Should We Help Repair California’s Neglected Oroville Dam?

By ‘We’ I mean we, the people of the United States who live in the 49 other states not called California. There was no interest among California’s political leaders to inspect, maintain, or repair the highest dam in the country during the droughts of the last several years. It’s a lot like not fixing the hole in your roof because it doesn’t leak when it doesn’t rain.

The Oroville Dam is higher than the reinforced concrete Hoover dam but is made from earth. The concrete-lined spillway has lost a bunch of its lining, allowing the water access to the soil below. The emergency spillway surface is not armored with concrete and water has been running over it, causing erosion of the dam itself.

The state’s leaders are acting like federal laws don’t matter. But they want a federal bailout for their foolishness.

Instead, the brain trust are spending at least ten billion on a ‘Bullet Train’ concept that is planned to run from one central valley town to another central valley town. The projected cost of the project is at least $100 billion.

They are also spending more than $25 Billion a year to support illegal aliens.

Then there is this from the Washington Times:

“Environmental groups warned of a disaster at Oroville Dam 12 years ago”

Built in 1968, the Oroville Dam, located about 70 miles north of Sacramento on the Feather River, is the tallest dam in the nation at 770 feet, but environmental groups argue that the project’s infrastructure needs have been a low priority.

In 2005, advocacy groups led by Friends of the River urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to order the state to reinforce the dam’s earthen walls with concrete, citing the erosion risk, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The agency rejected the request on the recommendation of the state Department of Water Resources and local water agencies, which would have been on the hook for improvements that could have cost as much as $100 million.

Reinforcing the Oroville Dam was not included on Mr. Brown’s $100 billion wish list of projects prepared last month at the request of the National Governors Association in response to Mr. Trump’s call for $1 trillion in infrastructure improvements, CNBC reported.”