Posted on 02/16/2017 3:15:16 AM PST by gattaca
The 2009 stimulus package funded millions of dollars for safety improvements for a dam in California that was in “good shape,” but not to the Oroville Dam that is now on the verge of a spillway crisis.
Nearly 200,000 residents north of Sacramento were ordered to evacuate after fears that erosion would cause the emergency spillway to fail, which would lead to “catastrophic flooding“ from a 30-foot wall of water.
Despite more than a decade of warnings about Oroville, there is no public record of the country’s tallest dam receiving any of the more than $34 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act sent to California for infrastructure projects.
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 former representative Mike Thompson, a Democrat who served California’s 1st District where the Oroville dam is located before being redistricted to the 5th.
Thompson lauded numerous stimulus projects, which included $2.2 million for “more attractive” sidewalks and $2.5 million for a 205-acre “zero net energy” community on the University of California Davis campus to put a greater “emphasis on walking” and bicycling.
Warnings about the Oroville Dam have persisted for decades. The dam came within one foot of overflowing in 1997, and three environmental groups unsuccessfully attempted to force the federal government in 2005 to reinforce the emergency spillway with concrete, instead of the “earthen hillside” that is receiving round-the-clock attention to keep from failing.
The California Department of Water Resources denied that it had failed to heed concerns about the emergency spillway.
“We have a very rigorous schedule of inspections that is determined by state and federal regulators,” said spokesman Eric See. “We actually do those inspections annually.”
The department did not respond to request for comment about the Folsom Dam receiving stimulus funding, but not the Oroville Dam, or whether state officials applied for grants for Oroville under the stimulus.
Gov. Jerry Brown asked for roughly $162 million for cleanup from flooding, and cost estimates to repair the Oroville Dam’s emergency spillway could run as high as $200 million. President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration order for California Tuesday evening, which authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide assistance.
Gov. Brown’s list outlining priority infrastructure projects for the state his office released just last week also included funding for Folsom, but not Oroville.
The emergency evacuation order that affected 188,000 residents was lifted Tuesday, but over 125 construction crews are still working to reinforce the spillways as more rainstorms are forecasted this week.
Trump authorized FEMA funding, which is the right thing do do (don’t play politics with disasters) but it should come with strings attached- some accounting for the last money and PEOPLE GETTING FIRED for not fixing this problem before.
Of course, Folsom Dam is in Blue California, and Oroville is in Red California. . .
but not to the Oroville Dam>>>>>>>>
Was the dam in a Red constituency? Or was it administered by green hippies, Californicatia style? Imagine a huge earthquake?
...politically stealing emergency funding....much like Odungo did with shovel
ready
Up in the mountains it is pretty Red State.
Red State folks should be running Jerry Brown up the nearest flagpole, tarred and feathered, and looking for the presidential clown psychopomp who just left office.
I seem to recall that stimulus money paying for a lot of signs touting the money for infrastructure improvements crediting the Obama administration, without a lot of actual improvements evident.
Out of NYC/Albany NY is a red state. Most, if not all states outside the cities are RED. Cities are ruinous to the constitution.
I can’t help but wonder how much officially sactioned looting is taking place in the evacuation zone. It appears to be the kind of opportunity that gave Soros his financial start.
The major flaw with infrastructure projects, and with the entire concept of central planning and decision by a technocratic elite is that those decisions are based on scientific facts and logic.
In cases after case we see that those infrastructure decisions are based on emotion and sentiment. They are based on political rewards and punishments. They are based on everything non-scientific.
Amtrak is the prime example. If technocrat central planning actually existed, the technocrats would say that heavy cargo belongs on rail, not on the highways. And that many highway buses, vans and cars going to decentralized hubs rather than a single regional hub makes a lot more sense for movement of people.
But the central planners are in love with Thomas The Tank Engine, and Percy and Mister Rogers Trolley. They are in love with the Orient Express. They are sentimental, not technocratic.
The same is true of the EPA. The same is true of Healthcare. No competent technocrat would impose the HHS/CMS rules and regulations Slavitt imposed on us.
Misapplication of federal infrastructure funds? Yet another 0bamascandal!
It was only a money laundering scheme for the DNC.
It's not like there isn't precedent.
Of course, Folsom Dam is in Blue California, and Oroville is in Red California. . .
...
And if a dam is in good shape people aren’t as likely to notice the money going into cronies pockets rather than actual work.
There was a reason why Folsom Dam got the money—it was part of the long-planned auxiliary spillway project, mostly because by the time the water level reached the main spillway level at the dam, it was already dangerously high and would require massive water releases that could raise the American River level way too high, as we found out the hard way in 1986 and 1997. The new spillway would allow water releases when the Folsom Lake level was way lower, protecting the structural integrity of the dam.
Oopps, I reckun MoonBeam’s vision got obscured by the HSRailjob in Progre$$ whooooshing by his office door and scattering all his memoirs into the air due to climate change.
The climate change is due to Dems knowing better than anyone else how to set priorities and rank crisis points requiring immediate attention and delaying frivolous items for later.. only to doing the stupid thing everytime and let things fall to crap .. and then blame the other party.
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