DWR Still Expects Feds To Pay Bulk Of Oroville Dam Spillway Repair Costs

The state Department of Water Resources is still expecting the federal government to pay the bulk of the cost of repairing the Lake Oroville spillways. The estimated cost is up to $870 million, and north state congressmen had indicated the Federal Emergency Management Agency had some doubts whether it could reimburse costs for a redesigned structure. But DWR spokeswoman Erin Mellon said during a media call Wednesday that FEMA has paid 75 percent of costs that have been submitted thus far, and the state has no indication that is going to change.