Why hasn’t [Dem gov.] fixed the dam? Brown has been in office since 2011. Republican Schwartzenagger was in from late 2003 to late 2011. According to the article below, the issue of earth and rock fill rather than a concrete cover for the emergency spillway was raised in Oct. 2005 by those pesky environmentalists Sierra Club and others. They went to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with the issue who then went back to the state Department of Water Resources who conferred with the local water agencies who said they were unnecessary (since they would be the ones paying most of the bill). So the buck was passed in 2005, by those who will now probably have to pay much bigger bills unless the Trump government decides to help out, which may not be likely.