It is a simple question really: How much is the massive repair project below Lake Oroville costing each day. Simple or not, it has been appallingly difficult to get it answered. Representatives of our newspaper group have been asking how much the crisis at the dam is costing and, oh yes, who’s picking up the tab? The reporters have asked […]
Long before a fractured spillway plunged Oroville Dam into the gravest crisis in its 48-year history, officials at a handful of downstream government agencies devised a plan they believed would make the dam safer: Store less water there. Sutter County, Yuba City and a regional levee-maintenance agency brought their recommendation to the Federal Energy Regulatory […]
Conditions have improved in a small swath of Southern California that was one of the last areas of severe drought still standing during a wet winter for the record books. Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles counties are no longer under severe drought, according to this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor report. Recent rainfall improved the […]
Last summer it was a jarring symbol of California’s historic five-year drought. San Luis Reservoir — the vast lake along Highway 152 between Gilroy and Los Banos, the state’s fifth-largest reservoir and a key link in the water supply for millions of people and thousands of acres of Central Valley farmland — was just 10 […]
Something was wrong with the Oroville Dam spillway weeks before the Department of Water Resources noticed a hole in the concrete. Two photos taken by photographers from this newspaper show discoloration and possible damage to the concrete of the spillway at the spot where a gaping hole opened Feb. 7. Those pictures were taken Jan. […]
Thousands of salmon have begun their lives not in sparkling mountain streams but in plastic trays stacked 16 high in a building. The Merced River Hatchery, near Snelling, has assisted Mother Nature since 1970. It removes eggs from adults that have returned after a few years in the Pacific Ocean, then rears the young until […]
OPINION: Taxpayers Deserve Transparency On Oroville Expenses
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /East Bay TimesIt is a simple question really: How much is the massive repair project below Lake Oroville costing each day. Simple or not, it has been appallingly difficult to get it answered. Representatives of our newspaper group have been asking how much the crisis at the dam is costing and, oh yes, who’s picking up the tab? The reporters have asked […]
Is There Too Much Water Behind Oroville Dam? Critics Say Army Corps Standards Unsafe
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler, Ryan Sabalow, and Phillip ReeseLong before a fractured spillway plunged Oroville Dam into the gravest crisis in its 48-year history, officials at a handful of downstream government agencies devised a plan they believed would make the dam safer: Store less water there. Sutter County, Yuba City and a regional levee-maintenance agency brought their recommendation to the Federal Energy Regulatory […]
Finally, Severe Drought Gets the Boot From All of LA, Ventura, Santa Barbara Counties
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /NBC Bay Areaby Jonathan LloydConditions have improved in a small swath of Southern California that was one of the last areas of severe drought still standing during a wet winter for the record books. Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles counties are no longer under severe drought, according to this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor report. Recent rainfall improved the […]
San Luis Reservoir Full For First Time In Six Years
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Santa Cruz Sentinelby Paul RogersLast summer it was a jarring symbol of California’s historic five-year drought. San Luis Reservoir — the vast lake along Highway 152 between Gilroy and Los Banos, the state’s fifth-largest reservoir and a key link in the water supply for millions of people and thousands of acres of Central Valley farmland — was just 10 […]
Photos Taken Weeks Before Oroville Dam Spillway Broke Show Something Wrong
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Reporter News (Vacaville)by Dan ReidelSomething was wrong with the Oroville Dam spillway weeks before the Department of Water Resources noticed a hole in the concrete. Two photos taken by photographers from this newspaper show discoloration and possible damage to the concrete of the spillway at the spot where a gaping hole opened Feb. 7. Those pictures were taken Jan. […]
River Flow Debate Has Turned On How Best To Help Fish
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Modesto Beeby John HollandThousands of salmon have begun their lives not in sparkling mountain streams but in plastic trays stacked 16 high in a building. The Merced River Hatchery, near Snelling, has assisted Mother Nature since 1970. It removes eggs from adults that have returned after a few years in the Pacific Ocean, then rears the young until […]