Obama Stimulus went to “blue” dam instead of “red”
Folsom Dam got the stimulation that Oroville Dam needed.
As the water levels at the Oroville Dam continue to shrink, Californians under the initial evacuation order are streaming back their homes.
Now, officials are attempting to restore normal operations ahead of more rains.
Feeling confident they’ve created sufficient empty space in Lake Oroville for the time being, state Department of Water Resources officials said they reduced spillway outflows so they could address another looming challenge: restarting the dam’s hydroelectric plant, which can release additional water when operational. The plant was shut down last week after concrete and other debris from the spillway accumulated at the bottom of the dam, backing up water to the front door of the hydro facility.
DWR Acting Director Bill Croyle said the water level in the reservoir has receded enough since Sunday that it’s safe to reduce the spillway releases to allow crews to clear debris from the Feather River below the dam.
“The threat level – it is much, much, much lower than what it was on Sunday,” he told reporters at DWR’s regional office a few miles from the dam.
Dam personnel are attempting to repair the damage to the dam’s spillways ahead of the next set of storms.
The BIG sky crane ???? moving material to help with repairs at the emergency spillway #OrovilleDam #OrovilleSpillway pic.twitter.com/7bje2F1576
— CHP Quincy (@CHP_Quincy) February 15, 2017
Capt. Dan Olson, a spokesman from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said crews have been working around the clock to reinforce two damaged spillways at Oroville Dam before storms expected to begin as soon as Wednesday night. Officials are using drones to monitor the repairs and damage.
Here’s a snapshot of the resources involved in the repair effort:
- More than 125 construction crews
- 40 truckloads of aggregate rock
- 1,200 tons of rock deposited in eroded/damaged areas per hour
- Two helicopter drops of rocks, concrete and/or other materials every minute and a half
- A California National Guard Black Hawk helicopter is assisting with drops
Legal Insurrection readers recall that I noted that Oroville Dam lays in a deep red part of California. Despite the fact that issues with the structure were noted 12 years ago, Obama’s Stimulus Package monies for infrastructure were never sent for the needed repairs and enhancements.
However, one California dam get see several million Stimulus dollars, though it was in much better condition.
Over $22 million in stimulus funds did go toward safety improvements to the Folsom Dam, which was described as in “good shape” at the time the grant was awarded in 2009.
“The dam is in good shape but is starting to show its age,” a Bureau of Reclamation spokesperson said of the Folsom Dam at the time.
The stimulus was intended to “shore up the nation’s aging infrastructure,” said Rep. Mike Thompson, a Democrat who served California’s 1st District before being redistricted to the 5th.
The fact that the dam was in a “blue” county may have been a contributing factor.
Folsom Dam is in Sacramento County, which went blue in 2012.
And in 2016.
The voting pattern may also explain Governor Brown’s funding priorities as well.
A list of $100 billion of “key” infrastructure projects that California Gov. Jerry Brown’s office targeted this month for investment statewide includes raising Folsom Dam to improve flood protection but doesn’t specifically mention Oroville Dam.
…Most of the projects on the three-page wish list involve transportation-related projects, such as highways, bridges rail or transit.
I will simply point out that there were many Democrats who were forced to evacuate from during the Oroville Dam emergency. I certainly hope our state officials reflect on the fact that by making choices that benefit California citizens of all parties, they also help fellow party members.
Mahatma Ghandi once noted that action expresses priorities. The infrastructure priorities in California seem to be established an a very weak political foundation, indeed.
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Comments
I would hope that more than 40 truckloads of aggregate are used. Those are big holes to fill.
I certainly hope our state officials reflect on the fact that by making choices that benefit California citizens of all parties, they also help fellow party members.
Yep. High tide raises all boats, and all that.
But they’ll never see that. It’s a basic economic fact, which means it’s only apparent to us fiscal conservatives.
The iron fist with which the ‘rats rule California will never slow and they will never stop torturing and bleeding conservatives who foolishly still reside there.
Picture, if you will, the Arm & Hammer logo. For all real purposes, that’s the theme of the ‘rat-run California legislature.
Excuse my Indonesian.
“Dam Obama” (as in the failing Obama Oroville Dam”).
I suspect that if an actual investigation was carried out in to who got all that lovely stimulus money that it wouldn’t look good for Barry and his cronies!
Never fear though…the meeeeeja will be along aaaaaaaany second now to expose the corruption of the last administration. Any second now!
This is all on CA governor Moonbeam Brown.
The biggest scandal in all of this? – The estimate to fix the hole in the spillway: 100 to 200 million dollars. To fill hole in a spillway.
Imagine what corruption and waste must be going in in the pathetic $100 BILLION ‘high speed rail’ train to nowhere:
“The train will lose money and require a subsidy,” said Joseph Vranich, former president of the national High-Speed Rail Assn. “I have not seen a single number that has come out of the California high-speed rail organization that is credible. As a high-speed rail advocate, I am steamed.
“William Grindley, a former World Bank executive and an opponent of the project, has warned that the system will fail financially unless demand skyrockets and ticket prices increase sharply. “Can the proposed California bullet train break even? The answer is unequivocally no,” he said.
“With Stanford University management professor Alain Enthoven and Silicon Valley financier William Warren, Grindley wrote a 2012 report — updated last year — that concluded the system would require “a subsidy forever,” in the range of $123 million to $1 billion or more annually.
“The full cost of operating a car over the 383-mile trip is about $222, based on federal government figures. But if drivers simply consider fuel costs, they would run about $65, based on the average national fuel economy of 24 miles per gallon and current fuel prices.
“With a family, it’s four train fares versus one car, and taking the train may require a car rental at the other end,” said Genevieve Giuliano, director of USC’s Metrans transportation program. “I don’t see high-speed rail as competitive in the family market.”
http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-adv-bullet-fares-20150510-story.html
American citizens should be forced to wear red or blue armbands.
It’s coming.