Free Republic

Elizabeth Dam improvements could be delayed 15 years or longer When tow boat Capt. Steve Lumpkins moves coal through the century-old locks and dam on the Monongahela River at Elizabeth, he gingerly avoids weakened concrete walls and jutting metal rods that could gash and sink the 195-foot barges he pushes. "There are big chunks out of the wall as we approach from the upper end and three spots that we avoid touching that could cause a crash. That metal could rip the whole side of a barge open,'' Lumpkins said from the Richard C., a tow boat he operates for...

<p>A controlled explosion late this morning at a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' dam on the Monongahela River will close a portion of the river to boating and fishing from about 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.</p> <p>The demolition of a 90-foot section of the 100-year-old fixed crest dam at Locks and Dam 2 at Braddock is scheduled for noon. All river traffic and activity will be restricted about one-quarter mile in each direction.</p>

Senators speak up for critics; landowners fear loss of water A proposed dam on the Kettle River in British Columbia has people on both sides of the border concerned. A decision on a proposed hydroelectric dam on the Kettle River in British Columbia, just north of Laurier, Wash., is likely to be delayed several months while proponents address public objections. Washington's two senators are among those voicing concerns that prompted suspension of a six-month fact-finding period by the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office. Midway through the process, dam proponents said they needed more time to answer questions. Critics say the...

A local dive shop owner says FBI agents are wasting their time scouring Keys dive shops for information about suspicious people who took scuba classes. On May 23, the FBI released a warning that some terrorists had been seeking "an offensive scuba diver capability." Concerned that future terrorist attacks might come by sea, the bureau apparently is compiling a database of all the country's certified scuba divers. "Why spin your wheels interviewing the dive shops when they should be going right to PADI?" asked Capt. Bill Grosscup, owner of Captain's Corner on Greene Street. The Professional Association of Diving Instructors,...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. There's more electrical power flowing from TVA's dams, and it's not just because it has been raining. The Tennessee Valley Authority is in the midst of a program to increase the amount of electricity produced at its hydroelectric dams by improving the turbines, electrical power generators and control rooms. The original goal of the modernization project that began in 1992 was to boost the electrical power output capacity of TVA's hydroelectric program by 240 megawatts. TVA officials have since revised that goal to 700 megawatts. The project is scheduled to be...

<p>The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has long been on a path to certify by this year that Sacramento can withstand the theoretical 100-year storm, a move that would make property flood insurance a choice as opposed to a mandate for Sacramento homeowners.</p>

Portland-based Ecotrust hopes the campaign will sell a new way of thinking about the environment Upstairs in Wieden + Kennedy's Portland advertising offices, Spencer Beebe finishes what he calls his "half-hour elevator speech." It's about the complexities of saving salmon and preserving forests while building a healthy economy -- ideas long-discussed within the conservation community. But Beebe is in trouble: His audience isn't tracking. Not even Dan Wieden, whose agency created award-winning campaigns for Nike, Coca Cola and others. Wieden finally breaks in: "I'm just a simple ad guy. So you have to speak sort of monosyllabically and slowly." Then,...

<p>In this high-tech, fast-paced world of supersonic flights and bullet trains, the long, flat barges that continue to crawl along the nation's rivers and canals seem a forgotten relic of a bygone era.</p> <p>Yet they remain an integral part of the nation's interstate commerce, transporting almost 800 million tons of cargo a year -- about 16 percent of all inter-city freight -- via a 25,000-mile waterway system.</p>

Salmon create dam traffic jam 09/19/03JOE ROJAS-BURKE Salmon are swarming past Bonneville Dam in such massive numbers that frenzied stampeding up a narrow fish ladder may have killed some slowpokes. A record-setting 45,884 fall chinook surged past the dam Sept. 11 -- quadruple the typical number of years past. Each of the following three days also beat the previous one-day record of 39,376 set Sept. 12, 1987. "It's just an immense, unexpected, unprecedented return of salmon," said Steve King, fishery program leader with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Including steelhead and coho salmon, more than 59,000 fish...

BONNEVILLE DAM - The fall chinook run at the Bonneville Dam was so large last week that some fish were crushed to death on the concrete fish ladders. Last Thursday, Friday and Saturday, more than 40,000 fall chinook fought their way over the dam. On Sunday, 39,642 climbed the ladders there. All four days surpassed the previous one-day record of 39,376 fall chinook set Sept. 12, 1987. The new high mark was recorded last Thursday, with 45,884 fish. ``I don't think the fish ladders were built to have 46,000 chinook and a bunch of steelhead and a bunch of coho...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Experts expect another sizable return of fall chinook salmon in the Columbia River, good news for commercial fishers and sport anglers. Fishing began Sept. 5. More than 595,000 fall chinook are expected to reach the mouth of the Columbia, the fifth largest forecast since 1948. The expected run features 258,400 upriver chinook from the Hanford Reach, as well as 116,900 lower-river hatchery fish, 101,900 Bonneville hatchery fish and 86,600 mid-Columbia chinook. Fall chinook counts at Bonneville Dam spiked last week from several hundred to several thousand daily, indicating the season will peak soon. About 429,000 coho...

SPOKANE (AP) - Four dams on the Snake River continue to raise water temperatures to dangerously high levels for endangered salmon, an environmental group contends. The dams include Ice Harbor, which President Bush visited in late August to declare that federal efforts to restore salmon numbers were working. But the activist group American Rivers said Wednesday that even on the day of Bush's visit, the water temperature behind Ice Harbor Dam was 71 degrees, 3 degrees higher than the federal Clean Water Act standard of 68 degrees. ``Because of the lower Snake River dams, the water temperature in the river...

President Bush waded deeper into controversy over his environmental policies in the Pacific Northwest on Friday as he rejected calls for hydroelectric dams to be razed to make way for endangered migrating salmon. Bush viewed water ladders at Washington's Ice Harbor Lock and Dam, meant to help the fish get up and down the Snake River to spawn, after facing several thousand demonstrators angry about issues from the U.S.-led occupation in Iraq to proposed forest thinning in Oregon. On a break from his August vacation at his Texas ranch to visit states that were problems for the Republicans in the...

KETCHUM, Idaho - Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt says the lower Snake River dams are standing in the way of salmon recovery. The Clinton administration Democrat told a Ketchum fund-raiser yesterday that those dams will be breached, despite the Bush administration's anti-environment policies. Babbitt claims there's virtually no long-running economic reason to keep the four dams standing. And, he says Bush wants to trample any opposition, rather than looking for a resolution of the issue. EarthJustice Steve Mashuda says his group plans to sue Idaho Power Company and others to make them realize the cost of keeping dams in place.

57 Dams in 16 States to be Removed in 2003 Says American Rivers 8/19/03 2:45:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk and Environmental Reporter Contact: Serena McClain, American Rivers, 202-347-7550; Helen Sarakinos, River Alliance of Wisconsin, 608-257-2424; Leon Szeptycki, Trout Unlimited, 703-284-9411 WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 /U.S. Newswire/ -- 57 dams in 15 states and the District of Columbia are scheduled for removal in 2003, continuing the strong trend in recent years for restoring rivers and improving public safety by removing stream blockages. Each summer, American Rivers surveys government and private conservation organizations to determine how many dams and other obstructions...

Conservationists Hail Court Ruling Ordering Lower Missouri River Flows, Higher Reservoir Levels This Summer; Video Available 7/12/03 8:44:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk, Environment Reporter Contact: David Hayes of Latham & Watkins, 202-358-3909 (Cell); or Tim Searchinger of Environmental Defense, 307-585-9635 (home); or Eric Eckl of American Rivers, 202-486-7877 (Cell); Linda Shotwell of National Wildlife Federation, 703-438-6083; or Craig Sharpe of Montana Wildlife Federation, 406-458-0227; or Paul Hansen of Izaak Walton League of America, 301-548-0150 WASHINGTON, July 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Handing a major victory to conservationists and breaking a long-standing political logjam, a federal judge today ordered the...

<p>A Qatar native held on charges of lying to the FBI in an investigation into the September 11 attacks was designated yesterday as an "enemy combatant" and could be tried before a military tribunal for helping al Qaeda operatives relocate in the United States. Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, 37, in Justice Department custody since late 2001, was given the new designation by President Bush and handed over to the Defense Department.</p>

AS THEY roared north to Baghdad, US forces knew that they had a powerful secret weapon on their side - finely-honed insults that would make Iraqi troops’ blood boil. Through enormous loudspeakers mounted on their humvees, troops broadcast messages proclaiming that Iraqi men were impotent. The insult had been carefully chosen to so enrage Iraqi troops that they could not resist rushing from their defensive positions to attack the American troops in open battle, with terrible consequences. According to Newsweek, US Central Command was delighted that the carefully constructed plan "to mess with their heads" seemed to be working so...

VAZ052-053-232200- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED FLOOD WATCH...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 912 AM EST SUN FEB 23 2003 ...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TODAY AND TONIGHT ON THE LOWER OCCOQUAN RIVER... IN VIRGINIA PRINCE WILLIAM/MANASSAS/MANASSAS PARK FAIRFAX AS OF 830 THIS MORNING...THE DAM OPERATOR AT THE UPPER DAM AT OCCOQUAN REPORTED WATER RISING RAPIDLY...AND THEY WERE UNABLE TO CONTROL FLOW OVER THE SPILLWAY. NO FLOODING WAS OCCURING AT THIS TIME. THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING DOWNSTREAM OF THE DAM ON THE OCCOUQAN RIVER AT OCCUQUAN. RESIDENTS THAT LIVE DOWNSTREAM OF THE DAM AT OCCOQUAN SHOULD PAY VERY...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. SAVERTON, Mo. — An Ohio energy company wants to explore the feasibility of building a hydropower plant along the Mississippi River at Lock and Dam 22. Universal Electric Power (UEP) of Akron, Ohio, applied for the permit Oct. 28, according to a legal notice filed in the Ralls County Herald-Enterprise last week. The notice appeared again Thursday and also will run Feb. 27. Jim Bartek, mechanical engineer for the Corps of Engineers Rock Island District, which oversees Lock and Dam 22, said UEP had another preliminary permit that expired in September....

During my youth we ate a lot of salmon. Salmon was cheap in those days because each year, particularly in the spring, great runs swam up the rivers of the Northwest until all the dams got completed during the last century....(snip) We didn't realize it then, of course, but all that salmon was good for us. All that fish oil Roto-Rooterizing our arteries and balancing the depradations of all the macaroni-and-cheese, Spam, eggs and whatever, not to mention cigarettes, that today, we've been told, will eventually drop us like a sledged ox....(snip) For Complete Article Please Click Here.

The Turkish daily Sabah on Wednesday quoted the Turkish minister of energy and natural resources Zaki Tshakan that contacts are continuous with the army chief of staff in the context to take necessary measure for protecting dams in the southern east area which is close from the Iraqi borders, foremost being the dams of Keiban, Ataturk, and Karakya on the Euphrates river. Under the title "missiles for protecting dams," the paper commented that studies are being made to install missiles in areas surrounding every and each dam separately. He said that Iraq has now some 300 ( al-Hussein missile )...

Report released by Rand Corp. says removal will neither impede growth nor hurt power supply. WASHINGTON -- Breaching four Snake River dams in eastern Washington would neither impede economic growth in the Northwest nor hurt the region's power supply, according to a new report by the Rand Corp. The report, released Wednesday, said the dams provide just 5 percent of the power in the Pacific Northwest and could be removed with little impact on the overall economy. Removal of the dams could help the region diversify its power supply, the report said, while providing up to 15,000 new jobs over...

<p>WASHINGTON -- While Rep. John Doolittle works to stall any progress on raising Folsom Dam in hopes of getting a multipurpose dam built at Auburn, the Senate is moving ahead with firm conviction that the $219 million project is crucial for Sacramento's flood protection.</p>

The drought and the energy crisis last summer sent power prices soaring and raised fears that Columbia River salmon and steelhead would be decimated. But it wasn't a catastrophe for fish after all. Many conservationists and biologists predicted dire consequences for salmon runs after the federal government gave electricity generation priority over fish protection last year. Yet counts of yearling male salmon that return early to spawn -- they are called jacks -- indicate that spring and summer chinook numbers next year will be well above the average throughout the 1990s. "Things aren't as bad as the gloom and doom...

<p>January 31, 2002 -- WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday hit the road to remind Americans that terrorists remain a danger to the United States, while his aides detailed newly unearthed al Qaeda documents.</p> <p>Officials said Bush's State of the Union disclosure that the United States has retrieved in Afghanistan diagrams of nuclear facilities, city maps and notes on U.S. landmarks shows the extent of the danger.</p>

SEATTLE - NBC News is reporting that the Space Needle in Seattle - a high-profile landmark in America's Pacific Northwest - was apparently a target for al-Qaida terrorists. U.S. officials tell NBC News evidence found in Afghanistan uncovered plans to attack the high-profile Space Needle along with other monuments in Washington State, including massive hydroelectric dams, like the Grand Coulee. According to the NBC News report, plans were also found that targeted the Los Angeles International Airport for a second time. An earlier plot to bomb the airport was foiled two years ago when convicted terrorist Ahmed Ressam was arrested ...

<p>WASHINGTON — Federal officials have arrested two Al Qaeda terror suspects in the U.S. with documents in their possession about how to poison the country's water supplies, Fox News has learned.</p> <p>The first case involves James Ujaama, who surrendered to the FBI last week in Denver. Sources say they found documents about water poisoning among several other terrorism-related documents in his Denver residence.</p>

<p>COPPERHILL, Tenn. (AP) -- Months before terrorists attacked America, two Middle Eastern men landed a small plane at an airstrip in the Appalachian foothills after getting a look at a nearby river and a huge chemical plant.</p> <p>Danny Whitener, a 48-year-old junk car dealer who was alone tending his plane when the strangers arrived, is convinced one of the men was Mohamed Atta, whom authorities believe was the ringleader of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings.</p>

Just saw breaking news on CNN that there was an arrest made by the FBI in regards to a Federal burglary at the Hoover Dam...

Sunday, February 24, 2002 - Federal agents and Lakewood police Friday night were investigating the possible theft of sensitive documents about Hoover Dam from a Federal Highway Administration office in Lakewood. Thieves broke into the highway administration office at 555 Zang St. some time between Thursday and Friday morning and swiped the information, Lakewood police spokeswoman Stacie Oulton said. "During our processing, we did receive information that some sensitive road information about Hoover Dam was taken during the burglary," Oulton said late Friday. Thieves may have also escaped with computer hard drives and an employee's identification badge, Oulton said. Few ...

AP U.S. Arrest Made in Gov't Office Burglary Sat Feb 23, 6:11 PM ET By SARAH COOKE, Associated Press Writer LAKEWOOD, Colo. (AP) - Authorities arrested a 24-year-old woman Saturday after a burglary at a Federal Highway Administration office that houses sensitive information about Hoover Dam. A federal ID badge and computer hard drives were among the more than $100,000 in items stolen, however the hard drives were not believed to have contained sensitive information, said Raul Carballido of the FBI. Carballido said investigators did not believe the break-in involved a terrorist threat. The woman, identified as Jennifer Cisney, was ...

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has been asked by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works to study nine regional dams to assess the threat of terrorism and other risks. "It's not like we think we're a big target but you never know," said Ken Pellman, the county's public works spokesman. "We're taking precautions just in case. Why wouldn't our dams be taken out? They're there for a reason." Big Dalton, Big Tujunga, Cogswell, Morris, Pacoima, Puddingstone, San Dimas, San Gabriel and Santa Anita dams will be studied at the request of county officials. Santa Fe Dam in...

Diverted, Polluted, Dammed: America's Rivers in Jeopardy WASHINGTON, DC, April 2, 2002 (ENS) - The longest river in North America is the most endangered. The Missouri River tops the annual America's Most Endangered Rivers list issued today by the conservation group American Rivers. It is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operation of a huge dam and reservoir system on the Missouri that changed the shape and ecology of the river. Today, 35 percent of the Missouri River is impounded, 32 percent has been channelized, and only 33 percent is unchannelized. Releasing the list today, president of American Rivers...