1 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
i 9/04/2009
“Good wine is a necessity of life.” - -Thomas Jefferson Ron’s wine
pick of the week: Bordega Poesia Pasodoble Malbec Rose', Argentina
- (Yep, it's a rose", but a good refreshing summer dry wine for $7
bucks! If you like red, this is an interesting wine.) “No nation
was ever drunk when wine was cheap.” - - Thomas Jefferson
OOOttthhheeerrr SSStttuuuffffff::: (From NHA – Excerpts re Harris
Poll) The Harris Poll® FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Only One in Ten
Americans Are Very Knowledgeable About Sources of Electricity Only
one in five are very interested in keeping up to date on energy
issues ROCHESTER, N.Y. – July 30, 2009 – While Congress debates the
American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, much education is
needed to enhance public knowledge, understanding and interest in
various sources of electrical power, their associated benefits and
risks and the value of becoming more energy efficient. These are
some of the results from The Harris Poll, a new study of 2,177 U.S.
adults surveyed online between June 8 and 15, 2009 by Harris
Interactive. Only one in ten Americans (9%) are very knowledgeable
about sources of electrical power, while half (50%) are fairly
knowledgeable. Further, only one in five U.S. adults (21%) are very
interested in keeping up to date about energy issues related to the
sources of electrical power and energy efficiency with 53% saying
they are fairly interested. When it comes to renewable sources of
energy and natural gas, the public overwhelmingly indicates that
the benefit of the source outweigh the risks. At least two-thirds
of Americans believe that when used, the benefits of solar (82%),
wind/turbine (78%), hydroelectric (water) (73%) and natural gas
(66%) outweigh any risks associated with the different sources.
Coal, which provides approximately half (49%) of electrical power
production in the United States and is the most heavily used source
of energy, is perceived differently. Two in five Americans (42%)
say the risks of using coal outweigh the benefits while 36% believe
the benefits outweigh the risks. Further, almost one-quarter of
Americans (22%) say they are not at all sure. Nuclear energy, which
is seeing resurgence in the number of new plants, leans towards the
benefits with 44% of Americans saying the benefits outweigh the
risks and 34% believing the risks outweigh the benefits. With
regard to biomass and geothermal, large numbers (60% and 40%
respectively) are not at all sure. ------------------------. Xcel
faces OSHA charges in '07 fatal fire
SSoommee DDaamm –– HHyyddrroo NNeewwss aanndd OOtthheerr
SSttuuffff
Quote of Note: "A national debt, if not excessive, will be to us a
national blessing." –
Alexander Hamilton
2 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
A criminal federal indictment over worker deaths, in this case at a
hydroelectric power plant in Colorado, is rare. By STEVE ALEXANDER,
Star Tribune, August 28, 2009 In a rare criminal indictment over
workplace deaths, Xcel Energy Inc. and a repair firm it hired are
facing federal charges in the case of five workers killed in a 2007
chemical fire at a hydroelectric power plant in Colorado. Also
named in the indictment are Xcel's Colorado subsidiary, Public
Service Co. of Colorado, repair firm RPI Coating of Santa Fe
Springs, Calif., and two executives of RPI Coating.
Minneapolis-based Xcel issued a statement Friday that said the fire
was an accident, not a criminal act. Xcel and Public Service Co. of
Colorado could be liable for as much as $5 million in fines if
found guilty. The October 2007 fire at Xcel's Cabin Creek Hydro
Plant, in the mountains near Georgetown, Colo., occurred during the
renovation of a large empty metal pipe down which water normally
flowed to create hydroelectric power. Five employees of RPI Coating
were trapped in the pipe when chemicals being used in the
renovation caught fire and blocked their only exit. The
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ruled that
violations of OSHA safety rules resulted in the fire and the men
being trapped. Workers on the other side of the fire were able to
escape. The U.S. Department of Justice obtained the indictment from
a Colorado grand jury based on the OSHA ruling and OSHA's resulting
decision to refer the case to the Justice Department for criminal
prosecution. The New York Times reported in 2003 that OSHA rarely
seeks Justice Department prosecution in cases where worker deaths
resulted. Between 1982 and 2002, OSHA did so in only 7 percent of
worker deaths, the Times reported.
DDDaaammmsss (This article is full of misstatements, but here it is
anyway. The worst statement is that there was little state or
Federal regulation until the 1970s) Aging Dams Prompt Call for
Federal Bailout BY JAMES HEISER, 27 AUGUST 2009, thenewamerican.com
In a culture resounding with motifs of decay and collapse on so
many levels, Wired.com is reporting that a breathtakingly large
number of dams around the United States have become structurally
unsound. Once conceived of as the symbol of man’s “power over
nature,” nature is now apparently having the last word. As Alexis
Madrigal wrote for Wired.com: While dams have been built in this
country for a couple hundred years, the first half of the 20th
century saw a building boom. Large dams were built for
hydroelectric power, smaller dams to provide water for industrial
concerns or irrigation. There was little state or Federal
regulation, particularly of the little dams in small watersheds,
until the 1970s, when five major dam failures took hundreds of
lives and caused almost $1.5 billion in damage. The Carter
administration began to put safeguards in place, but the
inspections continue to be carried out at the state level.
Implicit, of course, is the notion that federal inspectors know
more, and perhaps even care more, than the people who actually own
or oversee such dams and levees — and certainly they know and care
more than the people most immediately affected by the dams. Old age
is one of the primary factors contributing to the deteriorating
condition of America’s 80,000 dams and levees, which now average
more than 50 years since construction. Madrigal writes: “Last year,
140 dams were fixed, but inspectors discovered 368 more that need
help. That’s why the American Society of Civil Engineers gave our
dams a grade of 'D' in its 2009 report on the nation’s
infrastructure. There are just too many aging dams and too few
safety inspectors. 'With the huge number of dams getting older
every day, it’s becoming a bigger and bigger problem," said Larry
Roth, deputy executive director of the ASCE. 'The policing of
maintenance and filing of inspection records is relatively
haphazard, not because of lack of focus or knowledge of
significance, but they just don’t have the monetary resources to do
it.’ ” After a while, it is really not hard to sense the theme: The
"lesson" of Katrina is the answer to every failure of a dam or
levee is a bailout, and the "solution" of every imaginable crisis
in the past year has been a federal bailout. How much will bailing
out our dams cost us? According to Madrigal, “The Association of
State Dam Safety Officials estimate that $16 billion would be
needed to fix all high-hazard dams. The total for all state
dam-safety budgets is less than $60 million. The current
maintenance budget doesn’t match the scale of America’s long- term
modifications of its watersheds.” But was not the recent
Stimulus/Porkulus Bill supposed to cover such
3 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
needs? What happened to all of those “shovel ready” works projects
the government was going to pay for with money stolen from our
grandchildren? According to Wired.com, “Not even the federal
stimulus package directed any money to this particular set of
shovel-ready projects. By her organization’s [the Association of
State Dam Safety’s] count, [Executive Director Lori] Spragens said
very little cash from the Recovery Act was going to repair the
nation’s dams.” Thus the catalog of crises continues. Is it
possible that a problem exists for which federal regulation and
federal funds are not the solution? Many, indeed most, of the dams
and levees around this nation are quite local in scope, serving
local, even private, interests and affecting a relatively limited
community — the overwhelming majority of dams in this country are
far from comparison with the massive dams of the American West.
Undoubtedly, there is the lure of "free" money at a time when
Washington seems to be hemorrhaging cash, but the time has more
than come for communities to determine the cost and benefit of
local resources. Removal of Dam Expected to Boost Salmon Runs
August 27, 2009 Reported By: Susan Sharon, mpbn.net Sometime in the
next couple of weeks, a small dam on a tributary of the
Androscoggin River on the Topsham-Lisbon Falls line will be torn
down and 43 miles of the scenic Little River set free. It's not a
major dam, but it's the first time any dam in the Androscoggin
watershed has been removed for ecological reasons. And
environmentalists see it as a significant step toward restoring
sea-run fish, such as endangered Altantic salmon, to their native
spawning grounds. Back in the 1800s, before the construction of
dozens of small dams blocked their passage upstream, and before
pollution from factories and farms took their toll, Atlantic
salmon, shad and other sea-run fish frolicked in the cool, shaded
waters of the Little River, one of several tributaries of the lower
Androscoggin. And in their heyday, an estimated 50,000 Atlantic
Salmon returned from the ocean to this region to lay their eggs.
This year, there were 24. John Burrows of the Atlantic Salmon
Federation says they face numerous hurdles en route to the same
rivers populated by their ancestors. "If you're an Atlantic Salmon,
you're coming up the Kennebec River down at Popham Beach and
swimming up through Merrymeeting Bay, and then a salmon has a
choice: They can continue up the Kennebec or they can make a left
hand turn and swim up the Androscoggin." After a couple of miles,
the salmon crosses the Brunswick-Topsham town line and then
encounters the very first dam on the river at Fort Andross. The dam
has fish passage there, but just a few more miles up the
Androscoggin is the Pejepscot Dam, also with fish passage. "Once
they go past that dam they can hang a right to go past the Little
River here or they can continue up the Androscoggin to Lewiston,"
Burrows says. "There's one more dam, the Worumbo Dam, which is
another couple of miles upriver, and after that they have a
straight shot to downtown Lewiston, where there's a fourth dam
where they don't have fish passage." Burrows says endangered salmon
prefer to spawn in smaller tributaries like the Little River. So if
they're fortunate enough to bang a right off the Androscoggin, and
if the water flow in the Little River is just right, salmon and
other fish can actually manage to heave themselves over the
low-slung, 70-foot wide dam and make into the upper reaches of the
Little River, which stretches 43 miles through mostly woods and
farmland. Once the Little River Dam is removed, the journey will be
easier. "This is the first time that the public will really see
that, yes, our river too can be restored and our fish can be
restored," says Neil Ward, the program director for the
Androscoggin River Alliance, which has partnered with the Altantic
Salmon Federation on the dam removal project. "And on a personal
level this is a red banner day for my family. My great-grandfather
grew up about a mile- and-a-half up the main stem of the
Androscoggin from here and as a little boy he caught wild Atlantic
salmon in this river," Ward says. "And this is a kind of a signal
for our family that maybe someday my children or my grandchildren
will be able to fish for salmon in this river again and that'll be
the first time in four or five generations of just my family." As
dam removal projects go, Ward says this one is tiny. He says it
will cost the partners about $80,000 to do the actual demolition.
Most of the funding will come from the federal government. And the
dam's owner, Miller Hydro, is not requesting any kind of payment
since the dam is no longer in operation. A call to Miller Hydro was
not returned by airtime. But Ward says the groups hope to work with
the company in the future. That's because Miller Hydro also owns
the first dam on the Sabattus River, another tributary of the
Androscoggin. (Ever wonder what a navigation lock means
economically) New lock takes shape at Chickamauga Dam By: Dave
Flessner, Aug. 29, 2009, Chattanooga Times Free Press
4 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
Nearly 70 years after President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the
Chickamauga Dam and Lock, the outline of a new and bigger lock is
taking shape below the dam on the Tennessee River. But the head of
the $391 million lock replacement -- $70 million more than the
original estimate -- said last week that the project is taking
longer and costing more than originally forecast. With much of the
available money for lock improvements being absorbed by a major
project on the Ohio River, the new Chickamauga Lock probably won't
be finished until 2014, at the earliest, project director Wayne
Huddleston said. The existing lock, which opened in 1940, is
suffering from "concrete growth" caused by a
chemical reaction between the river water and the rock used to
build the lock. The Army Corps of Engineers, which is in charge of
maintenance on the dam, must spend more than $2 million a year on
extra anchors, support devices and engineering analyses to keep the
crumbling lock in operation while a new 110-by-600- foot lock is
built. "The goal is to keep the current lock open long enough to
finish the new and bigger lock," Mr. Huddleston told the
Chattanooga Engineers Club last week. An updated estimate of the
cost of the new lock just released by the Office of Management and
Budget is $70 million above the previous projection, mainly because
of the extra four years or more expected for its completion. "The
Corps is managing money month to month right now because of the
limits on the (Inland Waterway Users) Trust Fund," Mr. Huddleston
said. The Corps' lock projects usually are funded jointly with
taxpayer money and matching tax collections from river users. For
each gallon of diesel fuel they buy, barges that ply the inland
waterways pay 20 cents into the Inland Waterway Users Trust Fund,
which generates about $175 million annually. Most of at money now
is being absorbed by the Olmsted locks and dam project on the Ohio
River, which are projected to cost nearly $2 billion and extend
until 2021. "There's a great strain on the money available for
vital Corps projects like the Chickamauga Lock because of Olmsted
right now," said Cline Jones, executive director for the Tennessee
River Valley Association, which represents barge operators who use
the Tennessee River. "The Tennessee River and its locks are like a
chain that is only as strong as its weakest link," Mr. Jones said.
"The weak link right now is the Chickamauga Lock, and it's critical
that we keep funding for that project." If the lock was not
replaced, 318 miles of navigable river would be cut off and more
than 100,000 additional truck trips would be added on area
highways, Mr. Jones said. Since construction began on the project
in 2003, the Corps has spent or budgeted nearly $100 million to
design the new lock, reroute Lake Resort Drive, install most of the
anchors for the retaining walls to the new lock and erect a cement
plant to produce enough concrete for the new structure. With help
from Tennessee lawmakers and the federal stimulus plan, contracts
for the enlarged lock chamber are expected to be issued by next
June, Mr. Huddleston said. The stimulus package provided another
$57.5 million for the lock, including $25.5 million for valves,
gates and bridges, $27 million to fabricate the new approach walls
for the new lock and $5 million to complete the coffer dam to ready
the site for the new lock, Mr. Huddleston said. The House
Appropriations Committee has recommended an extra $1 million for
the lock project in fiscal 2010 under a measure backed by U.S. Rep.
Zach Wamp, a Republican in Tennessee's Third District, and U.S.
Rep. Lincoln Davis, a Democrat who represents the Fourth District.
(Imagine, a life in Russia is worth the price of a Chevy – just
$32,000! I now find that 1 million rubles = $32,000. The
maintenance of dams is much more than the dam itself.) Tragedy at
Russia's Largest Hydro Power Plant Took Over 69 Lives 24.08.2009,
Source: newsfromrussia.com
The number of people killed in the accident at Russia’s largest
hydroelectric power plant increased from 67 to 69. Six persons are
still missing, an official with the Russian EMERCOM said Sunday.
Specialists and rescuers – over 2,000 people – are currently
involved in the works to liquidate the consequences of the disaster
at Sayano- Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Power Plant. Employees
of
5 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
the plant take part in the works to recover the missing people from
the huge engine room of the plant. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
signed a special decree Saturday to assign one million rubles
(approximately $32,000) to each family of those killed in the
accident. In the meantime, the relatives of the killed workers seek
much larger compensations from RusHydro – the company which
operates the Sayano-Shushenskaya Plant. They want the company to
pay five million rubles to each family. In addition, they want the
authorities to guarantee free higher education to the children,
whose parents were killed in the disaster. Many of the relatives
said that they would be ready to take a legal action against
RusHydro. “We are not going to evade responsibility. RusHydro is a
state-run company. We are not going to run away from you,” Vasily
Zubakin, the chairman of RusHydro’s administration told the people.
The Republic of Khakasia, where the power plant is located, is
currently bidding farewell to 22 people, whose bodies have been
found after the disaster. The ceremony is taking place in the town
of Cheryomushki, which has a 10,000-strong population. The majority
of the people living in the town work at the Sayano-Shushenskaya
Plant. The tragedy affected practically every resident of the town:
someone lost their relatives, others lost friends and colleagues.
The works to recreate and repair separate engines at the plant have
already begun. The recreation of the destroyed part of the engine
room of the plant will cost 40 billion rubles. The authorities of
the town of Cheryomushki banned the sale of strong alcohol
beverages in the town in connection with the accident at the
Sayano-Shushenskaya Plant. “It was decided so to make people stop
drinking. Yes, there was a tragedy, funerals are being held, but
the uncontrollable consumption of alcohol will cause a greater
damage,” an official with the local administration said. RusHydro
hopes to completely repair the power plant in three years.
HHHyyydddrrrooo El Dorado County to get hydropower projects
Sacramento Business Journal - by Melanie Turner, Staff writer,
August 24, 2009 The El Dorado Irrigation District Board of
Directors Monday approved two hydropower projects in the district's
2009-2013 capital improvement program and authorized funding for
the projects’ design phases. The district expects to net at least
$400,000 a year from the two projects, which are expected to be
operational in 2011, according to a news release. The projects were
identified during a year-long study in conjunction with the El
Dorado County Water Agency to seek hydroelectric power generation
opportunities within the county. The projects are designed to take
advantage of existing water flows and infrastructure at two local
reservoirs. The projects will be made up of in-conduit generators,
concrete vaults and a series of valves that change the direction of
water flows. The systems will capture energy and send it to Pacific
Gas and Electric Co.’s grid. PG&E offers “feed-in tariffs” for
projects such as the two the district approved. Once a number of
criteria are met, including state certification of clean power,
PG&E will guarantee the district a price for energy produced
for more than 20 years. Once it's up and running, district
officials said they expect the project to generate revenue
immediately. District staff will work with consulting firm
Domenichelli and Associates during the project’s design phase. The
district could not be reached for further details. (Maybe, it’s
about “dam” time) Small Hydropower Dams on Rise As Concerns Grow
About Big Projects August 25th, 2009 by Ceylan Oney,
cleantechies.com The number of small hydropower projects in the
U.S. is increasing as utilities try to avoid concerns about the
environmental impact of large dams, the Wall Street Journal
reports. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission now has
applications for 14,000 megawatts of hydropower projects — enough
to power 7 million to 14 million homes — and most are located on
small rivers, streams, and creeks. That figure is a 20 percent
increase from two years ago. As the number of projects grows in
states such as Washington, Colorado, and Montana, environmentalists
are beginning to raise objections to the small dams, which critics
say can still block fish runs, interfere with whitewater rafting
trips, and carve up wilderness habitat with
6 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
roads, power lines, and other infrastructure. “One plant here, one
plant there, maybe we would support that,” said an official at
American Whitewater, a rafters’ group. “But with so many… this
really gets to be an issue of cumulative impacts.” Utilities argue
that the smaller dams often have minimal environmental impact and,
most importantly, emit no greenhouse gases. (Some people still
don’t get it. Doing both efficiency upgrades and adding new
capacity to existing dams is cheaper, environmentally better, and
more efficient than something like wind energy.) Improving
Efficiency at Washington's Hydropower Projects Could Boost Output
3x More Than Building New Dams by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY,
08.25.09, treehugger.com
The environmental problems with large-scale hydropower are well
documented, with small-scale hydro often seen as a more benign way
to exploit the power of rivers for electricity. However, as the
Wall Street Journal points out, when you start putting hundreds of
small-scale hydropower projects together the impact builds, and
won't equal the gains from just improving what's already there: 500
Potential Small-Scale Sites Identified WSJ highlights the small
(7.5 MW, enough for 3,500-7,500 homes) and remote (5 miles from any
town) Youngs Creek hydropower project in Washington state as a
potential sign
of things to come. “Small hydro plants like Youngs Creek are
sprouting up across the country, with around 500 potential sites
identified by a federal study in Washington State alone. Power
managers are seeking ways to meet the growing demand for
electricity without turning to sources like coal plants that are
widely thought to contribute to global warming.” Gotta love the
WSJ's slightly conditional language about coal and climate change,
but moving on... Efficiency Improvements = 2,500 MW More Power All
told, the US Hydropower Resource Assessment for Washington (done in
1997) says that by simply improving efficiency at existing
hydropower plants, and adding electricity generation capability to
current non-generating dams, some 2,500 MW could be added to the
state's prodigious hydropower capacity. However, developing all of
the state's identified yet untapped hydropower sites, including all
the small-scale ones, would only add 762 MW. Efficiency a Too Often
Overlooked Tool The original article goes on to discuss the pros
(potential backup for wind power) and cons (en masse, disruption of
rivers for wildlife and rafters) of small-scale hydro, and while
it's an interesting read, you can really stop here. The whole thing
illustrates a point made over and over again, most recently by
President Obama's science advisor: Improving efficiency of things
we already have can be one of the most powerful ways to address our
future energy needs. Whether that's improving existing hydropower,
making our buildings more energy efficient, or structuring our
towns, cities and farms to reduce the need for so much private
transportation, energy efficiency should be in the first tier of
energy options. City moves forward with small hydropower facility
Steve Grazier, Cortez Journal Staff Writer, 8/21/2009 Cortez, CA is
powering up for the construction of new hydroelectric plant. The
city established a hydroelectric power enterprise during its Aug.
11 regular meeting and authorized loan documents for the
approximately $2 million hydropower center, said City Manager Jay
Harrington. "Basically, we'll be taking energy (water pressure)
that's not utilized ... to create electricity," Harrington said.
"It's a 20-year project to recoup money. But in 20 years, the city
will have an asset as a moneymaker." Harrington noted that an
agreement is in place with Empire Electric Association to produce
power through the city hydroelectric plant. That power will go into
Empire's grid and help the cooperative's renewable energy needs.
"The pieces are continuing to move forward on the project," he
said.
7 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
In addition, a hydroelectric plant could generate electricity off
an existing pipeline to provide enough power to run the water
treatment facility altogether and produce additional power used for
other resources, according to Jack Nickerson, the city's public
works director. "We could generate enough power to run the entire
(water treatment) plant and have some left over to sell back to
Empire Electric for credit," Nickerson has said. "We want to
utilize the energy that's there, and lower the city's carbon
footprint (in burning electricity) at the same time." The loan
between Cortez and the Colorado Water Resources and Power
Development Authority is for approximately $1.46 million with the
total project cost coming in at about $1.96 million, Harrington
said. A $500,000 grant for the hydroelectric plant has been awarded
to the city by Gov. Bill Ritter's energy office. Harrington said
the 20-year financial loan at 2 percent interest with the state's
power authority is scheduled to close Wednesday, Aug. 26. The power
plant will be located one-quarter mile from the city's water
treatment facility northeast of Cortez along County Road N. City
officials hope construction will begin in mid- to late November on
the 600-square-foot structure. Corps says Garrison Dam generators
to be upgraded The Associated Press - BISMARCK, N.D., August 28,
2009, thedickinsonpress.com The Army Corps of Engineers plans more
work to upgrade generators at North Dakota's Garrison Dam, with
help from federal stimulus money. The corps says in a statement
that the work will "lead to more non- polluting electricity from
the 22nd largest dam in the world." The agency is says it's awarded
an $8.9 million contract to Yellowstone Electric Co., of Billings,
Mont., for transformer equipment to update the Missouri River dam's
five generators. The work is to be finished in June 2011. It's the
second phase of the dam's upgrade. The first phase, started in
2000, replaced turbine runners, which are the spinning parts inside
turbines that use water to produce electricity. The corps says the
Garrison Dam generators produce enough electricity for more than
200,000 customers and return about $34 million a year to the
government. US Department of Energy provides $11m funding for
marine, hydrokinetics and hydropower projects 28th August 2009,
newenergyworldnetwork.com The US Department of Energy (DOE) is to
invest $11m in four national laboratory-led projects in marine and
hydrokinetics and conventional hydropower. These projects, to occur
at laboratories in Colorado, Washington, Illinois, Tennessee and
New Mexico, will undertake research into the viability market
acceptance and environmental performance for the two areas. The
first project, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, aims to
produce new science and technology to support industry as it
develops more efficient, less costly and more robust marine and
hydrokinetic designs and will receive funding of $2.5m. The second
marine and hydrokinetic project, at the Sandia National Laboratory,
will receive funding of $1.5m and aims to develop further
understanding of the environmental impacts of devices in this
sector, with the goal of minimizing time, costs and environmental
risks in the deployment of marine and hydrokinetic systems. The
third project, to be undertaken at the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory, has been chosen to develop and test new hydropower
technologies in the areas of efficiency and environmental
performance. The final project, again at the Sandia National
Laboratory, will involve the development of cost-effective ways to
reduce the adverse environmental impacts of conventional hydropower
technologies. The projects will receive funding of $2m and $1m
respectively.
(Excerpts) Enabling Wind, Sun To Be Our Main Power Supplies: Quest
for Storage -- "Holy Grail" of New Energy Economy -- Nears Goal by
Craig A. Severance, Aug 29 2009 by Energy Economy Online (Full
Article: http://www.energybulletin.net/49983) _______________. Pump
Water Up and Let it Fall Back Down. Pumped hydro-electric storage
is just that simple -- when you want to store energy, use
electricity to pump water to a high level. Then, whenever power is
needed, let the water fall through hydroelectric turbines to
generate power. You don't get all your electricity back (about 22%
is lost), but you get it when you need it. This enables you to
accept power from renewable sources when not needed, and store it
for use later. Pumped hydro storage is the largest utility energy
storage method in the world, with 20,800 MW already in use in the
U.S. However, its use has slowed because of limited sites for
hydroelectric power dams. Enter Riverbank Power Corporation, with
its simple idea: combine two well- established technologies into
one. First, use standard deep mining techniques to create a large
cavern
8 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
2,000 feet deep, under a body of water such as a river or abandoned
quarry. Then, install 4 gigantic 250 MW hydroelectric turbines at
the bottom of shafts, for a massive 1,000 MW power supply available
on demand. When power is needed, let water fall down the shafts and
generate power. When renewable power is available, pump the water
back up.
Riverbank Power is now actively exploring 15 sites in the U.S. and
Canada, for selection of its first five 1,000 MW pumped hydro
(AquabankTM) facilities. Wiscasset, ME is high on the list, where
Riverbank has already performed successful bore hole tests of the
underlying rock. The Wiscasset site is very symbolic, as it is the
home of the former Maine Yankee nuclear power plant, decommissioned
more than a decade ago. A boon to Riverbank Power is the site is
still set up to connect directly to the transmission grid.
Source: Riverbank Power Costs. Because Riverbank Power has to dig
out its own cavern, its cost to construct is significantly higher
than a CAES plant -- estimated at $2 Billion for the 1,000 MW
facilities, or roughly $2,000/kW. Also, instead of dozens or
hundreds of hours of storage, Riverbank plants are designed to run
for 6 continuous hours before the water would need to be pumped
back up. The timetable is good for hour-to-hour or minute-to-
minute fluctuations but not long stretches with no wind or sun.
Riverbank is confident of its business plan, and is not asking for
taxpayer or utility dollars. Its turbines use no fossil fuels, and
the facility should last 100 years. The company plans to buy power
at cheap prices, and sell power when it is needed more, at a higher
price. If it does that for 100 years, the Company feels it should
pay for the initial $2 Billion investment many times over, while
creating jobs and giving green energy developers a solid market for
their power. ___________________.
EEEnnnvvviiirrrooonnnmmmeeennnttt Opinion
Jo Elg and Will Hart: Dam-breaching will hurt climate - and may not
help fish READER'S VIEW ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT BY JO ELG AND WILL
HART - Idaho Statesman, 08/29/09 For the past several weeks,
Idahoans have read many stories about salmon recovery, hydropower
and biological opinions. You have seen newspapers across the
Pacific Northwest advocate for dam breaching, quote retired
scientists, politicians, judges and environmental activists.
Unfortunately, the opinions and needs of the hard-working citizens
of Idaho and bordering states who count on the clean,
emission-free, reliable and affordable power that the dams provide
are more often than not left out of these articles. Over 120,000
Idahoans have their electricity needs met by member utilities of
the Idaho Consumer-owned Utilities Association (ICUA). Farmers,
ranchers, hospitals, schools, churches, and businesses large and
small rely on the rural electric cooperatives and municipal power
companies who make up the membership of ICUA. Collectively, ICUA
can be considered the second largest utility in Idaho based on the
number of customers served. ICUA is extremely concerned that our
ability to continue to provide clean, reliable, and affordable
power to our friends and neighbors will be drastically reduced and
the cost drastically increased if the will of those minority
interests who favor removing the Snake River dams comes to
fruition. Our members also are
9 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
concerned that the unprecedented billions of dollars of their
customers' money that has been used effectively over the past
decades to provide for fish recovery will have been spent in vain
if the dams are destroyed. In order to make additional fish
recovery progress and despite the additional investment of billions
of dollars that will be committed by our members, ICUA supports the
2008 Federal Biological Opinion (BiOp) on Columbia and Snake River
hydro operations. The BiOp was crafted through an unprecedented
collaborative process including the majority of affected states,
treaty and non-treaty tribes and the federal government. The
science behind the BiOp is sound. All factors that might limit
survival of these complex species were analyzed, including factors
throughout their life cycle from freshwater to the ocean and back.
The members of ICUA also care about the environment. Public power
in Idaho has been on the forefront in providing energy efficiency
programs for our members and in pursuing additional "green" power
resources including wind, solar and biomass. We find it ironic in a
time where there is much debate and anxiety regarding global
climate change that any person, organization or news outlet that
shares our environmental concerns would be in favor of eliminating
this clean, renewable emission-free source of power. If the dams
are eliminated, an estimated additional 4.4 million tons of carbon
dioxide would be released into the atmosphere every year. That
doesn't include the emissions from the thousands of trucks that
would be required to move the multitude of products that are now
shipped by barge down the rivers. Consumers are saying "enough" to
those interests who are more committed to making political
statements and causing additional regional strife and controversy
than they are in supporting sound science for fish recovery and
clean renewable power for our state. We urge our congressional
delegation to maintain their long-standing support of this critical
power source. Together, the collaborative process has brought us to
the precipice of a solution. Let us now see it through for the
benefit of the fish, our environment and our economy. Jo Elg is
president of Idaho
Mont. SC orders hearings on Kerr Dam lawsuit BY CHRIS RIZO, AUGUST
29, 2009, LegalNewsLine.com Consumer-Owned Utilities Association
and Will Hart is executive director of the Idaho Consumer- owned
Utilities Association. HELENA, Mont. (Legal Newsline) -- The
Montana Supreme Court has ordered new proceedings on a lawsuit
against electric utility PPL Montana over its management of Kerr
Dam. The 1999 class action lawsuit was filed by a group of
landowners in Flathead Lake, Mont., who allege that PPL Montana and
its predecessor Montana Power Co. caused shoreline erosion by
keeping the lake too full. For its part, PPL Montana has argued
that the properties in question are subject to longstanding
easements that allow the dam operator to flood, sub-irrigate, drain
or otherwise affect their properties with the waters of Flathead
Lake, the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi.
MPC managed and operated Kerr Dam until December 1999, when it
conveyed its interest to PPL Montana LLC. At trial, the District
Court of the Eleventh Judicial District ruled in favor of PPL
Montana, finding that the lands are subject to easements. Now, the
state high court says hearings are in order to determine if
released lake water caused unreasonable damage. "Nothing in the
easement language establishes a limiting contour line or ceiling at
2,893 feet above mean sea level on each Landowner's parcel such
that all 'flooding, sub-irrigating, draining, or otherwise
affecting' must occur below this elevation," the court said. As for
the lawsuit's class action status, the state Supreme Court on
Tuesday vacated the district court's order certifying the case, and
has asked the trial court to reconsider whether class action status
should be granted. PPL Montana has argued that the class action
status should not remain since PPL Montana took over management of
Kerr Dam from Montana Power Co., the original defendant in the
case. Collaborating for salmon by Scott Corwin and John Saven,
guest opinion, August 31, 2009 As policymakers grapple with climate
change proposals, one aspect is clear to citizens in the Northwest:
We are blessed with the largest clean and renewable power system in
the country. The Columbia and Snake River dams bring enormous
economic and environmental benefit to our region and the nation.
And the dams do this while serving the needs of salmon, navigation,
flood control, power, irrigation and recreation. In this light,
it's frustrating to see those outside our region preaching the
destruction of these dams in the name of salmon. The timing of
these attacks is transparent -- the Obama administration currently
is reviewing the plan for operating the federal hydro system, and
review of that plan is pending in U.S. District Court. A
claim
10 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
among the dam-breaching proponents is that there has not been
adequate collaboration on the plan. But the only ones making that
claim are the few who did not get their way on extreme measures
they proposed. Meanwhile, federal agencies have worked for years
with the Northwest states and tribes to create the most thorough
and comprehensive approach to species recovery ever seen. This so-
called "biological opinion" under the Endangered Species Act is
based on the best available science, and the effort over the past
decade has helped push the best science to even higher levels of
understanding of the needs of these important fish. Throughout both
the Clinton and Bush administrations, what the best independent
scientists found was that breaching dams was not necessary in order
to enhance salmon runs. Rather, they proposed a reasoned approach
incorporating measures for hydro passage, harvest impacts, hatchery
practices and habitat improvement. Because salmon runs are impacted
by all these areas, this approach just makes sense. Another
inconvenient fact for the dam-breaching proponents is that fish
passage through the hydro system has improved greatly, and
continues to improve all the time with new information and
technology. Salmon returning to the Columbia River have increased
from less than 500,000 fish passing Bonneville Dam in 1938 to well
over 1 million fish each year. With respect to the runs that have
been of particular focus lately, Snake River sockeye have seen
their highest returns in decades, and Snake River fall Chinook
returns are meeting recovery goals and are orders of magnitude
higher than during the 1990s when much of this effort got underway.
Residents living in cities and towns served with clean, renewable
hydroelectric power generated in the Columbia and Snake Rivers have
paid for this success. Through power rates paid to consumer-owned
utilities served by Bonneville Power Administration, these
electricity consumers have funded an unprecedented effort that
should and must continue. The pieces are in place for further
success if this extraordinary regional collaboration for salmon is
allowed to move forward. Scott Corwin is executive director of the
Public Power Council. John Saven is chief executive officer of the
Northwest Requirements Utilities. 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.
i 9/11/2009
“Good wine is a necessity of life.” - -Thomas Jefferson Ron’s wine
pick of the week: Errazuriz Estate Chardonnay (Chile) 2007 “No
nation was ever drunk when wine was cheap.” - - Thomas Jefferson
OOOttthhheeerrr SSStttuuuffffff::: (Oh oh, NIMBY has arrived. Ya
gotta admit a bunch of wind mills or solar panels aren’t a thing of
beauty. And, you can’t go fishing or boat riding on those ugly
ducklings. Come to think of it, playing on a coal pile like we did
when we were kids is not a good idea either.) Renewable Energy,
Meet the New Nimbys Solar and Wind-Power Proposals Draw Opposition
From Residents Fearing Visual Blight; a Dilemma for Some
Environmentalists September 3, 2009, Wall Street Journal
Technology changes, but human nature doesn't. Environmentally
friendly energy projects are running into the same cries of "not in
my backyard" that stymied a previous generation of
alternative-power efforts. Even as Americans tell pollsters they
are eager for alternatives to fossil fuel, some are fighting
proposals for solar and wind projects and for the thousands of
miles of transmission lines that would be needed to carry the
cleaner energy to market. The protests echo grass-roots opposition
that has blocked nuclear plants and energy-producing trash
incinerators for decades. The new backlash is fueled by worries
that renewable-energy projects would occupy vast amounts of land to
produce significant amounts of power.
Either renewable projects would have to be centralized and
sprawling, covering many square miles apiece, or they would need to
be distributed in pieces across millions of rooftops and lawns.
Renewable-energy projects would reduce pollution and combat climate
change. The trade-off is that many more people would have to see
wind turbines, solar panels and other energy infrastructure near
their homes in order to diminish the need for coal mines and other
fossil-fuel facilities. "Anywhere I walked on this property, we'd
be able to view them and we'd be able to hear them," says Tina
FitzGerald, who lives with her family on a 12-acre Vermont farm
near where a developer has proposed erecting five wind turbines,
each about 400 feet tall. "There should be a place for these --
someplace that isn't going to impact families quite
SSoommee DDaamm –– HHyyddrroo NNeewwss aanndd OOtthheerr
SSttuuffff
Quote of Note: “A successful person is one who can lay a firm
foundation with the
bricks that others throw at him or her." --David Brinkley
2 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
so much." In California, which is considering a goal of producing a
third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, some
residents are fighting proposals to build vast solar-energy plants
in the Mojave Desert, one of the most remote and reliably sunny
spots in the U.S. Up and down the East Coast, meanwhile, residents
are opposing plans for wind farms, fearing they will mar views and
lower property values. Americans aren't alone in their
skittishness. In the U.K., which also aims to generate about
one-third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, local
opposition is holding up proposed wind projects. Resistance in
Ontario led the Canadian province to pass legislation in May
establishing a framework for locating renewable-energy sites; local
opponents will be able to challenge projects on environmental or
safety grounds, but not for aesthetic reasons. In a report last
year, the Paris-based International Energy Agency cited "not in my
backyard" sentiment as among the top five threats to the growth of
renewable energy world-wide. The U.S. has to make a tough choice,
says Jason Grumet, president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a
Washington think tank that supports giving the federal
government more authority to push renewable-energy projects
forward. That will be necessary, he says, to curb the country's
dependence on foreign oil and its greenhouse-gas emissions. "You
have to ask yourself: At what point do priority national interests
need to override local goals?" The clash over whether it is more
important to produce nonpolluting domestic energy or to protect
environmentally valuable places poses a dilemma for some longtime
activists. Calvin French, a 72-year-old retired high school English
teacher, has belonged to the Sierra Club all his adult life.
Leaders of the environmental group are working with California
officials to help pick sites for big renewable-energy transmission
lines as a way to combat climate change. But many club members,
including Mr. French, want to protect their favorite places.
His battlefield is the Carrizo Plain, a 460-square-mile swath of
grassland about 115 miles north of Los Angeles that is traversed by
the San Andreas Fault. The parched, rugged expanse is home to
species including the endangered kit fox and the antelope-like
pronghorn. It also is one of the most alluring spots for solar
panels in the nation's most populous state. There is prolific
sunlight. Much of the land has been subdivided into farms, meaning
that acreage no longer can be defended as untouched. And there is a
high- voltage line nearby, with capacity to carry solar power to
the public. Amid local opposition, county and state officials for
months have been mulling three big solar-energy projects that
together would amount to some of the biggest solar arrays in the
world. "Big things like global warming" are difficult to
understand, says Mr. French. "But you can go out into a beautiful
place and say, 'This needs to be protected.' That's easy to
understand." Around the world, countries that have rolled out
fossil-fuel alternatives most aggressively have used heavy- handed
government action to address such sentiment. France, for example,
now produces about 80% of its electricity from nuclear energy. But
France's national government manages the country's nuclear-
construction program, and it has pushed ahead for decades despite
sometimes-heated public protests. Lawmakers in the U.S. Congress
now are fighting over how much power the federal government should
have in getting energy projects built. Many renewable-energy
proponents say a massive network of new transmission wires would
have to be built to bring large supplies of renewable power to
population centers. A Senate committee passed a bill in June that
would give the federal government authority to decide where to put
new power lines if states, which now make those decisions, move too
slowly. The drive for more federal control has the support of many
executives in the electric industry, who say the new transmission
lines should be available for energy from all sources, including
fossil fuel. But there is plenty of opposition to giving Washington
that power. Some lawmakers from densely populated states don't want
big new transmission lines running through their land. Many state
utility regulators also object to an increased federal push. Caught
in the middle are states where renewable energy suddenly is big
business. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal likens his state's wind
boom to the coal rush that hit Wyoming three decades ago in the
wake of an energy shock. At a wind-energy conference in Wyoming
last month, Gov. Freudenthal, a Democrat, delivered a stern warning
to wind-turbine developers, telling them to make sure their
projects don't harm a small bird called the sage grouse. "What I
have is an obsession with making sure that the economy of this
state continues to function, and it won't if that bird gets
listed," according to his office's
3 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
transcript of his remarks. Anything that nudges the sage grouse
toward the federal government's list of endangered species, he
explained, would trigger land-use restrictions that would
jeopardize Wyoming's main economic engine: the production of coal,
oil and natural gas. "Generally in this state, we support economic
development," he told the wind developers. But "when all of a
sudden it ends up in our backyard, our view changes a lot."
DDDaaammmsss (Well, maybe some of the facts are a little off
target, but he’s gotta point) Dam busters Turlock Journal, Sept. 1,
2009 In the last 12 years, over 400 hydroelectric dams and their
associated reservoirs have been dismantled in the United States of
America. While China is building dams all over the place, the
United States is tearing them down. Why? The reason given for the
destruction of our dams is to restore wild rivers and endangered
salmon and other species. In short, it’s to restore the environment
to its original natural state. But global warming is a reality. The
primary cause of global warming is the burning of fossil fuels. The
associated rise of sea levels and unstable weather patterns are
caused by heat and burnt gases trapped in the earth’s atmosphere.
The global ice sheets are melting off of continental land mass and
thus are adding water volume to the sea. The willful destruction of
hydroelectric dams and reservoirs contribute to global warming, not
diminish it. Because electrical power consumers have to then buy
their power from fossil fuel powered plants. There has been no new
nuclear power plants built in the United States in 30 years. The
destruction of the reservoirs causes increases in surface
temperatures, a decrease in water quality and an increase in
reliance on subsurface water sources, which often contain chemical
contaminates. Thus there will be an increase in cancer rates.
People like to gather around reservoirs for recreation. They like
to camp. It’s one of the cheapest forms of recreation today.
Destroying reservoirs forces campers and boaters to concentrate
around other natural and man-made lakes. People have to drive
further and spend more on gas and such to restore endangered salmon
species. One has to remember that international
corporate-controlled fishing fleets over-fish the oceans and
decrease the numbers of endangered salmon species returning to
their natural spawning streams and rivers. By increasing salmon
hatcheries and encouraging more commercial fish farms, fewer
species of salmon will go extinct. Creating artificial water
channels which bypass natural streams down stream of hydroelectric
dams should end damage to spawning areas and see more returning
fish. Also, increased efforts by environmentalists to move the
large salmon beyond reach of dam turbines will insure species
survival. One has to wonder if the wholesale destruction of
America’s clean and paid for hydroelectric industry by the “dam
busters” is really for the salmon and natural environment, or if it
is really for the international corporate fossil fuel industry. —
Michael Maggetti (Very long article, but interesting for dam safety
folks) Dam Safety: Investigating Failures of Post-Tensioned Anchors
ANCHORBOLTS.BLOGSPOT.COM, SEPTEMBER 2, 2009 FULL ARTILE:
HTTP://ANCHORBOLTS.BLOGSPOT.COM/2009/09/DAM-SAFETY-INVESTIGATING-FAILURES-
OF.HTML WA considers possible dam failure Water seeping through
Green River dam prompts warnings, disaster planning BY ZACHARY
HOFFMAN | SEATTLE | September 3, 2009, disasternews.net If a
Washington State dam fails this winter, the resulting flood could
cause more than $3 billion in damage to residents and businesses in
the Green River Valley say officials who are concerned about water
now leaking through the Howard Hanson Dam. The dam is currently
only able to operate at 75 percent capacity due to increased
seepage caused by record rainfall from last January. If prolonged
rains come again this year the
4 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
excess water could surge down river to areas that have not seen
flooding since the dam was built. “An entire generation has lived
without flooding,” said Lynne Miller of King County Emergency
Management. “There hasn’t been any flooding damage because of the
dam and the levees for 50 years now.” Patricia Graesser of the US
Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) said, “We raised water levels to
typical flood levels (tiered pool raise); we found that above 1155
feet above sea level the rate of seepage was significantly higher.”
The question for cities in the Green River Valley is would it be
fiscally sound to temporarily move critical infrastructure and
people during flood
season? The valley could lose $46 million a day in economic losses.
On Monday, the King County Council gave Executive Kurt Triplett the
ability to declare a state of emergency before floodwaters come
into the valley. Miller said, “We have a pre-comprehensive help
outreach strategy, compiling brochures and letters to give
resources about the dam and flooding, pushing flood insurance and
coordinating personal alert systems -- every landline could get a
phone call.” The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is also
involved in public outreach by launching a very aggressive flood
insurance campaign, not only to the green river valley, but also to
those who suffer from flooding across the state. Family Insurance
Agency’s Michael McCaughan in Kent, WA said in years past no one
bought flood insurance unless it was mandated; this week he has
sold 12 policies. “There are a lot of people living in the valley
who are not doing anything about it, McCaughan said. “There are
25,000 people, and I sold 12.” One Farm Bureau Insurance agent
said, when the waters rise people will flock to agents to buy
policies, but they do not realize that there is a 30-day waiting
period. It is like trying to buy life insurance after you have been
diagnosed with terminal cancer. Graesser said, “The dam is an
earthen dam and on the right side (right abutment) the dam is tied
into landslide material, water moves through that material and it
always has.” “The landslide material is made up of big boulders,
sand, clay, pebbles and all sorts of material; gaps are there,”
said Graesser. “We don’t want water to move through the abutment
and move material.” Injecting grout slurry into the gaps in the
abutment will help temporarily fix the excessive seepage while more
permanent fixes are being explored. “If the dam itself (the
constructed structure) was the problem, we have construction
drawings and specs to know the problem and be able to fix it,”
Graesser said. “If we don’t get a big flood this year we need to
prepare for one next year,” said Miller. “Next year we are going to
be talking about this again, every year until there is a permanent
fix we’ll be talking about this.” Nearby, in Walla Walla, WA the
USACE has also classified the seepage problem at the Mill Creek Dam
as Class 1 “urgent and compelling.” During normal operations the
reservoir contains only five to 10 percent of capacity and there is
no evidence to suggest an emergency situation exists. “The Corps is
screening all of its (635) dams and assigning safety classification
ratings. The new dam safety classification system, entitled Dam
Safety Action Category (DSAC), spotlights dams and navigation locks
with compelling problems first,” according to a USACE news release.
The Clearwater Dam in Missouri is another dam that has been the
Class 1 rating through the DSAC. Ratings under the DSAC range from
1 to 5, DSAC-5 being the safest. PA DEP Completes Enhanced
Inspections of 42 Coal Facilities, No Major Structural Problems
Found reuters.com, Sep 3, 2009 Inspections Ordered in Wake of
Tennessee Ash Spill HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 3
/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- DEP dam safety inspectors found no major
structural problems during enhanced inspections of 42 coal ash,
slurry and waste impoundments around the state, Environmental
Protection Secretary John Hanger reported today. Hanger ordered the
inspections to ensure the structures are being maintained and
operated safely and in compliance with Pennsylvania's dam safety
regulations following the sudden collapse of two coal ash
impoundments in Tennessee last December. The accident flooded
nearby homes and fouled miles of waterways and several hundred
acres of farmland. "Pennsylvania has one of the most comprehensive
dam safety programs in the country, with strict regulations for the
construction, inspection and maintenance of these structures, and a
program of regular
5 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
inspections for dams that could endanger lives and property in the
event of a failure," Hanger said. "I ordered that these enhanced
inspections in addition to regularly scheduled inspections for
Pennsylvania's coal ash and other waste impoundments so that we can
reassure the public that these facilities are being monitored and
maintained in good condition." Under Pennsylvania law, dams and
impoundments that could endanger downstream residents in the event
of collapse are classified as "high-hazard" dams and must be
inspected annually by a professional engineer hired by the owner.
In addition, these dams are inspected annually by a DEP dam safety
inspector. High hazard dam owners must create and maintain a
current emergency action plan that provides a blueprint for the dam
operator and local and county emergency management officials to
respond to structural or other problems at the dam. In January, DEP
began conducting inspections of 10 coal ash basins that were large
enough to require dam permits and a Westmoreland County dam that
contains chemical sludge. Those inspections revealed that the dam
inspection reports were up to date and that no significant
structural problems were evident at these impoundments. The
department recently completed inspections of 31 additional
impoundments, most of which contain coal slurry. Although some
common maintenance issues were noted at some dams, no serious
structural or operation problems were discovered. The department is
currently reviewing the inspection reports and will assist dam
owners with correcting any potential safety or structural problems
that may be identified. In addition, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency is conducting independent inspections of coal ash
storage facilities nationwide and will inspect three small coal ash
basins at the Bruce Mansfield power plant in Beaver County and the
coal ash basins at the Martins Creek power plant in Northampton
County. DEP dam safety inspectors will accompany EPA on these
inspections. DEP regulates approximately 3,200 dams in
Pennsylvania. (This should get your “goat”) Dam Goats
allthingsgoat.com, September 5, 2009
ATLANTA, Ga. — Jen Davis’ daily commute has been enlivened since
she discovered the goats on a steep and rocky hillside where water
exits Lake Lanier’s Buford Dam. “It just seemed so out of place out
in the ‘burbs! So I started to look for them every morning,” Davis
said. “They’re not always visible, and I didn’t know if I just
couldn’t see them or if they were kept like zoo animals and herded
inside for the night.” When an online search revealed no
information about the goats, Davis persevered and found a contact
within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, charged with maintaining
the dam. She learned the goats have lived on the dam for vegetation
control since it was built in 1956 on the Chattahoochee River as a
flood control project, in large part to protect Metro Atlanta.
Davis says the Corps keeps between four and eight mixed-breed does
on the dam, supplying them with water and additional food, and
bringing in a buck when the herd size needs to be increased.
“Several goats can be found grazing, leaping, or laying about the
rocks, taking advantage of the overhangs for shelter, said Davis,
who Twitters under the name Jend420. Davis’ enthusiasm for the
little-known goats recently led her to create this Facebook Page
dedicated to learning more about, and preserving, the goats’ three-
decade history. She’s asking anyone with photos and reported
sightings to drop a note to her on Twitter, or to the goats’ page,
and she welcomes one and all who share her fascination with Buford
Dam’s best-kept secret. (Well, this is interesting. Duh, where do
people think those great rides in a raft come from? When the
weather is nice, it’s probably low water and good to have a dam
spike the flows.) RAFTING COMPANIES SAY DAM REMOVAL COULD HURT
BUSINESS mailtribune.com, September 04, 2009 Local whitewater
rafting companies worry that plans to remove dams from the Klamath
River could put some of their business under water. PacifiCorp, a
utility company that owns four hydroelectric dams on the river, is
in the middle of closed-door talks with federal energy officials
and representatives from Oregon and California concerning the fate
of the dams. Recent talks have suggested a willingness on
PacifiCorp's part to
6 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
remove them as part of an effort to restore fish and wildlife to
the Klamath Basin. Among the interested parties not involved in
those talks, however, is Bart Baldwin, co-owner of Noah's Rafting
and Fishing Trips in Ashland. The developments worry Baldwin, who
says removing the J.C. Boyle Dam, northernmost of the PacifiCorp
dams, would deal a huge blow to local rafting businesses. The dam
generates much of the water current necessary to support high-class
rapids to the south. Were they to be removed, the water level would
rise, but the rapids would be effectively buried. While noting he's
not a dam supporter, Baldwin said, "The bottom line is, if the dams
come out it would be a pretty big hit for us." Twenty miles west of
Klamath Falls, the dam sits at the mouth of the John Boyle
Reservoir on the Upper Klamath River. From May through October,
Noah's Rafting runs one- and two-day whitewater excursions below
the reservoir's mouth. Baldwin called the area "unique." "It's
probably the best whitewater day trip for a family that you can
take in this region," he said. "There really isn't much that you
can compare it to." Another local rafting company, Kokopelli River
Guides, views the situation in a similar light. Though owner Matt
Dopp does not think the dam removal project would be drastic enough
to push rafting companies out of business, he said dam workers
generate 1,500 cubic feet of water per second to bolster the
river's current, which puts the stretch of river in a league of its
own when it comes to whitewater rafting. No firm deadline is in
place to conclude the negotiations, which have been ongoing since
early in the year. (I’m going squeal on these people and tell
American Rivers about this one.) Low Dam on Beaver Creek Helena
National Forest, Lewis & Clark County, Montana flickr.com,
9/6/09 [water is impounded here so it can be diverted for use in
watering cattle.]
HHHyyydddrrrooo Microhydro lands in the San Juans The Durango
Telegraph, September 3, 2009 Ouray, CO A new take on a tried and
true source of renewable energy is coming to the far side of the
San Juan Mountains. Town officials in Ouray hope to secure a
$20,000 grant that will allow them to generate electricity from the
power of falling water. Ouray has had one hydroelectric plant since
the 1880s, one of the four longest-continuously operating plants in
the world. It generates 800 kilowatts, which used to be enough to
supply much of the town’s electrical needs. But Ouray’s electrical
use has grown in recent years. To help reduce reliance upon
coal-generated electricity, the town has taken several measures.
First it replaced incandescent lights with LEDs, which use far less
electricity and last considerably longer. Next, the town hopes to
harness the power of gravity through a small hydroelectric plant,
called a microhydro unit. The proposed plant could generate 20
kilowatts of electricity and would offset the energy required to
pump water from the town’s geothermally heated hot springs through
a water purifier.
7 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
Mayor Bob Risch, who ran for office on the platform of making the
town “energy responsible,” says it costs $2,000 a month to operate
the pump. The town, he said, hopes to save $20,000 annually through
installation of the microhydro unit. Meanwhile, work continues on a
bigger hydroelectric plant in Aspen, one able to produce 5.5
million kilowatt hours annually. Aspen voters agreed to issue $5.5
million in bonds to pay for the facility on Castle Creek. The Aspen
Times says that when the hydroelectric plant goes into production,
likely late next year, it will reduce the community’s carbon
footprint by 0.6 percent. At a recent meeting of several mayors
from Southwest Colorado, including those from Ouray and Telluride,
electrical providers noted that there are many new ideas for
electrical generation. However, they added that more efficient use
of existing electricity is even more important. “We have a
responsibility to serve our members’ demands,” said Wes Perrin, a
Telluride resident and president of the Board of Directors for San
Miguel Power Authority. “But, if we can make members more aware of
energy efficiency, we can lessen that demand.”
(Whoa, not so fast – the Corps of Engineers will pay the bill. And,
the judge gave them 8 % on their money. Does anyone know where I
can buy a 5 year CD at that rate?) Plaintiffs awarded millions
Santee Cooper flooded land when building plant BY Nadine Parks, The
Post and Courier, September 5, 2009 J. Edward Bell was a young
attorney when he stood on the banks of the Santee River in the
1980s to survey the land after an electric-generating hydroelectric
plant was turned on in St. Stephen and nearly 60 waterfront
properties flooded. About 40,000 acres -- some of the most
beautiful property in the state -- were now under water,
devastating the farmers, poor and elderly who lived there, the
Georgetown attorney said. Houses and cabins floated away, vegetable
gardens were ruined, nearly 3,000 boar drowned and timber rotted
and toppled over. The property still floods to this day. The
property owners in Georgetown, Berkeley and Williamsburg counties
must have thought the rookie attorney was the only one who would
take their case, he said, and he told them they couldn't fight the
government. He took the case anyway. On Friday, more than two
decades later, U.S. District Judge Patrick Duffy ruled against
Santee Cooper and for the property owners. He awarded a group of
them, including a Mount Pleasant man and two sisters from
Charleston, about $55 million plus 8 percent interest, compounded
each year since the state-owned utility fired up the plant in 1985.
The total figure could reach in the hundreds of millions. Several
years ago, a judge ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
which built the plant, had to reimburse Santee Cooper for any
lawsuit payments, Bell said. So, in the end, the federal government
will foot the bill. "They (power company officials) haven't lost
anything. They haven't learned anything, and they made millions of
dollars doing it, all on the backs of the landowners," Bell said. A
spokeswoman and an attorney for Santee Cooper weren't available
Friday night for comment. It's the second judgment against the
company over flooding of property downriver from the hydroelectric
plant at Lake Moultrie. The plant's massive turbines generate
electricity and push water down the river, causing it to rise, Bell
said. The idea was to also cut the volume of water flowing into
Charleston Harbor. "When men try to take over God's work, they
don't seem to get it right," the lawyer said. About seven other
landowners won a previous settlement for nearly $14 million, and
another group of about a dozen land owners are awaiting their turn
in court, Bell said. Some of Bell's clients dropped out or died
years ago, fighting against the water and never seeing their due.
Friday's victory for one group is bittersweet, Bell said. "Finally,
it’s over (for them)," he said. "The amount of money really is very
small when you think of something over 25 years."
WWWaaattteeerrr (It’s scary when CA politics makes National
politics look efficient) Slow start to negotiations for water
legislation Leaders have trouble deciding who will serve on water
panel. Sep. 01, 2009, By E.J. Schultz, Fresno Bee
8 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
SACRAMENTO -- With only 10 days to go in the session, state
lawmakers are taking a final stab at solving California's water
woes. But the last-minute push for legislation got off to an
inauspicious start Tuesday after leaders had trouble deciding who
would serve on a newly formed committee charged with drafting a
plan. Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, announced his
members for the joint Assembly-Senate 14- member panel in the
morning. He promised to make water his top priority in the
remaining days of session, which ends on Sept. 11. "Water is the
best opportunity we have right now to show that we can do
something
big," said Steinberg, who named himself as the panel's leader.
"Maybe we won't get it done in the next 10 days," he added, "but
I'm sure going to do my darnedest." But the Assembly delayed its
announcement of who would serve on the committee, forcing the
postponement of the first meeting until today. Speaker Karen Bass,
D-Los Angeles, eventually decided to name herself to the panel,
which includes Valley Sens. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, and Dean
Florez, D-Shafter. The delay meant one less day to craft a solution
that has eluded Republicans and Democrats for years. The conference
committee must complete its plan by next Tuesday. It would then
need approval of the full Assembly and Senate. "This is a
longshot," said Assembly Member Tom Berryhill, R-Modesto. But we
"desperately need something to happen to move this forward."
Democrats, who control the conference committee, are pushing for an
independent council to oversee the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta,
the source of farm and drinking water for much of the state.
Republicans are skeptical about creating such a council, which they
fear would block a proposed canal that would pump water around the
delta southward. Delta residents, who strongly oppose the canal,
look at the council very differently -- they worry its sole mission
would be to build a canal. The Schwarzenegger administration
believes it has authority to build the canal -- known in the water
world as "conveyance" -- but approval by the proposed council would
give the project momentum. Water users, including Valley farmers,
have said they are willing to pick up the tab for the canal, which
would cost billions of dollars. State water officials already are
studying various alternatives, including a canal around the delta
or a tunnel under it. Steinberg said "conveyance must be a part of
this package," but "what the recommended method or mode of
conveyance still remains to be seen." Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
says he won't sign any bills that don't include a bond to pay for
water projects such as dams, which have long been favored by
Republicans but opposed by Democrats. Previous bond proposals have
run near $10 billion. But Democratic leaders -- if they agree to a
bond at all -- likely will push for a smaller dollar amount.
Several Latino Democrats, including Florez, have bucked more
liberal members in pushing for a bond, which would have to be
approved by voters. They have been spurred on by the Latino Water
Coalition, a Valley- based group pushing for new dams and canals
that they say are needed to secure water for farms and jobs for
farmworkers. But on Tuesday, a union coalition that includes the
United Farm Workers union appeared to jump into the battle on the
other side. The "Change to Win" coalition, which also includes the
Teamsters and other unions, on Monday gave $1 million to the
"United Farm Workers' Committee to Oppose State Water Bonds,"
according to campaign filings. The UFW could not be reached for
comment late Tuesday afternoon. Adam Mendelsohn, a Schwarzenegger
political adviser, speculated that the donation was an
"intimidation tactic" meant to get the governor to sign a bill on
his desk that would make it easier for farmworkers to join unions.
The governor has vetoed similar "card check" bills in years past.
"The fact that they would oppose a water bond to get a union
organizing bill signed is totally inappropriate," Mendelsohn said.
North Platte River is lake’s lifeblood By David Hendee,
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER, September 6, 2009 CASPER, Wyo. — The
North Platte River is one of the most tightly harnessed streams in
the West. Saddled with a series of dams, the North Platte provides
irrigation water from central Wyoming to central Nebraska from more
than 2,000 miles of canals and ditches. “It’s complicated
plumbing,’’ said John Lawson, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation engineer
in charge of federal dams on the North Platte. It’s also vital
plumbing to western Nebraska’s Lake McConaughy, the largest
reservoir on the river. North Platte water — whether it’s trickling
runoff from irrigated cropland along the old Oregon Trail or flood
flows from melting snow in the Rocky Mountains — is the lifeblood
of Lake McConaughy.
9 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
Born in the Rockies, the North Platte tumbles northward from
Colorado and flows through dams in central Wyoming’s mountain
valleys and granite canyons. Then it arcs southeasterly into
Nebraska, passes through McConaughy, joins the South Platte and
creates the Platte River. Lawson regulates the North Platte’s flow
by raising or lowering reservoir levels. The keystone of the system
is 100-year-old Pathfinder Dam. Completed in 1909, Pathfinder was
one of the first dams built under a mandate by President Theodore
Roosevelt to reclaim the arid and semi-arid West with farmland
irrigated by water stored in mountain reservoirs. Farmers in
Nebraska’s North Platte valley were among the first beneficiaries
of reclamation water. Like McConaughy, Pathfinder and other Wyoming
reservoirs sustained big drought declines during the past decade.
But better mountain snowpacks started to replenish the reservoirs
in recent years. Lawson has a hunch that more water could be
heading out of the Rockies and into McConaughy next year. “This has
been such an unusually cool year that if we go into fall cool and
wet, it could be an indicator that we may have a fairly good year
coming up,’’ he said. “But we’ve had two unusually strong snowpack
years, and history says the next year drops off. So who knows?”
Still, Lawson wants to avoid the nightmare of 1983 in which late
spring rainstorms hit a big snowpack, creating historic runoff that
caught the bureau with too much water in its reservoirs. Floodwater
surged down the North Platte into western Nebraska. Then the
Rockies had another big snowpack in 1984. Lawson is hedging his
bets by filling Pathfinder with more water than usual this fall,
lowering upstream Seminoe Reservoir in preparation for a big
snowmelt next spring. The Central Nebraska Public Power and
Irrigation District, the owner of McConaughy, hopes a big snowpack
this winter forces Lawson to evacuate water from the Wyoming
reservoirs to flow directly to Nebraska and refill McConaughy. “I
wouldn’t mind doing that as long as it’s not a repeat of 1983 and
’84,’’ Lawson said. “We are totally dependent on snowpack.’’
EEEnnnvvviiirrrooonnnmmmeeennnttt (Old - Long article) Full article
at:
http://naturalsystems.wordpress.com/2009/04/24/penobscot-river-restoration-trust/
Removal of dam from Maine river a success Posted ooriginally by:
PENOBSCOT RIVER RESTORATION TRUST, 4/24/09 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.
i 9/18/2009
“Good wine is a necessity of life.” - -Thomas Jefferson Ron’s wine
pick of the week: Strong Arms Shiraz 2007 “No nation was ever drunk
when wine was cheap.” - - Thomas Jefferson OOOttthhheeerrr
SSStttuuuffffff::: Short news week!
DDDaaammmsss EPA Releases Survey Results on Coal Ash Impoundments
09/08/2009, Contact Information: Latisha Petteway,
[email protected], 202-564-3191, 202-564-4355 WASHINGTON -
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is making information
publicly available from electric utilities on the management of
coal combustion residuals contained in surface impoundments and
similar management units. Following the coal ash spill at a
Tennessee Valley Authority facility in Kingston, Tenn., EPA
requested the information from electric utilities to inform an
assessment of the structural integrity of the surface impoundments.
The responses from electric utilities cover 584 units from 219
facilities. In addition, EPA is conducting on-site assessments of
the coal ash impoundments and ponds at electric utilities. EPA will
assess by the end of the calendar year all of the units that have a
dam hazard potential rating of "high" or "significant" in the
responses provided by electric utilities to EPA’s information
request. The hazard potential rating refers to the potential for
loss of life or damage if there is a dam failure. The ratings do
not refer to the structural stability of the dam. Dams assigned the
high hazard potential rating are those where failure or
mis-operation will probably cause loss of human life; dams assigned
a significant hazard potential rating are those where failure will
not probably cause loss of human life but can cause economic loss,
environmental damage, or damage to infrastructure (for example,
roads and bridges). The results of this effort will be posted on
EPA’s Web site as final reports are completed.
SSoommee DDaamm –– HHyyddrroo NNeewwss aanndd OOtthheerr
SSttuuffff
Quote of Note: “The democracy will cease to exist when you take
away from those
who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” - -
Thomas Jefferson
Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
(Excerpts- What was this guy thinking? This is no little pond in
the backyard? The guy seems a little loony!) Nashville at law: Feds
sue businessman over unauthorized dam Civil penalties sought
against Rich Roberts could top $27M -----------------------. By E.
Thomas Wood, nashvillepost.com, 09-14-2009
At $37,500 a day, defying the federal government can be an
expensive pastime. That’s how much the U.S. Department of Justice
is asking Nashville’s U.S. District Court to assess local
entrepreneur Richardson M. Roberts in civil penalties. More than
two years have passed since the Environmental Protection Agency
ordered him to restore wetlands and streams on a farm he owns in
Humphreys County where he built a large dam without state or
federal permits. With Roberts "liable for a civil penalty of up to
$37,500 for each day of each violation" of the Clean Water Act,
according to a lawsuit filed Sept. 4, the full bill could
theoretically top $27 million. Acting on behalf of the EPA, Justice
Officials filed the complaint four months after The City Paper
first reported that Roberts was under federal investigation. In
addition to civil penalties, the government is seeking court orders
prohibiting Roberts from "causing the
discharge of dredged or fill material or other pollutants into the
water" and making him pay for the "complete restoration of waters"
on his property. In 2005, Roberts built the large earthen dam in
the Egypt Hollow area, on a more than 2,000-acre tract of farm and
forest land north of Interstate 40 along State Route 230. It
created a 58-acre lake. He had spent years in discussions with the
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation about how he
might obtain a permit for the dam, but he never got one. Roberts
has built and sold two large companies in the field of electronic
payment processing. With business partner Greg Daily, he started
PMT Services Inc. in 1984 on less than $2,000 in capital. It grew
into a publicly traded company that sold out for $1.3 billion in
1998. Roberts' next venture, Verus Financial Management Inc., was
sold in 2006 for $325 million. It emerged in subsequent litigation
that Roberts had made more than $50 million from the Verus deal. He
faced a felony aggravated assault charge after a 2005 altercation
with a pedestrian who had yelled at him to slow down while motoring
down Windsor Drive. Roberts stopped his car, got out and hit the
man hard enough to fracture his skull and knock him unconscious.
Just before he was to go on trial in November 2007, Roberts was
allowed to plea down to a misdemeanor charge of simple assault
while paying an undisclosed amount in restitution to the victim.
The criminal case has since been expunged from his record. Roberts’
attorney, J.W. Luna of Nashville, would not comment on the new
lawsuit. But in April, he told The City Paper, “We believe the
thing was built where it should have been built and that a permit
wasn't needed there.” Three different environmental engineering
consultants hired by Roberts have concurred that the dam and lake
are exempt from permit requirements, Luna said. Assistant U.S.
Attorney Lisa S. Rivera is the government’s local counsel in the
case, filed by DoJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
---------- ----------------. (This one is news to me also. Always
thought it happened in Norway too – does anybody out there know
more, please let me know?) Juneau likely was pioneer in lake taps
Letter to the editor, September 15, 2009, juneauempire.com The
Sunday article on the Bart Lake part of the Lake Dorothy
hydroelectric project implied that lake tap technology was
pioneered in Norway. The problem with that statement is that more
than 90 years ago, when the Annex Lake project was under
construction, the engineer in charge, H.L. Wollenberg, wrote to
consulting hydroelectric engineer L. Jorgenson in San Francisco to
ask him if he knew of anyone who had successfully tapped a lake at
150 feet under the surface and not lost the water. He did not.
Annex Lake was successfully tapped Feb. 14, 1916. That lake is
supplying electric power to Juneau as you read this. Unless someone
comes up with an earlier date, Juneau was the pioneer in lake taps.
Albert Shaw, Juneau
Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program:
http://npdp.stanford.edu
HHHyyydddrrrooo August 31, 2009 - Three Hydropower Projects Achieve
LIHI Certification at LIHI's August Governing Board Meeting
(Do these projects look like they could be a great threat to the
environment? Then, in 5 years, they have to do it all over again!
And, why do consumers need assurance? Isn’t the assurance needed to
protect the environment?) Portland, Maine (August 27, 2009) -The
Low Impact Hydropower Institute (LIHI) Governing Board announced
today that the Harris Bridge Project in Virginia, the Dodge Falls
Project on the Connecticut River in New Hampshire and Vermont, and
the Tallassee Shoals Project in Georgia earned LIHI's Low Impact
Certification. The effective certification dates for the projects
are shown below photographs: LIHI certification means that the
hydropower facility has been found to meet or exceed the
Institute's Certification Criteria which address eight key areas:
river flows, water quality, fish passage and protection, watershed
protection, threatened and endangered species protection, cultural
resource protection, recreation, and facilities recommended for
removal. The certification term is 5-years. Certification is
designed to provide consumers with assurance that a facility has
avoided or reduced their environmental impacts pursuant to the Low
Impact Hydropower Institute's criteria. Each of the three Projects
received their certification with conditions that must be satisfied
to maintain certification; however the Board's vote to certify each
of the projects was unanimous.
(Excerpts) Quincy approves bonds for hydropower By Staff reports
Hannibal Courier-Post, Sep 09, 2009 Quincy, IL — Quincy aldermen
have approved almost $14 million in bonds for hydropower and two
other projects. The hydropower plan has been scaled back to $6.6
million from the original $10.2 million. The revised proposal would
put the focus on building turbines at Lock and Dam 21 at Quincy and
drop plans for construction at Lock and Dam 22 at Saverton. The new
turbine technology eventually could be considered at
Tallassee Shoals (Re-cert), Georgia (4/23/09 expires 4/23/14)
- Harris Bridge Virginia (1/17/09 expires 1/17/14)
Dodge Falls, Vermont/New Hampshire (6/1/09 expires 6/1/14)
Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: