Posted on 02/12/2017 4:26:47 PM PST by janetjanet998
Edited on 02/12/2017 9:33:58 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
The Oroville Dam is the highest in the nation.
From a distance, those vertical cement “stoppers” look like they could be grave stones...
Smaller tankers with retardant S2T Fire Tanker, DC10 Fire Tanker, Daytime image of fire from Oroville dam web camera, and a photographer "Josh Edelson" photo of a burning vehicle (more images at Juan Browne channel).
S2T Fire Tanker Planes at fire base. Planes dumping retardant to fight Wall Fire.
DC10 brought in to fight the fire - dumping retardant.
Daytime photo of the fire from the Oroville dam web camera.
Vehicle engulfed in flames while structure burns nearby - night image (photo courtesy Josh Edelson & Juan Browne youtube channel)
FWIW the DC-10 fire attack plane can drop 12,000 gallons of retardant in a sortie. That’s over 100,000 pounds of retardant. They probably can drop in 3 to 4,000 gals drops or salvo all 12,000 gals at once!
The Cal Fire S2Ts carry 1,200 pounds of retardant.Tha’s about 10,000 pounds of retardant. The S2T are up engined Grumman S2 Trackers that were used in the anti submarine role back in the 60’s and 70s IIRC
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
It seems like California is problematic this year.
The northwestern tip of the Wall fire boundary is about 3 miles from Oroville dam (as of July 9). At 1:23 PM July 9, a voluntary evacuation notice was issued for the Oroville Spillway reconstruction project.
The notice included "Inspections are underway to identify damage to critical infrastructure". Notice doesn't say what this pertains to. There are high voltage power lines (towers) that run up that direction near the fire area.
= = From youbanet.com wall fire updates:
July 9, 2017 at 1:23 PM
Over 4,000 civilians are under mandatory evacuations and 7,400 civilians are under evacuation warnings. Additionally, the Oroville Spillway reconstruction project is under voluntary evacuations. Inspections are underway to identify damage to critical infrastructure.
= =
Thanks for the link to the fire info, ER. After experiencing some pretty nasty wildfires here in Eastern Tennessee last fall, I am a lot more aware of these events than I once was.
The story of Gatlinburg and how that fire spread so quickly and violently is a textbook example of how things can get out of control quickly when it’s dry.
If large areas of the watershed are burnt/denuded water will run-off much more quickly. This might cause problems next year with high inflow rates and/or high reservoir levels, possibly exceeding outflow capacities of the power plant and MS.
This map shows the location of the fire, which fortunately is south of the reservoir & not in the watershed.
http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/pub/cdf/images/incidentfile1637_2454.pdf
http://www.chicoer.com/article/NA/20170706/NEWS/170709827
DWR hosting community meetings in July
By Staff Reports
Posted: 07/06/17, 5:18 PM PDT | Updated: 3 days ago
Sacramento >> The state Department of Water Resources announced Friday another series of community meetings will take place this month in Oroville, Marysville and Yuba City.
The purpose of the gatherings is to provide residents with an update on the Oroville Dam spillways recovery project.
Each meeting will have “a similar agenda, format and content,” with leaders and experts with the organization available for questions, according to the press release. All start at 6 p.m.
Below are the dates and locations:
• July 17 – Oroville Municipal Auditorium, 1200 Myers St. in Oroville
• July 19 – Caltrans District 3, Sierra Nevada Room, 703 B St. in Marysville
• July 24 – Boyd Hall, 1895 Lassen Blvd. in Yuba City
Cindy Messer is DWR’s new acting director, following former acting Director Bill Croyle’s retirement announcement a couple weeks ago, effective July 1.
Drain pipes are positioned from the stay-in-place concrete forms on the lower chute. Photo taken Jul 10, 2017
These drain info pictures are CEII rated. You must close your eyes. /s
I suspect the likely reason for the "timing" of this announcement** is that it is one day after the news broke about "Blasting being Halted" (story broke July 5). DWR insisted that the schedule would be kept for Nov 1 completion. Yet days later, in Juan Browne's youtube in the live press conference, there were comments made about working beyond Nov 1 if conditions were right. The media picked up on this. They pressed on the issue of impacts to the schedule - especially since damage had been done to the upper spillway and remedial action was required.
If anyone is going to these meetings, they should print copies of DWR's response letter to FERC in post 3,952. Ask DWR how or why do they have to "teach" their engineers about QCIP in weekly team meetings because they didn't follow the QCIP (Blasting where they shouldn't have) AFTER they were corrected 14 times by FERC on prior QCIP issues.. Or, print out post 3,778 and ask DWR why their engineers were so incompetent regarding the QCIP to where FERC had to correct DWR on fourteen issues. Read the FERC letter. It is clear that DWR engineers were clueless about a QCIP (in one item, DWR was trying to copy the requirements from Kiewit instead of doing it themselves). Ask DWR, if their engineering has such expertise, why can't a straight forward engineering Quality Control Inspection Program be followed? Or be understood?
Post 3,952:
FERC Document - Blasting Damage Concerns at Connection of New Spillway to Existing Upper Spillway
Post 3,950:
Post 3,778:
**DWR press release July 6, 2017 *created 1:34pm, Chico-ER posted 5:18PM. http://www.water.ca.gov/news/newsreleases/2017/070617.pdf
Eyes wide shut!
I notice that they include cleanouts.
A letter was sent to FERC, by U.S. Congressman Doug LaMalfa, to acting Chairman Cheryl LaFleur requesting a delay from FERC in issuing a new license for Oroville Dam.
Since the 2nd remaining FERC commissioner's term expired on June 30, 2017, FERC has only one commissioner active. Thus FERC cannot do any official "business" without two other members to form a quorum. The U.S. Senate is holding up nominees in general so I don't know what the timetable would be for getting more members appointed. The established rules are that 3 out of the 5 total members are limited to one party (republican/democrat) (majority party) while the other 2 must be from the other party.
Apparently, while FERC had a quorum -soon to be lost- on Feb 3, 2017, the Obama appointed commissioners issued an order delegating authority to staff in issuing hydropower licenses (dams) (see below). Thus, this "letter" by Congressman Doug LaMalfa likely seeks an intervention to this delegated authority to "staff" with regard to Oroville's re-licensing approval.
=== FERC rules:
https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R44767.html
FERC normally has five commissioners, with a quorum of three members required to be present to transact business. Under Section 401(e) of the Department of Energy Organization Act (P.L. 95-91), “... a quorum for the transaction of business shall consist of at least three members present. Each member of the Commission, including the Chairman, shall have one vote. Actions of the Commission shall be decided by a majority vote of the members present.”
The Commission generally has three members from the party of the incumbent President, and two from the minority party. However, Republican Commissioner Philip Moeller left FERC in October 2015, and fellow Republican Tony Clark left the Commission following the expiration of his term on June 30, 2016. President Obama did not nominate replacements for either Commissioners Moeller or Clark, meaning that FERC was operating with only three Democratic commissioners since September 2016. Commissioner Honorable’s current term expires on June 30, 2017, and Commissioner LaFleur’s term expires on June 30, 2019.
On February 3, 2017, anticipating that the lack of quorum will continue for an indefinite period, the Commission chose to issue an order (while it still had a quorum) delegating authority to staff for certain agency functions (e.g., certain actions related to rate filings, uncontested settlements, or uncontested requests for waivers on certain terms or conditions of filings). FERC stated that the order was issued to assure that the Commission’s regulatory obligations are carried out “in an effective and efficient manner consistent with the public interest.” This is not the first time the Commission has issued a delegation order following a loss of quorum. FERC took similar action to delegate authority to its staff to act in the absence of a quorum in 1993.
The absence of a quorum means that FERC will not be issuing orders on business matters requiring member votes such as electric utility mergers and acquisitions, new policies or rulemakings, or natural gas pipeline certificates. However, staff will continue to issue Environmental Impact Statements and Environmental Assessments for pipeline projects and hydropower licenses.
= =
LaMalfa seeks delay of new license for Oroville Dam
http://www.chicoer.com/article/NA/20170711/NEWS/170719954
= = Article clip:
Washington, D.C. >> Congressman Doug LaMalfa doesn’t want a new license issued for Oroville Dam until some safety questions are answered and some commitments are made to local government.
LaMalfa, R-Richvale, sent a letter to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission acting Chairman Cheryl LaFleur requesting the delay.
He asks that FERC wait until the final forensic report on what caused the spillway to breakup in February is released, and FERC has time to analyze it and place detailed instructions on dam operations and maintenance, safety and structural improvements into the license.
“It is not my intent to impede progress with this request, but it is my duty to ensure the safety of the citizens in my district, LaMalfa’s letter reads. “I am certain you will agree that it would not be prudent to issue a new license until the causes of the incident are known and action is taken to ensure that such situations never occur again.”
He also wants the license to require “adequate annual compensation” for the services Butte County and Oroville governments provide for the dam. He also has asked for a review of the adequacy of recreational facilities, with requirements for needed upgrades and additions.
“I have always been a strong supporter of Oroville Dam’s relicensing effort,” LaMalfa said in a press release. “After waiting for many years to finalize the relicensing agreement, waiting a couple more months for the independent forensic report promised for September is a reasonable request.”
The state Department of Water Resources has operated the dam since it was built, but its original license expired in 2007. Since then, DWR has operated the project with temporary permits from FERC, which is responsible for licensing hydroelectric projects.
= = End Clip More at article link
Not sure I see the feds constitutional right to interfere here.
IMO, this is a CA state issue that the CA citizens need to tackle.
I've seen debate about this on other forums and places. I'll leave that up to the purists who want to banter back and forth on that issue. (so please do not engage this in this particular discussion - the reality is DWR needs and greatly desires the coveted 50 year relicensing).
However, in the interests of California citizens, the case of re-licensing does become an important tool regarding leverage regarding DWR. Why? As a dam/hydroelectric facility requires a FERC license, DWR has been operating under temporary permits since their license expired in 2007. Thus, in the case of the spillway crisis, FERC has been operating as an "oversight" engineering function. If it wasn't for FERC, all of the QCIP mess wouldn't have been caught.
You think DWR would have asked CA state or CA citizens to oversee their blunders in the QCIP process? I doubt it. FERC has been performing a valuable function right now while exposing the engineering & mgmt lack of knowledge at DWR (they could have brought on experts to guide the QCIP process - it's not rocket science).
For the sake of the 200,000 immediately below the dam, rebuilding the spillway to high reliability levels are paramount. So if it means that CA citizens benefit from the "how we got here" regulations of FERC dispensing licenses, the citizens should welcome any advocate holding DWR to quality engineering standards.
You are correct about one thing... It is a CA State Issue, A "CA State Entity" issue that CA citizens, CA press, CA legislators, CA commissioners, and other private sector groups have been battling against for years (i.e the "CA State" run DWR) and have been stonewalled, watched AndersonDam flood Santa Clara, see huge maintenance issues, blown out spillway, and yet - no answers - "silence" - all in trying to assure a water system that taxpayers fund and rely upon to live in the state.
So, yes, you could say that citizens have been "trying" to tackle...
The DWR reports directly to the Natural Resources Agency who reports directly to Jerry Brown. It is their job to oversee the DWR and the people of CA should be demanding they do just that and should be holding them accountable, especially Moonbeam himself.
FERC has been performing a valuable function right now
Stopgap and necessary right now because of rampant unaccountability, but it should be phased out.
citizens have been "trying" to tackle
As long as they keep reelecting people like Moonbeam, the CA citizens will reap a whirlwind of unaccountably and mismanagement. Ultimately it is up to the People of CA to right this listing CA Titanic because government corruption both state and federal will not correct itself.
In the meantime, I feel for the residents at risk below this dam.
True, but CA is asking the taxpayers of the rest of the 49 states to pay for DWR’s mistakes. If this is the only leverage folks in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, etc. have, then it must be used.
It’s a bit early, but I bet the $250 million is way short of what the final cost will be. Betcha it’s north of 500.
July 11, 2017 3:35 PM
Why the state is in such a hurry to fix Oroville Dam
By Dale Kasler
California officials are trying to speed up repairs on Oroville Dam’s battered flood-control spillway.
The Department of Water Resources have asked federal regulators to let it demolish and replace an additional 240 feet of the spillway’s 3,000-foot concrete chute before the rains comes this fall, leaving less work for next year.
That 240-foot section originally was going to be replaced next summer as part of the two-year plan for repairing the spillway, whose massive structural problems in February sparked the emergency evacuation of 188,000 downstream residents.
Now DWR officials believe that 240-foot section, in the upper portion of the spillway, should be replaced this year to make certain the entire spillway can be rebuilt by the fall of 2018. Erin Mellon, spokeswoman for DWR’s parent agency the Natural Resources Agency, said officials want to leave little to chance next year.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article160817799.html#storylink=cpy
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