Stories of dam removal and confronting new dams from being built... World Wide Water Commons

 

 

U.S. - US, Berkshire's PacifiCorp discuss dams issue

AP, GRANTS PASS, ORE. - PacifiCorp, the federal government and the states of Oregon and California are in talks over how to resolve a proposal to remove four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River to help struggling salmon runs.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Alex Pitts confirmed Tuesday that federal agencies and the utility are in continuing "conversations" about a hydropower agreement, but would not characterize that agreement as a way to remove the dams.
PacifiCorp (amex: PPW.PR - news - people ) spokesman Art Sasse would say only that the utility company is in talks with "key stakeholders" surrounding its application to relicense the dams

 

Nepal - Gandak Barrage Strikes: Request for endorsement of an appeal to Prime Ministers of Nepal and India

Letter, Ref: Urgent attention to the public strike in the Gandak area 

Your Hon'ble Prime Ministers of Nepal and India:

We, Water & Energy Users' Federation-Nepal (WAFED) and Himalayan & Peninsular Hydro-Ecological Network (HYPHEN), Nepal Policy Institute (NPI), National Concerned Group, Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Campaign Service Centre - Nawalparasi, Indreni Forum for Social Development-Nawalparsai, Kosi Watershed Coordination Network with other internationally reputed organisations, networks and individuals, are writing to you on behalf of the people of the Gandak of Nepal who have launched an indefinite strike which is now over three weeks old.

Australia - Snowy Hydro in no position to talk up the sale of Snowy Scheme

Snowy Hydro has used the timing of the first meeting of the Snowy Community Advisory Committee to talk up another sale process for the Snowy Scheme.
Alpine Riverkeepers spokesperson Acacia Rose said ‘in a time of water shortages for farmers and drastically depleted Snowy Scheme lakes and storages it is unthinkable that Snowy Hydro would spruik for another sale of the Scheme.

 

US - Berkshire's PacifiCorp discuss dams issue

AP - GRANTS PASS, Ore. -

PacifiCorp, the federal government and the states of Oregon and California are in talks over how to resolve a proposal to remove four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River to help struggling salmon runs.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Alex Pitts confirmed Tuesday that federal agencies and the utility are in continuing "conversations" about a hydropower agreement, but would not characterize that agreement as a way to remove the dams.

 

India - The unbearable lightness of big dams

HardNews - Gujarat and Maharashtra are the two most dammed states in the country. Dams are known for providing irrigation, produce power and hold floods apart from fulfilling the needs of the industry. Until three years ago, the dams in Maharashtra and Gujarat were cursed for not holding enough water to meet the drought situation there. They are being cursed even now but for a different reason. They did not hold enough water that could prevent flooding the downstream areas. Dams, in fact, are only fair weather friends when it comes to dealing with water and they do not deal with anything else. Any aberration in rainfall, whether excess or short, leads virtually to their non-performance. This is the lesson from the past two years in these states. The situation in Madhya Pradesh is no better.

 

China - dam nation

World Next Week - China has more hydroelectric dams than any other nation, and the presence of so many near the epicenter in Sichuan province could prove a huge risk in the aftermath of last month's earthquake.

 Sichuan's position in the most easterly mountainous part of China, where the rivers cascade from high elevations, is understandably a tempting location for genrating hydropower. Yet nowhere on Earth has more dams in an area of such high seismic risk, and it will make the government decidedly more cautious when selecting sites for further hydroelectric projects -- and nuclear power stations.

 

Guatemala - Dam will bring money, misery

Guatemala - Paau was born in this Maya-Q'eqchi jungle village of 300 people perched above the verdant banks of the Chixoy and Copón rivers in northern Guatemala. Fields of cardamom and corn surround several dozen palm-thatched homes, which are accessible only by boat or foot.

But the junction of these two jade-colored rivers, a 20-minute descent from Paau's home, is also the proposed site for the nation's second-largest hydroelectric project - the Xalalá Dam. His village is one of 18 communities that would become a 3-square-mile reservoir.

Burma dams would flood rebel territories

Thailand - In the dry season, the Salween River cuts a multicolored gash of green, gray and beige as it carries Himalayan snowmelt through steaming jungles along the Thailand-Burma border en route to the Andaman Sea.

On the Thailand side, villages of thatched huts and hardwood homes dot the landscape, while the Burmese portion houses only military outposts, the legacy of forced evacuations.

Now, Burma's energy-hungry neighbors - China and Thailand - are pushing the military junta to embark on a huge dam project along the Salween, one of Southeast Asia's last untamed rivers, which stretches 1,700 miles through China, eastern Burma and Thailand

Coalition eyes removal of three dams

$30,000 study of Shawsheen OK'd

By Tim Wacker, Globe Correspondent  |  May 25, 2008

A coalition of government agencies, environmental groups, and key property owners is discussing the feasibility of removing three old dams from the Shawsheen River to allow fish to return to their once-fertile spawning grounds upstream, improve boating, and help control flooding in the watershed.

At a meeting this month, the Shawsheen River Restoration Partnership authorized a $30,000 study on whether the dams can be taken out without too many complications. The study is a small first step taken by a formidable partnership now weighing the future of the historic structures.

 

The state Division of Marine Fisheries and Division of Fisheries and Wildlife have joined the partnership, as have the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the national environmental groups Earth Island Institute and American Rivers. The Shawsheen River Watershed Association, the town of Andover, and area businesses that own the dams are also involved.

 

The fate of the dams, which once powered Andover's mills, has been discussed for decades. But the matter has gained urgency, given the clout of the partnership and the fact that the dams' owners would like a resolution.

 

"It's a huge group of people, from national organizations on down to local folks like us," said Robert Rauseo, president of the watershed association, who was at the May 8 meeting. "I was incredibly impressed by the width and breadth of talent involved. This is not just someone pulling an old tire out of the river. This is top-of-the-line."

 

The Shawsheen winds some 25 miles from Bedford to Lawrence, where it discharges into the Merrimack River and on to the Atlantic Ocean. The only dams in the river are all in Andover: the Balmoral Dam by Route 133 near Lawrence; the Marland Place Dam, near Route 28 just north of downtown; and the Ballardvale Dam near the Tewksbury border. All three block access to what some in the partnership say were once very productive spawning grounds for salmon and herring returning from the Gulf of Maine.

 

"The Shawsheen is in a very important location from a habitat perspective," said Thomas Ardito, president of the Center for Ecosystem Restoration in Rhode Island, a partnership member. "It flows directly into the Gulf of Maine, and that means fish can have free passage up from the Gulf of Maine if the dams were removed."

 

For decades that has been a big "if." The dams were built to power mills that were integral to Andover's history, said Andy Grilz, curator for the Andover Historical Society, which, for now, is staying neutral on whether the structures should be removed.

 

"This town is very concerned with preserving its architecture," Grilz said. "However, I can't conceive of anybody in this group doing anything without careful consideration."

 

That's where the feasibility study comes in, said partnership members. The study will examine alternatives to removing the dams, such as fish ladders and lifts that will help the fish get upstream. But first it's going to take a hard look at pulling the structures out.

 

"We will have to look at all the impacts upstream and downstream," said Paul Materazzo, Andover planning director. "But when we're considering the options, removal of the dams is a big element. Aside from improving the ecology, there is a big opportunity to improve recreation along the river."

Those potential improvements were also cited by the owners of the structures, including Atria Marland Place, an assisted-living residence, which owns the Marland Place Dam, and the Shawsheen Rubber Co., which owns half of the Ballardvale Dam.

 

Both companies said they have suffered flooding when the Shawsheen backs up behind their dams. But they also said they want to see what the feasibility study finds before they commit to a solution.

"We're neophytes when it comes to understanding all the issues involved in the removal of dams," said Denis Kelley, a product manager for the Shawsheen Rubber Co.

 

Partnership members said that despite the advantages to removing the dams, there are potential complications. There could be toxins in the sediments that have piled up behind the dams. There could also be unforeseen flooding problems that may arise farther downstream, the members said.

All will be looked at in the study, which will probably be finished by early fall. If the study finds that removing the dams is best, the next step will be figuring a way to pay for the work.

 

A rough estimate for removal of just the Marland Place Dam was $425,000, said Bill Fay of Swift River Co. in Hamilton, which surveyed the structure for Atria. Of the estimated cost, $225,000 would go toward getting the necessary permits and removing any contaminated sediments.

 

However, the support of so many government organizations, including the state's Riverways Program, which funded the feasibility study, bodes well for fund-raising efforts should the study find that it is best to take out the dams, said Materazzo. Additional money may come from the dam owners themselves, he said, because state law requires the owners to maintain the dams, and that can get expensive as the structures age.

 

With that kind of money, Materazzo sees many opportunities. The Planning Department has discussed a Shawsheen riverwalk stretching the length of the town.

 

Tim Wacker can be reached at tiwack@comcast.net. 

 

 

China Asserts Conditions of Dams Are Stable

BEIJING -- A senior Chinese engineer told reporters Monday that a series of dams along the Min River, which is in the vicinity of the epicenter, should remain stable barring any larger-than-expected aftershocks.

The official assurance was an effort to allay concerns that damage to dams from last week's earthquake, which authorities estimate killed more than 50,000 people, could lead to follow-on disasters and complicate rescue and recovery.

Some experts continue to express concern about the dams' safety.

The quake was measured at magnitude 7.9 by the U.S. Geological Survey, while Chinese seismologists have put the size at 8.0. Chinese officials said Monday that businesses' economic losses from the disaster in Sichuan alone have already topped 67 billion yuan, or $9.58 billion.

Rescuers are already contending with other secondary effects of the earthquake on the surrounding environment. The area has been hit by more than 155 aftershocks measuring magnitude 4.0 or higher. Thousands across the region fled into the streets to sleep in the open or in cars Monday night after a statement from the National Seismology Bureau was read on television warning that there was a "rather great" chance of an aftershock measuring magnitude 6 to 7.

Several mountain rivers that were stopped up by landslides have been in danger in recent days of overflowing into areas where recovery efforts continue. Relief efforts were continuing to find the 200 relief workers, who were buried when a mudslide hit their five vehicles, Xinhua said Monday. It wasn't immediately clear if any of them had survived.

The prospect of a dam bursting has caused even greater concern, because of the possibility that any resulting flood could inundate population centers downstream.

China's central planners have presided over a relentless dam-building drive in recent decades. The country's 22,000 large dams represent nearly half the world's total. Those structures, built to control floods and produce clean energy, also have caused environmental and social upheaval, including the relocation of entire towns.

Fears resurfaced after last week's quake raised questions about the durability of some of the dams and the security of their reservoirs.

The Chinese government said soon after the May 12 earthquake that nearly 400 dams in the region had suffered some level of damage, but so far there have been no reports of breaches.

Much of the concern is focused on the Min River, which has five dams that pass through Wenchuan County, the heavily damaged epicenter of the earthquake. The dams are upstream of the Zipingpu dam and reservoir, which can hold more than 35 billion cubic feet of water. Zipingpu sits just 5.6 miles upstream from the tourist town of Dujiangyan, one of the towns hardest hit by the earthquake. Chengdu, a city of about 10 million people, sits farther downstream and could also be vulnerable if there were a collapse at Zipingpu, geologists warn.

Gu Junyuan, chief engineer at the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, told reporters Monday that the upstream dams, though damaged, remain safe. Even if they crack, the Zipingpu reservoir's size should retain the water that is released "if there are no bigger aftershocks or floods," he said. He didn't specify bigger than what.

The dam along the Zipingpu, too, is stable, an official named Mr. Li from the Ministry of Water Resources said separately in a telephone interview. "According to our safety-monitoring updates, the investigation...shows that the dam, overall, is stable and safe," he said.

Yet the environment in Sichuan remains unpredictable. A 5.4-magnitude aftershock hit the quake area Monday, for example. No casualties or damage in the area were reported, Xinhua said.

Fan Xiao, a Chengdu-based geologist who opposed construction of the Zipingpu dam because he says it is built in a geologically unstable area, says officials don't yet have a complete grasp of the danger from the dams upstream, some of which haven't been assessed because roads remain impassable.

"Right now, it's really hard to estimate the danger or the amount of water that could be released if one or more of these dams fail," Mr. Fan said. In some cases, flood gates are jammed, causing reservoir levels to rise to dangerous levels that could breach the dams, he said.

The Three Gorges Dam, which sits along the Yangtze River hundreds of miles east of the epicenter, has been reported safe.

Meanwhile, China signaled Monday it is moving into the recovery phase after a week of rescue operations. Xi Guohua, vice minister of industry and information technology, told reporters the government has been restoring communication networks across Sichuan and is working on reconstruction plans based on experts' assessment of the safest areas for rebuilding.

Buffett won't act to remove dams

Tribes say survival at stake, pressure financier to restore flows on Klamath River

By JOSH FUNK
ASSOCIATED PRESS

OMAHA, Neb. -- American Indian tribes and salmon fisherman were rebuffed a second time Saturday in their bid to win support from billionaire Warren Buffett for a proposal to remove four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River.

 

Buffett again told the group that his company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., won't decide the fate of the dams owned by its PacifiCorp utility.

He said Berkshire will defer to regulators in California and Oregon, where the Klamath runs, and to federal officials.

Buffett also said he promised regulators when Berkshire bought PacifiCorp in 2006 that he wouldn't interfere with the utility's operating decisions.

The dam opponents, making their second trip to Berkshire's annual meeting, have promised to keep pressure on Buffett and his Omaha-based company.

"We feel like we've been listened to everywhere except PacifiCorp," said Leaf Hillman, a member of the Karuk Tribe.

In January, negotiators for farmers, tribes, fishermen conservation groups and government agencies battling over scarce water and struggling salmon runs said they agreed to a proposal to remove the four dams.

However, that agreement faces significant hurdles, including agreement by PacifiCorp.

The tribes view the fight to remove the dams as a fight for their own survival as well as the survival of salmon.

The PacifiCorp dams are up for relicensing. That process started in 2000 and is likely to continue for five or six more years.

Buffett refused to meet with the group last year. This year, he turned to David Sokol, who oversees all of Berkshire's utility companies, to provide responses to questions about the future of the Klamath dams during Berkshire's annual meeting.

"There are a whole series of issues to deal with as part of the federal regulatory process," Sokol said.

Chief among the issues is sorting out what 28 different interest groups want to happen. Sokol said different groups favor at least four separate outcomes.

Buffett said it's up to government to balance all those competing interests.

PacifiCorp, one of more than 60 Berkshire subsidiaries, serves 1.7 million customers in six Western states.

 

 

Nepal - "The next step is to build high dams"

 

Kunda Dixit in Patna

 

Initially caught off-guard by Nepal's constituent assembly election results, New Delhi is hoping to do business with a Maoist-led government especially on water resources.

 

Publicly, the Indians say they are happy with whatever result, but there seems to nervousness about Maoist policy on strategic issues like water, power and geopolitics.

 

Some people seem to think we were caught by surprise with the result, says Shyam Saran, former ambassador to kathmandu and ex-Foreign Secretary, but Indian doesn't play favorites in Nepal. We can do business with any political dispensation.

 

but past Maoist pronouncements, including an interview y Pushpa Kamal Dahal in 2000 in which he boasted the Maoists would fight the Indian Army if necessary and frequent references to Indian expansionism in Dahal's campaign speeches haven't helped allay Indian unease.

 

When the Maoists won the election, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs nearly cancelled a previously-scheduled conference here in the Bihar capital to discuss Indo-Nepal relations. Even though some high-profile guests and speakers dropped out, the meeting went ahead as scheduled on 26-27 April.

 

Saran and Indian State Minister for Commerce and Power Jairam Ramesh stayed for the whole two-day conference attended by 40 invited participants from Nepal. The Nepali delegation was headed by Minister fro Physical Planning g and Infrastructure, Hisila Yami, and also included Maoist leader CP Gajurel.

 

Bihar is suffering a crippling power shortage this summer, and the Ganges is almost dry. But in a few months, as every year, most of the state will be inundated by floods. It wasn't surprising, therefore, that a recurrent theme at the conference was water and power.

 

In Bihar we only think of Nepal during the monsoon floods, quipped Nitish Kumar, Bihar's chief minister in his keynote address. "We have common problem of poverty and we can tackle that by mutual cooperation on the Kosi High dam." How to deal with displacement of people in Nepal the Kosi's massive silt load was not broached.

 

Yami didn't want to be dragged into specifics, but responded: People on both sides of the border would benefit from transparency and accountability in political and economic commitments…particularly in the areas of flood control."

 

Kumar saw storing monsoon runoff on Himalayan high dams as mutually beneficial. BUt given perceptions of unfair treatment on Kosi and Gandaki in the 1960s, India may need to do more build trust among Nepalis about river sharing. It didn't help that Indian officials kept urging Nepal to follow the "Bhutan model".

 

In the past six month two Indian private companies have signed MoUs for the 300MW Upper Karnali and 400 MW Arun III. Adding West Seta and Budhi Gandaki, the total power agreement with India would go up to nearly 1800MW.

 

Minister Ramesh was optimistic that all this would lead to bigger and better things. "We are no longer talking about a pie in the sky," he said, "we have made progress and a final push on joint projects by the new government is all that is required."

 

Ramesh tried to assure Nepali visitors that India was no "coveting and salivating" over Himalayan rivers, but would like to see mutual cooperation also benefit Nepal with power, irrigation and balance of payments. "One major project exporting power to India would wipe out Nepal's trade deficit with India," he said.

 

Saran echoed the view. "Nepal has to start seeing India not as a threat but as an opportunity, you are next door to a country of o0ne billion growing at eight percent with which you have an open border, "he said, "Nepal is not India-locked, it is India-open."

 

Participants said India-Nepal economic cooperation has suffered because Nepali nationalism is often defined by anti-Indianism. Former JNU professor S D Muni advised the Maoists not to fall into that trap.

"The new rulers of Nepal don't have to fall back on that nationalist agenda and India should't try to play pawns and bishops in Nepal."

 

Seven years ago when India's Power Trading Corporation's Tantra Naryan Thakur came to Nepal to explore electricity import prospects, he remembers Nepali officials assuring him that Nepal could export 150 MW by 2007. "Today, Nepal is buying power from India," Thakur told the conference.

But he said India's demand for power would grow to 2000,000 MW by 2018. If Nepal could fast track projects to generate juist 10,000MW in ten years, consume 2,000 MW itself and export the rest to India it could earn $2.7 billion a year, Thakur said.

 

Foreign investors in Nepal, however, say they need to feel that they are not wasting their time. Dabur Inda is one investor which has stuck it out in Nepal through the conflit years. It's CEO, Udayan Ganguly said: "Nepal needs to create the right atmosphere for investors by resolving labour issues, violence and insecurity. Unless swift action is taken, the few investors that remain may decide it's not worth it."

 

-Nepali Times weekly, 2-8 May 2008 #398

 

 

"The next step is to build high dams"

 

 

In contrast to his flamboyant predecessor Laloo Yadav, BIhar chief minister Nitish Kumar has carved an image of being focused on governance. Walking our of his Patna secretariat office after a series of meetings late on Tuesday night, Kumar spoke to Prashant Jha about the Maoist, Madhes and monsoon.

 

Nepali Times: Are you worried about the Maoist win in Nepal?

 

Nitish Kumar: Why sould I be worried? We welcome the election results and look forward to working with the new government. The Maoists have come the democratic way and are a legitimate party. Their links with Naxals have never been proven. It is mere speculation and e hae no reason to believe they will support sujch activities on our side. This is the verdict of the people and we honour it.

 

Madhesi leaders met you recently to ask for support for their struggle. What do you think about the Madhes issue?

 

They did ncome and speak to me and I listened to their views. But this is a problem that has to be solved within Nepal. There is constituent assembly now. Madhesis have representation within the house. They, like others in Nepal, have legitimate demands which can be addressed in the new framework. This is not a mandate for one-party rule anyway. From what I understand, the message from the people of Nepal is that all their political leaders should work together. Everyone, including the Madhesis, must be taken together in this process.

 

Tarai armed militants are reported to be based in BIhar.

 

Well people of the tarai come and go. This is an open border. We shar a roti-beti relationship. Our lives are intertwined and our problems are the same. We have always been ready to help nepoal and during elections, we tightened up our security to ensure things remained calm.

 

 

What are the key areas in which you would like to co-operatin with the new government in Nepal?

 

Water management is of course a priority. Can you imagine what a relief it would be fro us in Bihar if the annual floods do not devastate lives? So much of \my work goes to waste every monsoon. The roads get destroyed, we have to spend at least Rs 3,000 crore in relief and rehabilitation. This wiol help Nepal also, by stopping floods in your tarai and enabling the development of hydropower. What we have signed are a few run-of-the-river projects. The next step must be to build high dams.

-Nepali Times weekly, 2-8 May 2008 #398

 

California - Klamath River Dam Removal Campaign

... this is a great campaign on dam removal, follow the links and read, see and listen what this small band of people have done.  It's really great.  With the dam issues in Mexico and Chile, I thought this might be of interest.  Note how their bus advertising campaign was rejected by the bus company in Portland and then it becomes a first amendment issue also the shareholder web site I think is really effective.  They also put a "face" on the campaign - the face of Warren Buffett.

Friends and supporters of Un-dam the Klamath – Bring the Salmon Home campaign:

We have a new online resource I want to pass along as well as remind you of some existing online resources to educate shareholders, ratepayers, and the public about the Klamath Crisis and how we plan to solve it.

For Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders I introduce:
http://www.berkshireshareholders.com/

This site focuses on the issue from the perspective of the shareholder and why dam removal could benefit their investment in Berkshire. It includes an action alert to the Oracle of Omaha himself, Warren Buffett. This site was designed and is sponsored by our good friends at Klamath River Keeper (www.klamathriver.org). (they take donations)

For PacifiCorp’s customers we have:
http://www.salmonforsavings.com
 
This focuses on how dam removal does more to keep your power rates low than relicensing does and offers action alert to the regulator of power rates, the Public Utility Commission. It was designed and is sponsored by our good friends at Friends of the River (www.friendsoftheriver.org) (they also accept donations).
 
And finally we have some great stuff on You Tube (we would be so lame if we didn’t!)
 
For a hard hitting 60 second spot on the issue, click on: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFoyzZvuXxs
 
And hang on to your seat.
 
For details on how PacfiCorp’s dams are poisoning the Klamath River will massive blooms of toxic algae check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDny8jvd950
 
Please pass these links along as appropriate and add to your own websites. Thanks!!!
 
S. Craig Tucker, Ph.D.
Klamath Campaign Coordinator
Karuk Tribe of California
NEW NUMBER home office: 707-839-1982
Tribal office in Orleans: 530-627-3446 x3027
cell: 916-207-8294
ctucker@karuk.us
 
www.karuk.us

Action Alert: Protest Home Depot's Complicity in Destruction of Patagonian Wilderness by Proposed Chilean Dams

Patagonia's wild rivers to be dammed, destroying ancient temperate forests, for 50 years of electricity; please let supposedly environmentally responsible Home Depot know they should not be doing business with the project's primary Chilean advocate

By Forests.org, a project of Ecological Internet - April 21, 2008 

Caption: Patagonia's wild rivers have extensive ecological and social values other than for hydroelectricity  (link)

 

Mexico: Lands and life at risk

Human rights threatened by proposed dam

Posted: 21 April 2008

A man demonstrates against the construction of a dam called La Parota in the Mexican state of Guerrero.

Efforts to build a large hydroelectric dam in Guerrero State, Mexico have been characterized by violence against protesters and by the failure to protect the human rights of Indigenous peoples and farming communities.

Proponents of the proposed La Parota hydroelectric dam say it would provide sufficient electricity to meet eastern Mexico’s growing needs. But at what cost?

Guerrero is one of Mexico’s most marginalized and least developed regions. The Mexican Federal Commission for Electricity says 2,981 people would be displaced by the dam. However, citizens groups estimate 25,000 people would have to leave their land, and that a further 75,000 people downstream could also be impacted.