Thread: Oroville Dam: Feds and state officials ignored warnings 12 years ago

Oroville Dam: Feds and state officials ignored warnings 12 years ago

PUBLISHED: February 12, 2017 at 9:37 pm
UPDATED: February 12, 2017 at 9:56 pm

More than a decade ago, federal and state officials and some of California’s largest water agencies rejected concerns that the massive earthen spillway at Oroville Dam — at risk of collapse Sunday night and prompting the evacuation of 130,000 people — could erode during heavy winter rains and cause a catastrophe.

Three environmental groups — the Friends of the River, the Sierra Club and the South Yuba Citizens League — filed a motion with the federal government on Oct. 17, 2005, as part of Oroville Dam’s relicensing process, urging federal officials to require that the dam’s emergency spillway be armored with concrete, rather than remain as an earthen hillside.

The groups filed the motion with FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. They said that the dam, built and owned by the state of California, and finished in 1968, did not meet modern safety standards because in the event of extreme rain and flooding, fast-rising water would overwhelm the main concrete spillway, then flow down the emergency spillway, and that could cause heavy erosion that would create flooding for communities downstream, but also could cause a failure, known as “loss of crest control.”

“A loss of crest control could not only cause additional damage to project lands and facilities but also cause damages and threaten lives in the protected floodplain downstream,” the groups wrote.

The Bush administration rejected that request, however, after the state Department of Water Resources, and the water agencies that would likely have had to pay the bill for the upgrades, said they were unnecessary. Those agencies included the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which provides water to 19 million people in Los Angeles, San Diego and other areas, and the State Water Contractors, an association of 27 agencies that buy water from the state of California through the State Water Project.

Federal officials at the time said that the emergency spillway was designed to handle 350,000 cubic feet per second and the concerns were overblown.

“It is important to recognize that during a rare event with the emergency spillway flowing at its design capacity, spillway operations would not affect reservoir control or endanger the dam,” wrote John Onderdonk, a senior civil engineer with FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s San Francisco Office, in a July 27, 2006, memo to his managers.

“The emergency spillway meet’s FERC’s engineering guidelines for an emergency spillway,” he added. “The guidelines specify that during a rare flood event, it is acceptable for the emergency spillway to sustain significant damage.”

This weekend, as Oroville Lake’s level rose to the top and water couldn’t be drained fast enough down the main concrete spillway because it had partially collapsed on Tuesday, millions of gallons of water in the dam’s 50-year history began flowing over the dam’s emergency spillway.

On Sunday, with flows of only 6,000 to 12,000 cubic feet per second — water only a foot or two deep and less than 5 percent of the rate that FERC said was safe — erosion at the emergency spillway became so severe that officials from the State Department of Water Resources ordered the evacuation of more than 130,000 people. The fear was that the erosion could undercut the 1,730-foot-long concrete lip along the top of the emergency spillway, allowing billions of gallons of water to pour down the hillside toward Oroville and other towns downstream.

Such an uncontrolled release from California’s second-largest reservoir while it was completely full could become one of the worst dam disasters in U.S. history.

“We said ‘are you really sure that running all this water over the emergency spillway won’t cause the spillway to fail?'” said Ron Stork, policy director with Friends of the River, a Sacramento environmental group that filed the motions in 2005. “They tried to be as evasive as possible. It would have cost money to build a proper concrete spillway.”

Stork watched with horror Sunday night as the emergency spillway was at risk of collapse.

“I’m feeling bad that we were unable to persuade DWR and FERC and the Corps to have a safer dam,” he said Sunday.

Stork said that officials from the Department of Water Resources told him informally that the Metropolitan Water District and the water contractors who buy water from Oroville did not want to incur the extra costs.

“I’m sad and hoping, crossing my fingers, that they can prevent the reservoir from failing,” he said. “I don’t think anybody at DWR has ever been this close in their careers to such a catastrophic failure.”

Lester Snow, who was the state Department of Water Resources director from 2004 to 2010, said Sunday night that he does not recall the specifics of the debate during the relicensing process 11 years ago.

“The dam and the outlet structures have always done well in tests and inspections,” Snow said. “I don’t recall the FERC process.”

Stork said at the time he talked to Snow about the environmental group’s concerns, he recalls that Snow said the issue was being handled mostly by one of his lieutenants.

A filing on May 26, 2006, by Thomas Berliner, an attorney for the State Water Contractors, and Douglas Adamson, an attorney for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, discounted the risk. It urged FERC to reject the request to require that the emergency spillway be armored, a job that would have cost tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars.

“The emergency spillway was designed to safely convey the Probable Maximum Flood, and DWR has reviewed and confirmed the efficacy of the PMF hydrologic analysis for Oroville Reservoir,” the attorneys noted.

Ultimately, they were successful. FERC did not require the state to upgrade the emergency spillway.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/02/1...-12-years-ago/

I just don't understand why when you have warnings on infrastructure like this you don't take care of it. Same thing happened in New Orleans with the levees, that were only built to level 3 floods instead of the level 4 or 5 they needed during a Katrina. All the money that is spent on crap that gets us nowhere and nothing and then to skimp on things that will cost billions and billions in damage if the systems fail, plus the horrible loss of life that can accompany flooding and other types of failure events makes no sense. It's such terrible judgment taking such a risk, it defies common sense.

Infrastructure upgrades need to include levees and dams. When we solve our illegal alien problem, that's $132 billion a year, A YEAR, of public monies that can be freed up and I hope at least some of it is used to fix our infrastructure.

It looks like they got things under control for now. Close call, but good job managing it! Hopefully they'll have time to repair it before the next rains come on Wednesday or Thursday. They said tonight on the news they'll try to empty out enough water to drop the level of the lake by 50 feet before Wednesday. Right now there is no water going into the emergency spillway.

CA corrupt politicians didn't ignore it, they were aware of the situation but collectively decided to prioritize budget spending and diverted both Federal and taxpayer funds to benefit welfare programs aiding & supporting the illegal alien population

I was in Redding CA when Shasta Lake was at an all time low. We drove around to the back side...it was pitiful. Houseboats all dry docked way up high...the docks were high and dry.

Their is NO excuse why CA did not go in and do maintenance and repairs on all these Dams and reservoirs when the levels were so low.

25 BILLION TO ILLEGAL ALIENS PER YEAR destroying neighborhoods...but leaving their own citizens high and dry with crumbling broken roads, Dams, reservoirs, bridges and crime.

Money that should be spent putting people to work and improving infra-structure.

Nobody to blame but Jerry Brown. Same with Flint MI and New Orleans! Give them NO Federal Money. They need to start being held accountable for their budgets and State infra-structure.

California’s general revenues came from the federal government in 2013. That year, California received approximately $54.8 billion in federal aid, 25 percent of the state's general revenues. Taking into consideration the state's 2013 population, this came out to about $1,430 in federal aid per capita. Figures from surrounding states are provided for additional context.^[7]

[hide]Federal aid to state budgets, 2013
State	Total federal aid ($ in thousands)	Federal aid as a % of general revenues	Ranking (by % of general revenues)	Est. 2013 population	Aid per capita
California	$54,827,525	25.0%	42	38,332,521	$1,430
Hawaii	$2,326,602	21.5%	49	1,404,054	$1,657
Nevada	$2,844,973	25.0%	43	2,790,136	$1,020
Oregon	$7,987,139	35.0%	13	3,930,065	$2,032
Washington	$9,737,429	27.3%	37	6,971,406	$1,397

https://ballotpedia.org/California_s...t_and_finances

FOX NEWS UPDATE

Nearly 200,000 people who live below California's Oroville Dam can return home, sheriff says, warning them to stay prepared in case flood dangers worsen again.

2015 California Average Federal Income Taxes Paid

The average taxpayer in California paid $15,496 in federal income taxes in 2015. That's $2,517 more than the national average. See where that money went.




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2015 Federal Income Tax Receipt Average Federal Income Taxes Paid in California April 15, 2016 Inflation adjusted to 2015 dollars
Health	$4,444.88
* Includes $2,029.08 for Medicaid
* Includes $53.56 for Children's Health Insurance Program
Pentagon & Military	$3,932.56
* Includes $842.38 for Military Personnel
* Includes $108.44 for Nuclear Weapons
Interest on Debt	$2,117.06
Unemployment and Labor	$1,240.79
* Includes $92.48 for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
* Includes $35.11 for Job Training and Employment Programs
Veterans Benefits	$919.34
* Includes $404.48 for Payments for disability, death, etc.
* Includes $368.58 for Veterans Health Administration
Food and Agriculture	$713.69
* Includes $441.72 for SNAP (food stamps)
* Includes $42.19 for Federal Crop Insurance
Education	$550.21
* Includes $183.26 for Pell Grants, Work Study, and other Student Aid
* Includes $129.96 for Elementary and Secondary Education
Government	$449.98
* Includes $73.12 for U.S. Customs and Border Protection
* Includes $40.87 for Federal Prison System
Housing and Community	$298.03
* Includes $57.87 for Head Start and Related
* Includes $11.02 for Homeless Assistance Grants
Energy and Environment	$247.55
* Includes $50.15 for Environmental Protection Agency
* Includes $10.89 for Energy efficiency and renewable energy
International Affairs	$231.59
* Includes $46.05 for Diplomatic and consular programs
* Includes $40.15 for Global Health Programs
Transportation	$179.61
* Includes $29.89 for Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
* Includes $6.56 for Federal Aviation Administration
Science	$170.70
* Includes $102.64 for NASA
* Includes $39.44 for National Science Foundation
TOTAL	$15,496
US AVERAGE	$12,978
See and Share the Average Federal Income Tax Receipt for Your State

Numbers may not add up due to rounding
Notes & Sources

https://www.nationalpriorities.org/i...15/ca/receipt/

Trump Approves California Disaster Assistance After Storms, Flooding

Feb. 14, 2017, at 8:11 p.m.

Trump Approves California Disaster Assistance After Storms, Flooding
MORE


SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Parts of California damaged by recent storms, including the areas around the damaged Oroville Dam, will receive federal disaster assistance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said on Tuesday.

Federal aid will be sent to three counties near Lake Oroville, where the tallest earthen dam in the United States suffered damage last week and over the weekend, prompting the evacuation of nearly 200,000 people.

Funds will also be sent to other parts of California inundated with rains over the past month.

http://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/...torms-flooding

More than 55,000 U.S. bridges found to be in need of repair or replacement

The bridge on Western Avenue over the Cal-Sag Channel is framed by the rusted supports of the closed Chatham St. bridge in Blue Island, Ill., on Sept. 11, 2013.
(M. Spencer Green / AP)


Ashley Halsey III The Washington Post

Ed Rendell remembers his quest to become two-term governor of Pennsylvania as something of a tale of two cities.
For decades, people running for statewide office in Pennsylvania had two sets of speeches. In the eastern half of the state they talked about jobs and education. In the western end -- divided by three big rivers -- they promised to get help for dangerously decrepit bridges.

"In Pittsburgh, bridges were a huge issue," he said. "It's really amazing. Pittsburgh probably has more bridges per capita than any city in America.

"We have a huge problem," said Rendell, who co-chairs the advocacy group Building America's Future. "You look at other states, and there are very few states that are even close to it."

The yearly American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) report on bad bridges was released Wednesday, and Pennsylvania ranks second to Iowa in the number of structurally deficient bridges. Nearly 20 percent of the Keystone State's bridges achieved that level of decrepitude.

Nationwide, 55,710 bridges were found to be deficient.


Senate Democrats to propose $1 trillion infrastructure plan

And while the D.C. region is far from immune from the problem, it's well behind Pennsylvania and Iowa when it comes to bridges that need to be repaired or replaced.

The report, which draws its data from federal statistics, ranks Virginia 21st among states with bad bridges. Maryland is 40th, and the District trails all 50 states.

In the District, 3.7 percent of 245 bridges are in need; in Maryland, it's 5.8 percent of 5,321 bridges; in Virginia, it's 6.7 percent of 13,892 bridges. By contrast, 25 percent of Rhode Island's bridges need help, as do about 20 percent of those in Pennsylvania, Iowa and South Dakota.

Those bridges aren't all about to tumble down, though there have been notable bridge collapses. In 2007, the I-35W Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis collapsed, killing 13 people; in 2013, the Skagit River Bridge in Washington state collapsed into the river after being struck by an oversize load.
But as bridges rust or concrete crumbles, there are serious consequences for consumers and taxpayers. The more rust erodes a bridge without a fresh coat of paint, the closer it grows to needing full replacement. As bridge concrete deteriorates -- occasionally dropping in chunks to the roadway -- the choices are to patch it up or eventually face the need for a new one.


Economists pan infrastructure plan championed by Trump nominees

The Federal Highway Administration estimates an annual investment of $20.5 billion is needed over the next 16 years to repair and replace bridges.

The cost to consumers is hidden, but it can translate into most things they buy. As bridges near the end of their lives, the first indication is a sign restricting the weight limit on trucks that cross over it. Rerouting trucks to less favorable routes adds to the cost of delivery for everything from gasoline to a tube of toothpaste.

"Truckers need to follow particular routes to destinations that avoid these hazards and restrictions," said Rick Turek, chief navigation scientist at the fleet service management company Omnitracs. "For most of the destinations, there are safe routes to and from. For a smaller number of destinations, typically residential deliveries, the goods will need to be transferred to a smaller vehicle for the actual delivery."

If there is good news in the ARTBA report, which is drawn from federal data, it is that the number of bridges needing repair dropped by 2,785 last year, but at that pace of improvement it will be a generation before the last needy bridge is addressed.

The average life span of a highway bridge is between 50 and 70 years, with recent bridges that were built to higher standards expected to achieve that higher number.

Rusting alone has rendered 15 percent of the country's bridges structurally deficient, according to the National Association of Corrosion Engineers.


Trump's plan to spend on infrastructure leads companies to pitch their products as infrastructure

All the need might dovetail nicely with the White House vow to invest $1 trillion in infrastructure, some portion of which would go to roads and bridges. Though that promised investment, so far, relies on a campaign white paper that says the money could be leveraged by offering an 82 percent tax credit to private investors, people on Capitol Hill hope to round out President Donald Trump's funding strategy.

"This is the first president that I can recall who talked in his inaugural address about infrastructure," said House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., who counts more than three dozen deficient bridges in his southwestern Pennsylvania district. "We at the national level have to figure out how we're going to make these investments, and figure out how we get it done, and now we have a president who's pounding on the table saying we've got to do it."

The average bridge in Shuster's state is 51 years old and nearing the end of it's functional life. Though there is no shortage of rivers that need crossing in the eastern half of Pennsylvania, rivers are a dominant characteristic in the west. Pittsburgh alone counts 446 bridges.

None of the spans across those three rivers in Pittsburgh is a toll bridge.

Even with a tax credit, private investors want a return on their revenue, and for bridges that generally means imposing a toll.


CEO of Aecom, builder of Rams' stadium, sees big business in Trump's infrastructure push

"Like many of the things we're talking about with the quote unquote trillion dollar plan of President Trump, it will fit well for some states and some projects, but certainly it will not address most of the needs we have out there across the country," said Alison Black, chief economist for the ARTBA.

Rendell, who once proposed creating a public-private partnership to govern the Pennsylvania Turnpike, said Trump's plan to lure private investors just won't work in Pennsylvania or most other states.

"It has to be government investment, no if, ands, or buts, and in Pennsylvania we have 4,500 deficient bridges," Rendell said. "My guess is that no more than 10 of them can be tolled."

Of the all the country's 55,710 structurally deficient bridges, Rendell estimates "there are probably 500 that could be tolled.

Statewide candidates in Pennsylvania no longer need to give different speeches in Pittsburgh than they do in Philadelphia.

"That's changed. We have a huge bridge problem in the eastern part of the state as well," Rendell said.


More national politics coverage

This year, all 10 of the most heavily traveled deficient bridges in Pennsylvania are in the east, carrying Interstate 95 for 18 miles through Philadelphia. When a bridge inspector in search of a cheesesteak shop happened to park under an I-95 bridge nine years ago, he noticed a half-inch-wide, four-foot long crack and had the major East Coast highway shut down for several days.

"Had not that guy wanted a cheesesteak, we would have had a tragedy," Rendell said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...215-story.html