A trio of spillway failures at the 770-ft-tall earthfill Oroville Dam that prompted the evacuation of more than 188,000 people from central California has renewed questions about the reliability of hundreds of dams in the state and more nationally.
In the early morning hours of Feb. 9, heavy rainfall and a high tide combined to knock off line Seattle’s 52-year-old West Point wastewater treatment plant.
After more than 188,000 people evacuated from central California towns north of Sacramento, crews at Oroville Dam on Feb. 13 scrambled to fill erosion that developed hours after an emergency spillway was put into service for the first time in the dam’s 50-year history.
When Michael Braden took over as U.S Army Corps of Engineers’ divisions chief for the Olmsted Locks and Dam in 2013, job No. 1 was getting the $3.1-billion project back on schedule.
The world’s first tidal lagoon power plant could move forward as a result of the United Kingdom’s planned departure from the European Union, maybe in 2019.