and Ridgway aren't convinced. They claim any problem at the dam could influence the area's economy. "The paper mill in Johnsonburg uses water from the Clarion River," said Bob Imhof, of the Lumber Heritage Region. "There is a concern that problems at the dam could cause them to curtail their operations." The East Branch Dam isn't the only reservoir in the Alleghenies under increased scrutiny. The Army Corps of Engineers is taking a close look at each of their reservoirs in the country. Four of those dams are here in our region. In Clearfield County, the Curwensville Dam was created in the 1960s. Army Corps of Engineers officials said they've never had a problem at the dam. Workers at Curwensville Lake praised the Army Corps for their work there. In Centre County, Foster Joseph Sayers Reservoir is surrounded by Bald Eagle State Park. Officials said that dam has been in operation for almost 40 years, but they've never experienced problems. Raystown Lake, in Huntingdon County, is the largest man-make lake in the state. Workers keep a close eye on the dam, but officials said there has never been a problem. Overall, the dams we looked into have a good safety record. We also looked into a couple dams that aren't operated by the Army Corps of Engineers. The city of DuBois is looking into safety concerns at the DuBois Municipal Reservoir. They're working with the DEP and the Army Corps of Engineers on the project. In Centre County, officials said the Cold Stream dam and spillway are in need of repair. High-hazard dam needs fix TUNKHANNOCK, PA - Nearly $2 million will be needed to repair a high-hazard dam owned by the state at Stevens Lake, north of Tunkhannock, according to commissioners on Tuesday. BY JOSH MROZINSKI, Wyoming County Press Examiner, 04/30/2008 Commissioners noted that they received a letter from Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission Deputy Director Brian Barner that stated that it will cost $1.8 million to replace and widen the structure's concrete spillway. "We now have a unique opportunity to repair Stevens Lake and we would like to enlist your assistance and leadership in getting this accomplished," Barner said. He added that the fish and boat commission will work jointly with state and local officials to prioritize repairs, which depends "heavily on local participation and the commitment of local funds." Potential failure and immediacy of needed repairs will be other factors considered by the fish and boat commission. Commissioner Tony Litwin said that the county could not afford to provide financial assistance. The Stevens Lake dam, which is located in Lemon Township, is one of 16 state-owned dams that were classified as high-hazards last year. Gov. Ed Rendell has set aside $37 million in the 2008-09 budget to repair or remove the 16 dams. According to Barner, an additional $78 million will be needed to complete all repairs and removals. High-hazard dams have the potential to cause significant damage to property or loss of life in the event of a failure, Barner noted. About 21 people would be in harm's way if the dam at Stevens Lake fails. The lake, formerly known as Mud Pond, is a 62-acre impoundment. The dam is nine feet high and 99 feet long and located off Route 29. In the letter, Barner said that the fish and boat commission hopes to hold a meeting about the dam with municipal, county and state officials between May 19 and June 20. "To ensure that all funding opportunities and local support options are fully explored, we plan to hold a meeting with interested local officials designed to ascertain levels of interest and financial support," Barner said. County clerk Bill Gaylord said that the county has not responded to Barner's letter. Also on Tuesday, commissioners noted that free cards that give an average discount of 20 percent on prescriptions not covered by insurance can be found at area pharmacies, the county courthouse, Tunkhannock Public Library and Tyler Memorial Hospital, among other places, starting on Thursday. In another matter, Litwin noted that the Wyoming County Correctional Facility has scored 100 percent on a recent state inspection. "We certainly appreciate all that you do," Litwin said, speaking to jail employees who were recognized as part of Corrections Employee Week. --------. (Whether it’s 600 or 6000 dams, a staff of 4 is ridiculous to oversee that many dams. The Taum Sauk dam has nothing to do with the status of dam safety in MO; it’s the special interests, mostly the farming community, who don’t want the oversight!) Missouri's dam inspection program raises concerns about downstream safety by Steve Grant, KY3 News Three years ago, Taney County was gearing up to put in a Reverse 911 emergency notification system. Using the system, with the push of a button, everybody below Table Rock Dam could be warned of something catastrophic. Short of going door to door to notify people about a dam break or the opening of Table Rock Dam’s floodgates, Taney County has no notification system except through media. The cost of



the Reverse 911 system, along with too many cell phones that wouldn’t be part of it, put that plan on hold. Missouri is the most dammed up state in the nation. Jim Alexander, the state's chief dam inspector, tries to hold back the serious risk for people living below hundreds of dams, if they failed. In 2005, Missouri had two inspectors keeping an eye on its dams. It’s now doubled the manpower to four.

Missouri has about 6,000 dams but the four inspectors have to watch over only 600 because the state’s safety standards are so low. Despite a push by the governor, after the Taum Sauk reservoir disaster in December 2005, legislation to regulate the rest of the dams and add inspectors is apparently low priority. Like Taum Sauk, Springfield’s Fellows Lake stores a billion gallons of water. Its spillway is breaking up because of age and heavy spring rains. A City Utilities of Springfield representative says it’s a situation that needs to be addressed. CU is confident the spillway is fine until it’s fixed. If the dam ever failed, however, listen to who gets notified last: CU notifies the federal government. It notifies the state and the state notifies residents downstream. Black Bass Dam in Eureka Springs, Ark., is 125 years old.

It’s one of 1,000 unregulated dams in Arkansas. It leaks and the spillway can't handle heavy overflow. Unlike Missouri, town council member Rae Hahn says Eureka Springs needs state loans for repairs, in a county that declined flood insurance a generation ago. As with many things in Eureka Springs, this antique lake is on the National Registry of Historic Places. Most locals want to keep it and build walking trails around its little lake. In Rockaway Beach, Mo., one property owner has sunk $70,000 into a dam problem he inherited. Alexander, the chief dam inspector, remembers it well. He calls it a disaster waiting to happen. Once eroding fast and turning into a trash dump, Silver Creek Dam can now withstand a 500-year flood. Jerry Dickey says it’s time for the state to strengthen its standards, including adding some financial backup. “They just don't want the liability, and I wasn't looking for somebody to sue.” State Rep. John Kuessner, D-Eminence, calls the legislation that would upgrade Missouri’s dam safety standards an overreaction to the Taum Sauk disaster. Kuessner helped kill the bill last year. He says it would only add costs that private dam owners can’t pay and more regulations that will be hard to enforce. (There are numerous articles on this audit and NONE state the fact that it is very out-of-date and behind the times and does not accurately portray the current status of the PA dam safety program. The bottom line is that accountants shouldn’t be auditing dam safety programs – that’s a job for experienced engineers. For some current facts, read the response to the report at: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-01-2008/0004804581&EDATE=) Auditor General: Some state dams unsafe 02 May 2008, By ROBERT SWIFT, Standard Speaker HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania’s fiscal watchdog called on state officials Thursday to do more to fix unsafe dams and make sure nearby residents know where to evacuate in case of an emergency. State Auditor General Jack Wagner released an audit identifying more than 60 high-hazard dams across Pennsylvania considered unsafe because of structural problems such as inadequate spillways. Twenty-one of these dams are located in eight Northeast Pennsylvania counties, including Bradford, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming. Of these counties, Schuylkill and Wayne counties have the greatest number of unsafe dams. There is only one each in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties. At a press conference, Wagner presented a slide show of unsafe conditions at Pennsylvania dams, including Upper Owl Creek Reservoir in Schuylkill County. The spillway at that dam is too narrow and engineers say it’s incapable of handling excessive rains, said Wagner. Wagner also called on the Department of Environmental Protection to make sure emergency action plans are drawn up to cover a broader category of almost 800 dams that are classified high-hazard because their failure, even if considered unlikely, could result in deaths. He said it’s especially important that officials in schools, day care centers and nursing homes know if they are in a flood-prone area in case of a dam collapse. “What the audit found is not enough is being done to safeguard Pennsylvanians and their property,” said Wagner. “We think some serious situations exist in this Commonwealth that need immediate attention.” Wagner described his audit of dam safety regulatory activities from 2002 to 2006 as a first, but the issue has received sporadic attention since the Thornburgh administration in the 1980s. Wagner’s audit appears as Gov. Ed Rendell has

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proposed borrowing $37 million to repair unsafe state-owned dams and to make $6 million in state aid available through PennVEST to help county and local governments repair dams they own. Wagner urged lawmakers to appropriate even more money for dam repairs than Rendell asked for when they approve the state budget later this spring. He pointed out that DEP officials have put a total $1 billion price tag on needed safety upgrades to Pennsylvania dams. Acknowledging that the state’s fiscal problems make that kind of spending difficult, Wagner said it’s important that DEP give even greater priority to making sure high-hazard dams are inspected annually and dam owners have emergency plans that the public is aware of. In response, DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty said the agency has increased inspections of high-hazard dams and brought almost all high-hazard dams in compliance with emergency plan mandates. “While we appreciate the auditor general’s findings, the report reflects the programs of the past, not the programs as they are today,” added McGinty.

Hydro (Excerpts) PPL to Expand Hydroelectric Generation in Maine 04.30.08, Press Release, Forbes.com ORONO, Maine-- A PPL Corporation --- subsidiary will renovate and re-commission its Orono, Maine, hydroelectric plant, adding 20,000 megawatt-hours per year of clean, renewable electricity to the region's power supplies. The new renewable energy is another benefit of PPL's previously announced agreement with a coalition of government agencies, private conservation groups and the Penobscot Indian Nation to restore historic runs of Atlantic salmon and other species of fish to the Penobscot River. Construction work at Orono will begin soon, and the plant's generators are expected to be serving customers by 2009, according to Dennis J. Murphy, vice president and chief operating officer of PPL's Eastern Fossil and Hydro Generation. "Expanding our renewable energy capabilities is a priority for PPL," Murphy said. "This new source of clean electricity will be a significant benefit for the environment and for the region." PPL plans to spend more than $500 million on hydroelectric expansions in Pennsylvania, Maine and Montana over the next several years. The company also will spend an additional $100 million on renewable energy projects including solar energy installations and plants that generate electricity from the waste methane produced at landfills. The Orono project is the second expansion by PPL of renewable energy output enabled by the salmon restoration agreement. In May 2006, PPL expanded the output of its Medway, West Enfield and Stillwater hydroelectric plants in Maine by a total of 10,000 megawatt-hours per year. "Through the innovative Penobscot Project, the river can provide hydropower, self-sustaining runs of 11 species of native sea-run fish that have been so important to the local culture and economies, and many other values for people and wildlife," said Laura Rose Day, executive director of the Penobscot River Restoration Trust, the nonprofit group charged with implementing key aspects of the 2004 agreement. "We applaud PPL's continuing commitment to both restore fisheries and increase energy generation." Under the river restoration agreement, the Penobscot Trust has until June 2009 to purchase PPL's Veazie, Great Works and Howland dams in Maine for about $25 million. The trust plans to demolish two of the dams and bypass a third to help restore what once was one of the largest runs of Atlantic salmon in the United States, as well as self-sustaining runs of American shad, river herring, sturgeon and other native species. The Orono plant stopped producing electricity in 1996 after the failure of its penstocks, large aging wooden pipes that carried water from the Penobscot River to the powerhouse. PPL purchased the inoperative plant from the Bangor Hydro Electric Company in 1999 as part of a package of generation and other assets. The $4.7 million re-commissioning project will include building a new concrete penstock to direct water to the plant, where it will move turbines and turn the electricity generators. The reactivated Orono plant will provide enough electricity to power 1,800 homes. The energy will be sold on the wholesale market by PPL EnergyPlus, the company's energy marketing and sales subsidiary. -------. (Here’s a new way to finance a hydro project. Unbelievable!) People urged to chip in for hydroelectric project

http://npdp.stanford.edu/http://oddnews.reviewnews.org/2008/04/30/people-urged-to-chip-in-for-hydroelectric-project/


Posted on April 30th DUSHANBE (Reuters) - The impoverished Central Asian nation of Tajikistan urged its people on Tuesday to give up their salaries to help build a new hydroelectric plant. (Full article –http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSL2955933420080429?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews) (The full report on Elsinore gives a greater amount of detail. If anyone wants a copy – send me a note.) 2006 report casts doubt on proposed Lake Elsinore hydroelectric power plant April 27, 2008, By AARON BURGIN, The Press-Enterprise A confidential 2006 report that casts doubt on the financial viability of a proposed Lake Elsinore hydroelectric plant was not disclosed to investment firm Morgan Stanley, the project's chief financier. One Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District board member expressed concern the report could be used as justification if the investment firm walked away from the project. "This is a serious problem," Elsinore Valley board member Phil Williams said. W. Ben Wicke, another board member, echoed that concern Sunday. But he declined to comment beyond that. Williams said the report, which was prepared by consultants Samuel Van Vactor, Stefan Brown and David Ramberg for the district, was withheld because of the possibility of lawsuits. He said the main thing that has changed since 2006 is Morgan Stanley's commitment to finance the project. "If Morgan Stanley had questions about the project, they would not have agreed to finance it," Williams said. "They're not going to get into something without doing their homework.”The board member who released it knows he should not have done that, and we're going to have to talk about it." Morgan Stanley representatives declined to comment. Nevada Hydro spokesman Chris Wysocki was unavailable for comment. Board member John Lloyd said he inadvertently released the 2006 document because he thought he received approval from the board's attorney. "I really didn't know I wasn't supposed to release it," Lloyd said. The board is expected to discuss the release of the document, and possible action against Lloyd, at a meeting today. At least one legal expert said the board -- not Lloyd -- exposed itself to lawsuits by not disclosing the document sooner. "The greater question raised is whether or not the board has been seeking a full and complete discussion on the subject," said C. Kerry Fields, a USC business law professor and corporate ethics expert. "The investors could sue the board and argue that the board fraudulently tried to get them to finance the project.” I think the directors are at a greater risk if full disclosure is not made," he said. Fields said the board's best move would be to fully disclose both the 2006 and revised reports now, not later. The $1 billion project would combine a pumped storage facility and dam in the Santa Rosa Mountains where water pumped from Lake Elsinore at night would be stored and released through turbines during the day to create electricity during peak demand hours. The power would be transmitted on 30 miles of power lines that would connect the Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric power grids. It is a joint effort of the water district and Vista-based Nevada Hydro Co. The Report The 43-page report says that without some type of guaranteed rate on return, known as rate basing, the project could not generate enough revenue to cover its costs. The high cost of pumping would undermine the power plant's economics. The 2006 report was revised last year, Williams said. Board spokesman Greg Morrison said the board would not release the revised version because it is still a confidential document. The power lines, however, could be highly profitable, the 2006 report said. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently denied Nevada Hydro's request to rate base the power-plant portion of the project, but granted the request for the power lines. Van Vactor, however, said he didn't believe the report should be viewed as an indictment on the project. Recent changes, including the state's recent push for more wind and solar-based power, may make a project like the pumped storage facility palatable. While public regulators chose not to rate base the project, a private utility could, Van Vactor said. "There are a lot of benefits the project brings that can't be defined in dollars and cents," Van Vactor said. Document Released Lloyd said he requested a copy of what he now knows is the revised report. He said he didn't know the 2006 report existed. "So when I got the (2006) report, I just assumed it was the right one," he said. At a board meeting two weeks ago, Lloyd requested and Brown recommended the board release all documents about the project to the public. Brown, Lloyd said, later told him the board had to vote on that recommendation. While Lloyd said he was not trying to leak the document, he did express concern that the board continued to

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promote the project even after receiving the report. "It startled me," Lloyd said. "We had this huge promotional campaign, and all of the (news) releases we sent out said the exact opposite of what the report states." Critics pounced on the report, distributing it to several regulatory agencies, including the federal energy commission. The Los Angeles-based Center for Biological Diversity reacted to the report by issuing a statement based on the reports findings, calling the project "a pipe dream" and "a financial boondoggle." Chris Hyland, a former Elsinore Valley board member and one of the project's most ardent opponents, and others pointed to the document as another example of how in recent years the board has suppressed information pertaining to the project by holding closed session meetings, or discussing it in a two-member ad hoc committee of whose meetings the public had no notice. "For years they have been keeping the ratepayers in the dark, and now we know why," Hyland said. Hyland was on the board when the report was prepared and said she knew nothing about it. "If you question the project, they keep you out of the loop," Hyland said. "They did it to me, and they are doing it to John." (As I was reminded by Kris Nygaard, The 1992 Energy Policy Act amended the Federal Power Act, Section 21 to add the proviso that a project seeking to use pre-1992 state parks of just about any type cannot use the Section 21 power of eminent domain to acquire such lands, and a project seeking to use post-1992 state parks must perform miracles to get access to those lands too.) FERC Puts Hook Canyon Project on Permanent Hold May 01, 2008 by Eric Ray (KCPW News, Salt Lake City, UT) It now appears a proposed hydroelectric plant on the eastern shore of Bear Lake will never see the light of day. Last week Utah Governor Jon Huntsman stopped the state from negotiating a land easement that would give Symbiotics LLC of Logan the access necessary for the Hook Canyon Pumped Storage Project. That move spurred the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to inform Symbiotics it will hold the company's license application in abeyance. "FERC can actually empower a licensee with eminent domain so they can accomplish their project, if necessary. The one thing they cannot do is condemn park and recreation land for a hydroelectric project," says Jeff Salt, Executive Director of Great Salt Lakekeeper, an environmental group opposed to the Hook Canyon project. "The state of Utah effectively zeroed in on this FERC rule and killed [Symbiotics LLC's] negotiations with state parks and that was the key to killing this project." Jeff Salt of Great Salt Lakekeeper, an environmental group opposed to the Hook Canyon project, says several state agencies received over 100 emails per day from citizens against the project. Salt credits that outpouring with helping the governor make his decision. Hall of Fame football player Merlin Olsen, who serves as President of the environmental group Bear Lake Watch, applauds FERC's actions. "There's no question in my mind that it was the right decision. It gives us a chance to protect what is a very precious and important resource to so many people in the states of Utah and Idaho," says Olsen. FERC's move also halts a public comment period on the project that was set to expire on May 13. KCPW's calls to Symbiotics LLC for comment were unreturned. Shoshone hydroelectric plant back online today May 1, 2008, Post Independent GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — The Shoshone Generating Station came back online Thursday after $12 million and 10 months of repairs, Xcel Energy announced. The hydroelectric plant resuming operations restores an important balance among Colorado River water users, the company said, because it commands flows with senior water rights that benefit fish, rafters and other Western Slope water users. “The Shoshone Station produces 14 megawatts of clean, renewable power,” said Lou Matis, vice president of operations, in a news release. “We’re pleased to return this key part of our fleet to full operation within our budget and on time. The damage we sustained was considerable, and we want to thank other Colorado River water users for their patience throughout the clean-up and repair process.” The 98-year-old hydroelectric plant is located east of Glenwood Springs in Glenwood Canyon. It stopped working June 20 when one of two pipes that deliver water to the plant broke and flooded the generating station. Xcel had to deal with about eight feet of water and tons of rock and soil engulfing the station. But no one was injured and no residential customers lost service, according to a news release. Repair work included rebuilding both “penstock” pipes with steel pipe inserts grouted into place. Generators for the two units were rewound and all the breakers, control cabinets, wiring and related components were replaced along with the plant’s control system. The new control system improves remote control of the facility, Xcel said. The plant is one of seven hydroelectric power plants owned by Xcel Energy in Colorado.



(This brings back old memories of an opportunity missed) NEWS-MINER EDITORIAL Time for Susitna Hydroelectric power plan deserves thorough review May 4, 2008, News-Minor.com, Alaska By the time the Susitna hydroelectric plan was moved to the back burner, it had been analyzed from every conceivable angle. A library of documents, totalling more than 4,000 reports and 17,000 letters, were collected during the 1970s and the 1980s when Alaskans considered the merits of the project. The plan to build dams on the Susitna River and generate electricity for communities from Fairbanks south to the Kenai Peninsula was a good one for Alaska. And it’s likely that the dams would have been built and today would be providing low-cost and clean energy today had world oil prices remained stable. But the oil crash of the mid-1980s killed the project more than 20 years ago. The state claimed it didn’t have the cash. While building the dams would have been a good investment for some of the $7 billion that was then in the Alaska Permanent Fund, our politicians didn’t want to go there. Had we taken the initiative and looked to the future, we wouldn’t be dealing with the crippling energy problems we face today. The carbon footprint of Alaska’s electrical energy industry would be far smaller than it is today, because we’d be burning a great deal less fossil fuel. The forecasts two decades ago were that oil prices would remain low and that hydro would be too expensive for Alaska. But all of that is water over the non-existent dam. Today, the state is looking again at the Susitna River as a potential source for clean and renewable energy to supply most of the people who live in Alaska. The state capital budget awaiting action by Gov. Sarah Palin includes $2.5 million for a review of Susitna studies and an overall energy plan. There are also efforts to get the utilities to work together and agree on how to find the most efficient and economical way forward. We applaud the Legislature for including the Susitna study funds in the budget. It’s time for the state to pursue hydroelectric power with diligence and develop a project or set of projects that can best meet the needs of Alaskans.

Water (Excerpts) State looks at new dam sites May 2, 2008, trib.com RAWLINS (AP) -- The Wyoming Water Development Commission is considering construction of three or four small reservoirs in the upper Little Snake River Valley in Carbon County. Mike Besson, head of the commission's dams and reservoirs division, said the Savery-Little Snake Water Conservancy District has requested the reservoirs because some members need more water. "I think there's a good likelihood we might come up with something," Besson said. The new High Savery Reservoir provides late-season irrigation water to ranchers downstream of the confluence of Savery Creek and the Little Snake River. But Besson said there are still about 5,000 acres of land above the creek that don't get enough water after midsummer. The commission plans to hold a meeting May 9 to consider hiring a consulting firm. Besson said the firm would examine the geology and hydrology of the valley to find three or four sites for reservoirs capable of holding 2,000 to 5,000 acre feet of water. The commission has allocated $250,000 to pay for the consulting firm. Besson said the cost of building the reservoirs would be paid mostly by the state, with the conservancy district also contributing. Jon Wade, planning administrator for the commission, said the consulting firms will mainly look at sites on state and private land. While he said he's not ruling out one or more sites on the Medicine Bow National Forest, he said the lengthy federal permitting process would make them unlikely candidates. In addition to providing irrigation water, the small reservoirs could provide fishing and recreation opportunities, Wade said. ----------.



Environment Study suggests dams can benefit California salmon runs by releasing cold water as fish spawn The Associated Press, May 1, 2008, International Herald Tribune Sacramento, CA - California's vast network of reservoirs — which destroyed more than 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) of salmon habitat when their dams were erected decades ago — could turn out to be a savior for a species on the brink of collapse, according to a new study. Those dams store cold water, which the study says will be vital to the salmon's survival as climate change is expected to warm California's rivers. "Paradoxically, the very thing that is constraining fish now, we could use those to our advantage," said study author David Yates, a project scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. The peer-reviewed paper will appear in a future issue of the Journal of Climatic Change. Yates and the journal agreed to release the study's findings early to The Associated Press. It comes at a time when the number of salmon returning to spawn in state's Central Valley rivers, crucial to U.S. West Coast stocks, are at historic lows.

Earlier this month, federal fisheries regulators recommended that fishing along California's coast and most of Oregon be suspended for the year. It was the first time the Pacific Fishery Management Council had taken such a drastic step, one that is jeopardizing the $150-million West Coast salmon industry. Unfavorable ocean conditions, habitat destruction, dam operations, agricultural pollution and climate change are among the potential causes. Historically, 1 million to 3 million Chinook salmon spawned annually in the streams that tumbled out of the western Sierra Nevada Mountains. This year, just 50,000 are expected to return to the Central Valley river systems. Studies have shown that high water temperatures have wide-ranging and potentially fatal consequences for salmon, who generally need water temperatures lower than 68 degrees (20 Celsius) when they return to fresh water. It reduces their swimming ability, increases their vulnerability to disease and leads to lower growth rates. Spawning females require even colder water of 57 degrees (14 Celsius) for their eggs to live and juvenile salmon migrate back to the ocean more successfully when the river is no more than 64 degrees (18 Celsius). Higher water temperatures can be offset if federal water managers preserved the cold water stored behind Shasta Dam, near the head of the Sacramento River, and released it when the salmon head upriver. Salmon that once headed far upstream to cooler, mountain st

Documents

Some Dam – Hydro News - National Performance of Dams Program · foundation supports the structure; it dates from 1952, and engineers say the design wouldn’t be approved today