Tag Archive for: Dams

Effort To Allow Electricity From Large Dams To Count As Renewable Energy In California Fails To Pass

/in , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

A controversial effort to broaden California’s definition of renewable energy has fizzled out. The proposal would have allowed electricity from a large dam in the Central Valley to count the same as solar and wind. Under a law signed last year by former Gov. Jerry Brown aimed at reducing smog and greenhouse gas emissions, utilities in California are required to produce 60 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

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Dam It All: More Than Half Of The World’s Long Rivers Are Blocked By Infrastructure

/in , /by /Salonby Rachel Ramirez

It hasn’t even been a week since the U.N. released a depressing report on biodiversity, and now, a new study in Nature shows that 63 percent of the world’s longest (at least 620 miles) rivers are impeded by human-built infrastructures such as dams and reservoirs. Dam(n). Rivers are a key source of food and water for agriculture, energy, and humanity. They’re critical to many cultures and communities and home to a plethora of species like salmon and trout. They also bolster ecosystems by restoring groundwater and serve as a buffer against drought.

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OPINION: Salmon And Dams Can Coexist

/in , /by /The Seattle Times

For more than 20 years. there has been an ongoing debate about the impact of the four Snake River dams on the Pacific Northwest’s salmon population. Since the 1970s, billions of dollars have been spent to upgrade the dams and to improve salmon habitat. The results? According to the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the average number of returning salmon and steelhead are more than double what they were when counts first began when the Bonneville Dam started operations in 1938. Despite this clear evidence that dams and fish can coexist, the debate continues.

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