11/11/2016

i

Dams:(Guess it’s being safe until they decide whether to fix or not.)State orders breaching of Woodlake dam By Chick Jacobs Staff writer, 10/25/16, fayobserver.com

VASS, NC - The state has given owners ofWoodlake dam until the end of this week tosubmit plans to breach the damaged structure.The breach, a safety measure to allow allwater to drain from the lake, would betemporary. Officials say any decision to rebuildwould be up to the dam's owners. Lingeringconcerns about the dam in the wake ofHurricane Matthew led to the decision,according to Bridget Munger, a spokeswomanfor the state Department of EnvironmentalQuality.

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

Some Dam – Hydro News TM

And Other Stuff

1

Quote of Note: “Whenever you put someone on te Supreme Court tey cease t be your fiend .” -Harry S Truman

Some Dam - Hydro News Newsletter Archive for Back Issues and Search http://npdp.stanford.edu/Click on Link (Some Dam - Hydro News) Bottom Right - Under Perspectives

“Good wine is a necessity of life.” - -Thomas JeffersonRon’s wine pick of the week: 2014 Frei Brothers Zinfandel "Reserve" “ No nation was ever drunk when wine was cheap. ” - - Thomas Jefferson

Heavy rain from Matthew and a series of showers in late September led to a ruptured spillway. More than 100 homes were evacuated downstream. "Our No. 1 concern is for the safety of peopledownstream from the structure," Munger said Wednesday. "A temporary breach will prevent the threat of dam failure in the event of additional heavy rain. "We aren't saying there can never be another dam. That would be up to the owners. That is completely their call." The state has asked for a temporary breach plan by the end of the week, with final plans in place by Nov. 4. Dry weather since the storm has allowed officials to pump much of the 1,200-acre lake contained by the dam. Eight high-volume pumps have helped drain the lake. It is expected to be nearly drained by the end of the month, officials said.

It's not the first time Woodlake dam has been breached for repairs. In early 1988, state inspectorsdiscovered holes larger than a yard across at joints inside the dam. The holes were allowing the structure to leak and could have led to structural failure. The lake was drained and repairs were made that summer. In April of 2014, the state asked the owners for a plan to repair the structure. In December of 2014, state officials issued a dam safety order to Woodlake, requiring the club to lower the lake level by three feet. At the time, the 23-foot dam reportedly had "a void of unknown size" at the bottom of its principal spillway. There also were several cracks in the area, the order said. State officials classified the dam as a "high hazard" because if it failed, it could pose a threatto human life or property. Work was to have begun on the dam this month under the original schedule. Repairs, set to begin in 2015, were delayed when the owners changed engineering firms. Geosyntec, a Raleigh-based consulting and engineering firm, is now monitoring the dam."The public has no idea how much planning has to go into building a dam," Munger said. "It's an involved process."

(Old things need more fixin’.)New leak at Mirror Pond dam prompts more repairsPond level to lower 4 feet for 2 weeks of workBy: Barney Lerten, Oct 28, 2016, ktvz.com

BEND, Ore. - A PacifiCorp engineer on Thursdayspotted a leak in a gate section of the century-oldhydroelectric dam that forms Bend’s Mirror Pond,an official said. While smaller than the leak thatoccurred three years ago, it’s still enough of aconcern to prompt lowering the pond by aboutfour feet for two weeks of repairs, he added.The engineer noticed the leak in an area at oneend of the dam “that is essentially a gate thatallows us to allow ice or debris buildup to passthrough,” said utility spokesman Bob Gravely.“It is a wooden structure made out of logs stacked on top of one another,” Gravely said. “One of the bottom logs failed, so it is allowing more water to pass through than is desired.”The spokesman said they already have begun lowering the level of the pond. “We expect it to be lowered for about two weeks, to allow us to replace that piece of the gate,” he said.Unlike the major repairs that cost $250,000 in 2013, this time “it is a maintenance issue, not a structural issue,” Gravely added. “This does not impact long-term plans or the structure of the dam at all.”

The leak three years ago prompted Pacific Power to announce it wanted to divest itself of the under-3-megawatt dam to the community, amid years of wrangling about how to remove decades of silt buildup in the iconic pond. But earlier this year, the utility did a quiet about-face and said it plans to keep producing power there. While city and Bend Park and Rec District leaders adopted a “community vision” last year, a utility official said this summer that none of the proposals it had been presented with appeared viable, in terms of “being affordable, doable for the community, while leaving Pacific Power customers whole.” Coincidentally, the Park and Rec Board is being

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu2

asked by staff Tuesday night to approve a contract for about $200,000 with GreenWorks PC for design and engineering plans for bank realignment and restoration along the edges of the pond. They will look at methods, identify permit requirements and come up with detailed cost estimates.The park district has allocated more than $1.1 million for the work in the 2017-18 fiscal year.

(Argument for not removing the dams.)Removing dams will harm Klamath RiverOct 28, 2016, heraldandnews.com

For 22 years I studied the flawed arguments on supposed benefits of Klamath River dams’ removal. I told Department of Interior representative John Bezdek at his first public meeting in Yreka: “the Klamath River watershed is the poorest possible situation to consider removal of dams in North America,” maybe worldwide. This river frequently dried up in summer prior to construction of the first dams. The high-phosphorus content of parent rock, soils, water and sediments have always created naturally very poor water quality,

even long before Indians and later white man settled in the Upper Klamath Basin (UKB). Couple that with California and Oregon agendas including carbon credit accounting for electricity production. A switch-over to natural gas will provide the means for high pricing of electricity beyond an affordable level for everyone.

UC Davis Professor of fish biology Dr. Peter Moyle’s Ph.D. student Dr. Ken Gobalet, Professor of biology at California State University Bakersfield, would long ago have identified Chinook and coho salmon bones in Indian middens in the UKB if those species of fish ever frequented the UKB. Gobalet is the expert on that subject. The reef barrier near the site of the current Keno water diversion disallowed fish to migrate past that point most years. Dr. Moyle and his colleagues including me have stated that slowing down the water passage rate in the Klamath River by the dams allows natural bioremediation of the high phosphorus levels in the water by blue-green algae sequestration into reservoir sediments — dead algae muck. Water quality belowthe dams is better with the dams than without. Reservoir sediments can be harvested economically and supply phosphorus for food production on a sustainable basis. John W. Menke: A.A. Mathematics (1966), B.S. Range and Wildlands Science (1969), M.S. Agronomy (1970), Ph.D. Range Systems Ecology and Management (1973), professor UC Davis and Berkeley (1973-98). John W. Menke, Fort Jones, Calif.

(Making it safer.)Work Begins To Fix "High Hazard" Dam By PAUL TUTHILL • OCT 28, 2016, wamc.org

Work has begun to secure a dam in westernMassachusetts that was flagged almost adecade ago as a threat to public safety andproperty. Improvements are being made tostrengthen an earthen dam, which ifbreached could cause catastrophic damageto elegant homes in the Atwater Parkneighborhood of Springfield, and also toBaystate Medical Center. Mayor DomenicSarno said the city tried for years beforerecently obtaining the $2 million to do thework needed to shore up the Van Horn Dam. “It is not a sexy project, but it was right on the top of our list to make sure we secured the proper funding for it," said Sarno.The project is being paid forby a public-private partnership that consists of $1 million from the state and $1 million from MassMutual Financial Group. The dam, which holds back the water in a reservoir in Van Horn

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu3

Park, was cited in 2007 as a “high hazard” after state inspectors found it to be structurally deficient and in poor condition. Springfield Park Commission Chairman Brian Santaniello said officials have kept a nervous eye on the dam for at least 15 years. "We would get reports from consultants that said all it would take is a 100 year storm and it would breach," He said. “Thank God Superstorm Sandy missed us."

During the administration of former Gov. Deval Patrick, the state legislature created a $70 million fund to address the state’s numerous deteriorating dams. Funds earmarked for the Van Horn Dam project were released earlier this year by the administration of Gov. Charlie Baker. Ben Craft, the director of government and public affairs at Baystate, said the hospital is relieved the repairs to the dam are finally being made. "We don't close. We can't close no matter what comes down the pike, weather- wise or anything else," he said. The major part of the project is the removal of numerous trees from the dam, according to Pat Sullivan, the city’s director of parks "Years ago it was thought trees were beneficial to a dam, but we've learned they actually create voids and can cause problems during extreme storm events," explained Sullivan. The work also includes erosion protection on both sides of the dam, hard-packed stone will be put on the water side, and a walking path built on the top. The Van Horn Dam work is one of several projects Springfield is undertaking to make the city safer, better prepared, and more resilient in the event disaster strikes. Earlier this year, the city was awarded $18 million by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development under a national disaster resiliency program. Springfield will use the federal grant to leverage private funds for a multitude of projects, according to Peter Garvey, the city’s director of capital asset construction. "We have about $60 million in projects identified," he said. The city was eligible for the federal funds because of multiple natural disasters in 2011, including a tornado, tropical storm, and crippling October snowstorm.

(They always put up the stop sign after the accident.)Wichita installs warning signs at dam where man drownedBrian Bergkamp died trying to help another kayakerBy The Associated Press, October 29, 2016 - cjonline.com WICHITA -- Wichita has installed new, larger warningsigns at an Arkansas River dam where a 24-year-oldman drowned earlier this year. Brian Bergkampdrowned in July at Wichita’s 21st Street dam as hetried to help another kayaker. The group of kayakershe was with didn’t see the small, faded yellowwarning signs on the bridge until it was too late.Bergkamp’s body was found in the river nearly threeweeks later, six miles away. In 1979, two kayakers -Andy Abbott and Bradley Berschauer - also died atthe same dam. Kansas has an estimated 100 low-head dams, but no state regulations for warningsigns. The city has installed new 4-by-6-foot signs on the bank of the Arkansas River to warn people to steer clear of the dam and to exit the water to get around it, the Wichita Eagle reported.

The city is looking at several other locations around Wichita with low-head dams that need warning signs, said Troy Houtman, Wichita’s parks and recreation director. Houtman said the city also plans to place warning buoys in the water there and hopes to work with paddling groups to educate them about river safety. Dams like the one under the 21st Street bridge are what experts call “drowning machines” because as water flows over the top of the dam, it creates a circular current on the downriver side that pulls people and debris down, up and back toward the dam. This circular motion can put hundreds of pounds of pressure on a person in the water, and wearing a personal flotation device doesn’t really help.

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu4

Hydro: (What’s all the excitement about?)Reasons to be Excited about Hydropower's Future10/25/2016, by Bob Gallo, president and CEO of York, Voith Hydro, Inc., power-eng.com

Hydropower supporters have reason to believe the future is bright for the world's oldest and most-widely used source of renewable energy. No other source of energy combines hydropower's affordability, contributions to combating climate change, and job creation. Far from an old and conventional source of energy, clean and renewable hydropower is constantly evolving and searching for new methods to squeeze energy out of the approximately 80,000 U.S. dams that donot produce power. In many cases, hydropower provides backup generation to support the development of intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar. Nationally, hydropower's benefits are unsurpassed. Reliance on hydropower reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 200 million metric tons each year - the equivalent of taking 38 million passenger cars off the road. All told, over 300,000 people work in the hydropower industry, and it also offers the lowest levelized cost of any source of energy. Indeed, many states throughout the country, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, enjoy low energy prices in large part due to their reliance on hydropower.What's more, we expect hydropower's importance to grow in the coming years. Over the summer,the Department of Energy released its long-awaited Hydropower Vision Report, a comprehensive analysis that details several pathways to fully utilize our water resources. The report finds that we can boost hydropower generation by 50 GW by 2050 through a combination of new conventional hydropower, pumped storage, small hydro development, and emerging technologies such as Voith's StreamDiver designed for deployment on many of the very streams previously thought unfeasible for hydropower. One of the major hurdles standing in the way of the hydropower industry is the current regulatory climate. Over the past year, Congress has debated and ultimately passed legislation that would streamline the regulatory process for hydropower - a process many believe is hindering its development. The Energy Policy Modernization Act, which also addresses regulations governing the development and use of many other sources of energy, would smooth licensing by declaring the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as the lead agency in what can be a very long and costly process that touches multiple jurisdictions, agencies, and even governments. Without a clear lead agency and defined time frames and deadlines, otherwise promising - but capital intensive - projects can languish for years on end. While Congress has made significant progress on this legislation in a time otherwise noted for stalemate, as of September, House and Senate negotiators had still yet to iron out their differences. When Congress returns to session after the November elections, it should make final passage of the Energy Policy Modernization Act one of its top priorities before the end of the year. Make no mistake: without important regulatory reforms, our country will find it difficult to meet its growing energy needs. Nearly 500 hydropower projects, representing over 15% of our current installed capacity, will be up for relicensing in the next 15 years. At the same time, numerous coal-fired power plants will be retired due to environmental regulations and global market forces. This energy will need to be replaced with clean and baseload power. Every effort should be made to ensure hydropower livesup to its tremendous potential and delivers clean and affordable electricity to homes and businesses from coast to coast. The release of the Hydropower Vision report reminds us that we can and must do more to responsibly develop our precious water resources. With the passage of the Energy Policy Modernization Act, we will take a step to live up to the tremendous potential quantified in the report and ultimately deploy more hydropower in every corner of the country.

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu5

(They only like it if they can control it and make more money.)Group Says New U.S. Energy Bill Will Harm Rivers By HOWARD WEISS-TISMAN • 10/27/16, digital.vpr.net The Connecticut River Watershed Councilsays a new energy bill would limitenvironmental groups from taking part inthe federal relicensing of hydroelectricdams. The U.S. House and Senate bothpassed a version of the energy bill, whichsupporters say would modernize thecountry's energy policies. The bill aims tohelp transform the nation's energyinfrastructure away from coal and oil, andtoward more renewable sources. But aprovision that would simplify the regulatoryprocess for hydroelectric dams has thewatershed council worried. ConnecticutRiver Steward David Deen says the billgives preferential treatment to powercompanies, at the expense of states andenvironmental groups. "Their definition of astreamlined process was to remove theenvironmental protections, and to removethe responsibility to have to meet recreation needs that the local communities define," Deen says."Those projects are using our water and they're using it for private gain. They really have a responsibility to us, as river users, and to the river itself."

The Connecticut River Watershed Council is currently participating in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, relicensing of three dams on the Connecticut River. Deen says many of the large dams in the country were built decades ago, before many modern environmental laws were passed. And because the FERC hydroelectric license can last 50 years, Deen says it's important that groups like the Connecticut River Watershed Council continue to take part in the relicensing. "For a dam that is coming up for relicensing in 2017, it is entirely possible that it was last licensed in 1967, during the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson," Deen says. "These dams have never been subject to the Electricity Consumers Protection Act, the Clean Water Act or the Endangered Species Act." But the National Hydropower Association says the billis needed to update a cumbersome regulatory process. “The bipartisan provisions included in the bills seek to add predictability and increase coordination and timeliness of the process - all while protecting environmental values," executive director Linda Church Ciocci said in a prepared statement. Vermont Rep. Peter Welch and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders are both members of the committee working on the energy bill in Congress.

(Study after study,)Argonne Report to Help Dam North of Grand Canyon Balance Environment and Hydropower NeedsCredit: Kirk LaGory/Argonne National Laboratory, newswise.com, 28-Oct-2016

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu6

The Bellows Falls Dam is part of a hydroelectric system on the Connecticut River. The Connecticut River Watershed Council says a new U.S. Energy Bill would limit participationin the federal relicensing process.

Newswise — Researchers at the U.S.Department of Energy’s (DOE's)Argonne National Laboratory havehelped develop a plan for the operationof Glen Canyon Dam in Glen CanyonNational Recreation Area, upstream ofGrand Canyon National Park. The plan,known as the Glen Canyon Dam Long-Term Experimental and ManagementPlan and documented in a finalenvironmental impact statement,recommends a strategy that wouldbalance hydropower with the protectionof environmental, cultural and recreational resources in the area. The plan, which was released earlier this month, is designed to be flexible and responsive to changing conditions and new information, so that operations can be adjusted to improve conditions. The report is the first step in a 20-year experimental, management and environmental monitoring effort conducted by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Located fifteen miles north of the Grand Canyon, the Glen Canyon Dam delivers water from the Upper to the Lower Colorado River Basin. The dam was built in 1963 for water storage and flood control and is crucial to water distribution to about 40 million people in Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The hydropower facility also provides 1,300megawatts of electrical generating capacity to more than five million customers. The dam prevents most sediment from entering the river downstream, releases cool water and changes river flow patterns: thus, it also impacts downstream resources. For example, it has contributed to a decline in the population of native humpback chub, as well as the erosion of beaches once built and replenished from sediment transported downstream during annual floods. The team identifiedseven alternative ways of operating the dam. Each one would implement different monthly and daily water release patterns and experimentally test special releases, such as short-duration high flows to simulate floods and build beaches, low summer flows to allow the water to warm to benefit native fish or short-term fluctuations to manage the trout population. After modeling the effects of these alternatives, the team recommended one that would improve the conditions of downstream resources and limit impact on hydropower generation. “The team, with input from cooperating agencies, Tribes, and stakeholders, has identified a preferred alternative that will benefit the endangered humpback chub, vegetation, wildlife, cultural resources, Tribal resources and recreational activities, including trout fishing, boating and camping, while limiting its effect on clean renewable hydropower,” said ecologist Kirk LaGory, manager of the Rivers and HydropowerProgram in Argonne’s Environmental Sciences Division and team lead for the environmental impact statement.

In addition to analyzing environmental impacts, the team assessed how each alternative would affect power production during periods of peak demand when the value of energy is higher (whichoccur in the winter and summer and in the mornings and evenings) versus when demand is low and the value of energy is lower (like during the middle of the night). The team also analyzed the overall capacity of the hydropower plant over a 20-year period. In doing so, they measured the effects of variable water flow (e.g., drought years and wet years and climate change) that can alter the amount of r energy production year to year. “We used these data to estimate the energy and operational capacity of the Glen Canyon power plant that would be produced under each alternative and projected how other power plants in the Western power grid would respond to operations under each alternative,” said Thomas Veselka, a computational engineer in Argonne’s Energy Systems Division who was involved in the power system analysis. In the next few months,the U.S. Department of the Interior is expected to produce a Record of Decision that identifies how the department plans to operate Glen Canyon Dam for the next 20 years.

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu7

The plan would be supported by the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program, a successful management strategy for long-term research and monitoring of dam operations and downstream resources that has been in place for the last 20 years. The U.S. Geological Survey’s Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center, in coordination with the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service, other agencies and the Tribes, will then implement a science program to monitor the impact of dam operations on fish populations, river sediment, vegetation, cultural resources and other environmental resources. Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit the Office of Science website.

(Trying to find new ways to sink hydro.)Should the Green Climate Fund flow to hydropower? By Jamie Skinner, 31 October 2016, iied.org

Jamie Skinner discusses whether tightening up standards to minimise social and environmental risks could shift the debate on hydropower.

This month's meeting of the Green ClimateFund (GCF) board prompted fresh questionson how far the US$10 billion fund is meetingits promise to invest in innovative 'paradigmshifting' programmes to mitigate climatechange and tackle its impacts. A complexand ongoing issue the board faces iswhether or not to support hydropowerprojects, which is particularly relevant sinceone of the western banks seeking GCFaccreditation has invested in such projects inHonduras and Panama. Hydropower: fueling controversyInvesting in hydropower is controversial, as was demonstrated at last year's Paris climate talks when more than 500 civil society groups from 85 countries called on governments and financial institutions to exclude large hydropower from climate initiatives such as the GCF. The impacts of badly planned large dams on communities and ecosystems are well documented, and have brought them repeatedly under the spotlight. In response, the World Commission on Dams (WCD) in 2000 laid out a new framework to improve planning of large dams in light of water, energy and agriculture policies. The WCD's guidelines also included approaches to river basin and sectoral planning. This approach was broadly endorsed by civil society organisations (CSOs) on the basis that it was the only way non-dam options to meet development needs could be properly discussed, and 'bad dam' projects could be filtered out at the planning stage. But compliance with the WCD framework requires assessing basin and sectoral planning, as well as individual dam projects – making measuring success very challenging.

Scoring sustainabilityRecognising this, the hydropower industry built on WCD ideas by developing the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP), with sign-off from CSOs including WWF, the Nature Conservancy, Oxfam and Transparency International in the process. While some aspects of the

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu8

tool can be contested, its sustainability scorecard can measure the social and environmental impact of hydropower projects, giving it significant merit. In our view, it is the best tool currently available for measuring the sustainability of individual dams at the planning stage.

Hydro can still play a roleHaving said that, many CSOs take the view that changes in renewable technologies and energy storage will make large hydropower dams redundant in the next decade, and will no longer be required, for example, to provide 'base load' energy to support grid-connected intermittent renewables, as they often do today. This may one day be the case, but in the interim period, hydropower continues to play a role in supplying base load power to national grids and balancing other renewables, which allows a greater proportion of wind and solar on the grid. For now at least, it is vital to make the shift needed to lower emission development. A bid for climate finance for hydro would need to first make the case that it cannot be funded solely by commercial investors or the development banks. If it can make this case, it would then need to meet the requirements of HSAP. So instead of banning hydro, the GCF should adopt a policy that sets a high bar both on the need for climate finance and on the sustainability standards – and review impacts and performance every 10 years.

Tighter policy process, regular reviewsThe review would then inform the adoption, or not, of a new GCF policy on hydropower eligibility, based on past evidence and experience for the following 10-year period. In 2004, the EU made funding for large hydropower in the EU carbon trading system legal on the basis it "respected the provisions of the World Commission on Dams". Looking back from 2016, we can see that of 1,384projects financed, 573 were required to meet this condition. But there is no monitoring, no feedback, and no documentation of that experience that can lead to impact assessment or policy revision – and so no evidence that the policy was effective or ineffective in reducing the impacts of this potentially damaging technology. It would be a pity to repeat the same mistake with GCF. Jamie Skinner (jamie.skinner@iied.org) is principal researcher in IIED's Natural Resources research group.

(If you had the right site, something this tall should be concrete.)Tajikistan starts building world's tallest dam for hydro plant | Reutersfirstpost.com, Reuters, 10/30/16

DUSHANBE Tajikistan on Saturday diverted theflow of a major river to start building the world'stallest dam and the main element of the Rogunhydroelectric power plant, a $3.9 billion projectwhich Dushanbe hopes will secure its energyindependence. The Central Asian nation whichborders Afghanistan lacks hydrocarbonresources and relies heavily on hydroelectricpower, although its neighbors downstreamcomplain that this disrupts their traditionalagricultural works. President Imomali Rakhmon'soffice said in a statement he attended Saturday'sceremony at which explosions were used toblock the main riverbed of the Vakhsh river,paving way for the construction of a 335-metre dam for which Italy's Salini Impregilo this year wona $3.9 billion contract. Uzbekistan, another former Soviet republic and Central Asia's most populous nation of 30 million, has repeatedly urged Tajikistan not to build Rogun. In order to power the hydro plants, Tajikistan needs to accumulate water during the summer -- when it is needed downstream for irrigation -- and then release it in the winter, causing spring floods downstream.

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu9

Highlighting the poor state of Tajikistan's existing energy infrastructure, mostly built in the Soviet era, a malfunction at the country's biggest power plant, Nurek, left most of the country in completedarkness for several hours late on Friday. The outage also affected production at Tajikistan Aluminium Company, one of the country's main hard currency earners, the firm said on Saturday without disclosing any details. In a speech broadcast by state television on Saturday, Rakhmon said upgrades at the Nurek power plant would require $700 million. The new power plant, Rogun, will start providing electric power in late 2018, Rakhmon said.

(Power from the North.)Loveless: U.S. looks to Canada for green power By Bill Loveless, for USA TODAY, October 30, 2016, usatoday.com Free trade in North America has become acontentious issue this year, thanks to attacks byDonald Trump on a wide-reaching agreementimplemented by the U.S., Canada and Mexico in1994. But even as the pros and cons of the NorthAmerican Free Trade Agreement continue to bedebated in the U.S. election campaigns, newopportunities for commerce among the threecountries are emerging, including opportunities inenergy. Among the biggest openings involvesimports of clean electricity from Canada, wherehydropower provides the bulk of the nation’spower supply, with plenty to spare. Electricityharnessed from dams and reservoirs in Quebec,Manitoba, Ontario and British Columbiaaccounted for 63% of Canada’s electricity supplyin 2015, with nuclear energy following at 13%,and wind energy way behind but growing at 2%.All told, 83% of Canada’s electric generation is emission-free, compared to 32% for power supplies in the U.S. and 25% for those in Mexico, according to Sergio Marchi, the president and CEO of the Canadian Electricity Association.

“We are keen to share that resource wealth with our friends to the south,” Marchi said the other day at a forum on cross-border electricity trade at the Canadian Embassy in Washington. As the head of a trade group that represents the electricity business in Canada, Marchi obviously has a vested interest in promoting sales in the U.S. Nevertheless, the timing seems right to look increasingly to our neighbor for more green power. For starters, the U.S. and Canada, not to mention Mexico, are all committed to reducing their carbon emissions under the global climate accord struck in Paris last year. That could change, of course, if Trump is elected and he follows through on his pledge to reverse President Obama’s climate commitments. At a North American leaders’ summit in Ottawa in June, Obama joined Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in announcing a goal of 50% clean power generation for the three countries by 2025.

Among their proposals for achieving that goal is approving new cross-border transmission projects involving renewable energy. The Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which seeksto curb electric-utility carbon emissions by 32% by 2030, provides added incentives for some states to look north of the border for electricity options, although the policy is being challenged in court by 27 states. “It’s become abundantly clear that clean energy is the future,” Marchi said. “As such, it will define our industry and our economy and indeed our very way of life as North Americans.” Canada and the U.S. have been electricity trading partners for more than 100 years. But in 2015, Canadian net exports to the U.S. set a record of nearly 60 terawatt hours, worth $2.8 billion Canadian ($2.1 billion U.S.), thanks to a drought-induced decline in U.S. Pacific Northwest hydropower, comparatively low prices for Canadian electricity and other factors, data from the

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu10

The Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant along the Niagara River, as seen from the air in Lewiston, N.Y. New York is on the left and Canada is on the right.(Photo: David Duprey, AP)

National Energy Board in Ottawa show. That electricity trade relies on 35 or so transmission lines,and more capacity will be needed to expand the cross-border flow. “One of the biggest hurdles will be maximizing the value of existing transmission capacity and building new capacity necessary to accommodate the growing power flows that we speak of,” Marchi said.Six such projects are under development to bring Canadian electricity to New England, New York and other regions of the U.S. But some face local opposition from residents and business owners who object to new lines being strung across their regions or who prefer other options for meeting energy needs.

If all six projects are approved and built, Canada will be able to increase its electricity exports to the U.S. by 50%, Marchi said. Despite some resistance in the U.S., Marchi is hopeful that electricity trade between the two countries will grow now that government leaders are setting new clean energy national goals, and that the trend will continue under the next U.S. president.“The U.S. election has overtaken all of our cocktail chats back home,” he said. “But I for one hopethat the next administration, whoever that president will be, takes up where the current administration leaves off, when it comes to nurturing the North American relationship, because it matters. We know that tomorrow’s economy will be built on a foundation of clean sustainable growth.” Bill Loveless —@bill_loveless on Twitter — is a veteran energy journalist and podcast host in Washington. He is the former anchor of the TV program Platts Energy Week.

(And, the consumer pays,)ArcLight Capital to Purchase TransCanada's New England Hydroelectric Power Portfolio NEWS PROVIDED BY ArcLight Capital Partners, Nov 01, 2016, prnewswire.com

BOSTON, Nov. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ArcLight Capital Partners, one of the leading renewable energy investors in the United States, announced today that its affiliate Great River Hydro signed a definitive agreement to acquire TransCanada's New England hydroelectric power portfolio. With 13 facilities on the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, TransCanada's 584 MW renewable power portfolio is the largest conventional hydro system in New England. The portfolio includes the 192 MW Moore facility, the largest conventional hydro station in New England, and 12 other facilities totaling 392 MW. The transaction is expected to close in mid-2017, subject to customary regulatory and other approvals.Great River Hydro anticipates a smooth transition of ownership. The company has committed to retain all existing operational personnel, plans to assume the recently negotiated union contract, and will continue the FERC relicensing process currently underway at the Bellows Falls, Wilder and Vernon facilities.

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, ArcLight Capital is one of the most experienced owners and operators of renewable power assets in the United States. Founded in 2001, the firm has invested more than $3.1 billion of capital in renewable power assets, representing approximately 5,000 MW of generation. The firm has successfully led some of the most notable renewable projects in the United States, including developing and operating one of the largest wind farms in the world. The firm is committed to maintaining strong partnerships with employees, host communities, states and other local stakeholders. ArcLight also has over a decade of experience owning and operating hydroelectric power generation facilities in New England. Since 2006, ArcLight has acquired and operated 10 hydro facilities along the Penobscot, Union and Androscoggin rivers in Maine. Great River Hydro will be led by Scott Hall, a long-term portfolio executive of ArcLight with over 27 years of experience managing hydroelectric generating facilities and companies in the Northeast. Mr. Hall has been directly responsible for all facets of hydroelectric company operations, including employee management, environmental compliance, facility maintenance and operations, and business development activities. Mr. Hall has also been an active leader in a variety of stakeholder processes that addressed numerous socio-economic issues related to river flows, energy development and natural resource management. "We have been incredibly impressed by the quality of both the hydroelectric facilities and the operations team," said Mr. Hall. "I am very excited to work with the team to continue the level of

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu11

excellence they have already achieved in providing reliable, renewable power in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts." "We are thrilled to expand our renewable footprint by acquiring these premier hydroelectric assets from TransCanada," added Dan Revers, Managing Partner and co-Founder of ArcLight. "New England is a key geography for ArcLight, and we look forward to working with local communities and other constituencies across the region."

(Old mill in VA. Excerpts.)Wytheville mill joins 10 others as new Virginia historical landmarksBy Eamon O'Meara, Nov 02, 2016, wdbj7.com WYTHEVILLE, Va. (WDBJ7) Virginia has nearly a dozen new historic landmarks including a morethan 100-year-old mill in Wytheville. But the owner doesn't intend on letting it sit like a museum. The Reed Creek Mill has stood since 1901, after it replaced an 1850s mill that was destroyed.In 2012 Robert Downey, a Vietnam Warveteran and former stadium manager for theWashington Redskins and JacksonvilleJaguars, purchased it for $150,000 after it satuntouched and dilapidated for since 2004. "The place really needed to be overhauled andto me it was a challenge," he explained. "Ireally did it for no better reason than that." Thepurchase included the mill, guest house,workshop, and dam. So far he's put $350,000into fixing the old mill.James Pridemore, a mechanic who does much of the day-to-day work on the mill, explained, "We started tearing down old buildings, cleaning up the part that was new, and after that we put some sidings on it, dressed it up, built the new porch, and then we started cleaning the inside out."Downey explained it took three separate votes to approve it, but he was always confident the mill would become a landmark.

"I was hopeful, I didn't want to say it but I believed it would from all indications," he said. "What it does, it opens up a lot of tax credits and so that's something that could enhance some future business that wants to take a look at this." Now that it is a historical landmark, Downey is planningwhat to do once he's done fixing it, with much of the original building materials still intact, except the old machines that had to be removed. He had students from Virginia Tech come out to see if the mill could still produce electricity. "We could literally generate in the range of 500,000 - 700,000 kilowatts of power per year," Downey said. "It could do about 50 homes or you could produce about 6,000 barrels of beer per year using that amount of electricity."But even if it's not used to conduct energy, Downey has other plans for what he'd like to see this mill used for in the future, when he's done refurbishing it. He explained, "Whether it's a restaurantor an event venue or a microbrewery or some type of business, whatever it is I want it to be high scale. I'm not looking for it to end up being a flea market." Pridemore added about the historic building, "It kind of worries me to see these old farmhouses and things going down. I always think it would be nice to redo them."

The Reed Creek Mill is joined by 10 other new landmarks that were announced in September.The Department of Historic Resources described each in a release saying: Construction of the JamesRiver and Kanawha Canal provided an impetus for a hydraulic cement industry in antebellum Botetourt County and the 1840s appear to have been years ofgrowth in the region’s lime industry, which continuesto be an important part of the county’s economy. Representing that early industrial history is the Reynolds Property. Named for its one-time owner

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu12

and mid-19th century lime-maker Greenville Reynolds, the roughly 150-acre property features a whitewashed stone house dating to around 1800, a long-abandoned limestone quarry complex including a mound that may be a limekiln ruin, a barn, and miscellaneous domestic and agricultural outbuildings. The house’s interior, originally a hall-parlor plan, has mud-plastered and whitewashed stone walls, exposed ceiling beams, a wooden floor, and two fireplaces. The Reynolds Property also includes the remains of a stone springhouse foundation and a cemetery of uninscribed fieldstone grave markers that oral tradition suggests was a slave burial ground. Quarrying ceased on the property in 1936. - - - - -.

Water(They won’t like it until it acts like there’s no dam there.)High flow release at Glen Canyon Dam set to start Nov. 7 By Emery Cowan, 11/1/16, azdailysun.com

Glen Canyon Dam managers will increasereleases of water from Lake Powell nextweek as part of an effort to move sedimentfrom Colorado River tributaries into themainstem. The experimental high flowrelease will last from Nov. 7 to Nov. 12. Thepurpose is to build up sandbars and improvethe backwater habitats in the river that areused by young native fishes, including theendangered humpback chub.

The upcoming experimental high flow willpeak at a release of approximately 36,000cubic feet per second for 96 hours. Under normal November operations, daily releases fluctuate between about 7,000 cfs and 13,000 cfs. The Bureau of Reclamation says the releases will be thefourth under a protocol approved in 2012. Recreational users along the Colorado River through Glen and Grand Canyons should use caution during the entire week of Nov. 7. It will take several hours following the beginning and end of the dam release for high flow waters to reach and then recede at downstream locations in the canyons. The AP contributed to this report.

Environment: (They have another reason for removing the dams.)Scientists Call for Breaching Dams to Save Puget Sound OrcasBy phuong le, Associated Press, SEATTLE — Oct 28, 2016, abcnews.go.com

Researchers who track the endangered population of orcas that frequent Washington state waters said Friday that three whales are missing or believed dead since summer. The most

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu13

recent death of a 23-year-old female known as J28 and likely her 10-month-old calf drops the current population to 80, among the lowest in decades, according to the Center for Whale Research on Friday Harbor, which keeps the whale census for the federal government.A 42-year-old female whale was reported missing during the center's July 1 census.Center senior scientist Ken Balcomb said orcas, particularly mothers and their babies, are struggling because they don't have enough food, a primary factor in the population's decline.He and others called for four dams on the Lower Snake River to be breached to open up habitat for salmon. They said the best opportunity to save the orcas is to restore runs of salmon eaten by the killer whales.

"We know what we need to do, feed them,"Balcomb said at a news conference on theSeattle waterfront surrounded by supporterswho held signs calling for the dams to comedown. Those opposed to removing the LowerSnake dams say they provide low-costhydroelectric power and play a major role inthe region's economy. J28 was believed tohave died in the Strait of Juan de Fucasometime last week, leaving behind a 10-month old whale that won't likely survivewithout her, Balcomb said. The motherappeared emaciated in recent weeks, hesaid. The number of southern resident killerwhales has fluctuated in recent decades,from more than 100 in 1995 to about 80 in recent years, as they have faced threats from pollution,lack of prey and disturbance from boats. They were listed as endangered in 2005. The whales have a strong preference for chinook salmon, which are typically larger and fatter fish, but those runs have been declining."There's no reason these dams couldn't be breached," said Jim Waddell, a retired engineer with the group DamSense who spoke at the news conference. In May, in a long-running lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon in Portland rejected the federal government's latest plan for offsetting the damage that dams in the Columbia River Basin pose to salmon. The judge ordered the government to come up with a new plan by March 2018. He said he would not dictate what options the government must consider in the new plan, but he noted that a proper analysis under federal law "may well require consideration of the reasonable alternative of breaching, bypassing, or removing one or more of the four Lower Snake River Dams."

(Is there a better way?)Chinook Salmon and the DamsBY JOHN SUMMERS, OCTOBER 28, 2016, kpq.com

BOISE, Idaho (AP) – Federal officials saychanges in how dams on the Snake andColumbia rivers are operated are needed toimprove migratory conditions for protectedruns of Snake River chinook salmon andsteelhead. A proposed recovery planreleased Thursday by the National MarineFisheries Service also says habitat needs tobe improved in tributaries where fish spawnand in the Columbia River estuary whereyoung fish transition to ocean life. Officialssay the Snake River and its tributaries in Idaho, Oregon and Washington state at one time supported more than half of the Columbia River basin’s summer steelhead and more than 40

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu14

percent of the spring and summer chinook salmon. But in the 1990s the runs were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Other Stuff: (Here’s the numbers, but where’s the hydro? In case you wondered, you can go to this website to see how much hydro is in each state: http://www.hydro.org/why-hydro/available/hydro-in-the-states/ )The renewable energy production of each US state: Part 1By Polly Coleman - Renewable Energy – 10/28/16, energydigital.com This article is part one of five in a series where we will be looking into the renewable energy production of each of the states in the U.S. We take a look at the percentage of green energy produced by each state and give some interesting facts and figures about the renewable energy that is produced there.1. AlabamaTotal renewable energy produced (percent): 16.15. Renewable sources provide 16.15 percent of Alabama's energy production, totaling 263,727 billion BTUs. This is 3.5 percent of total U.S. renewable energy production. In 2015, Alabama ranked eighth in net electricity generation from renewable energy resources, including hydroelectric power. In 2015, conventional hydroelectric power supplied 75 percent of Alabama's generation from renewable resources. Alabama has the third-biggest timberland acreage amongst the lower 48 states. In 2015, Alabama ranked fifth (in the United States) in electricity generation from biomass. Most of it was from wood and wood waste from the state’s substantial forest products industry.2. AlaskaTotal renewable energy produced (percent): 0.77, Renewable sources provide 0.77 percent of Alaska's energy production, totaling 14,316 billion BTUs. This is 0.19 percent of total U.S. renewable energy. In 2015, Wind power provided nearly three quarters of Alaska's electricity fromnon-hydroelectric renewable sources. Alaska was one of only eight states generating electricity from geothermal energy in 2015.3. ArizonaTotal renewable energy produced (percent): 15.51. Renewable sources provide 15.51 percent of Arizona's energy production, which totals 88,571 billion BTUs. This is 1.18 percent of the total United States renewable energy production. In 2014, the state placed second in the United Statesin utility-scale electricity generation from solar. Arizona is the 15th most populous state in the U.S.It ranked 44th in per capita energy consumption in 2013, partly because of the state’s small industrial sector. Arizona's Renewable Environmental Standard needs 15 percent of the state’s electricity consumed in 2025 to come from renewable energy resources.4. Arkansas12.01 percent of the energy that Arkansas produces is renewable. Renewable sources provide 12.01 percent of Arkansas's energy production, this totals over 120,541 billion BTUs. This equals 1.6 percent of the total United States renewable energy production. In 2014, Arkansas’s natural gas production accounted for 4.1 percent of the total United States marketed production. Coal-fired electric power plants in Arkansas provided over half (54 percent) of the state's electricity in 2014.5. CaliforniaTotal renewable energy produced (percent): 24.38. Renewable energy production provides over 24 percent of California's total energy production. This totals 635,062 billion BTUs. This is 8.43 percent of total United States renewable energy production.6. ColoradoTotal renewable energy produced (percent): 3.11. Renewable sources provide 3.11 percent of Colorado's energy production, totaling 77,156 billion BTUs. This is 1.02 percent of total U.S. renewable energy production. 60 percent of the electricity that was generated in Colorado in 2014

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu15

came from coal, 22 percent came from natural gas and 18 percent came from renewable energy resources.7. ConnecticutTotal renewable energy produced (percent): 13.02. Renewable sources provide 13.02 percent of Connecticut's energy production, totaling 26,087 billion BTUs. This is 0.35 percent of total U.S. renewable energy production. In 2014, over one third of households in Connecticut used natural gas to heat their homes. By 2020, Connecticut wants to obtain 23 percent of the state's electricity from renewable energy. As well as another 4 percent from conservation and energy from industrial heat.8. Delaware100 percent of the energy that Delaware produces is renewable. This is mostly down to its Biomass production as this industry creates over 80 percent of the state's total renewable energy production.9. FloridaTotal renewable energy produced (percent): 40.99. Renewable sources provide over 40 percent of Florida's total energy production. This equates to over 214,555 billion BTUs which is 2.85 percent of the total United States renewable energy production. Electricity is 90 percent of the energy consumed by Florida households. Florida households (on average) spend $1,900 per yearon their electricity bills; this is 40 percent higher than the U.S. average, according to EIA's Residential Energy Consumption Survey.10. GeorgiaTotal renewable energy produced (percent): 36.36. Renewable sources provide over 36 percent of Georgia's energy production. This totals 189,321 billion BTUs, which is 2.51 percent of total U.S. renewable energy production. Georgia is a largely forested state and has been a leading state in the production of wood products. In 2015, Georgia placed 3rd in the United States in net electricity generation from biomass. Information Sources: http://energy.gov/maps/renewable-energy-production-state http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=LA#tabs-3

(Thar she blows.)Renewable Energy Makes Its MarkBy Adam Bonislawski, October 28, 2016 - 3blmedia.com

According to the U.S. Energy InformationAdministration’s International Energy Outlook2016 report, renewables are the fastest growingenergy source, growing globally at a rate of 2.6percent per year. At that pace, they are expectedto meet 29 percent of the world’s energy needs by2040, up from 22 percent in 2012. Compared toconventional fossil fuels like coal and oil,renewable sources like wind, solar andhydroelectric offer the promise of cleaner, moreenvironmentally friendly energy, reducing impactsinvolved in both extracting and generating power.But reduced impact doesn’t mean no impact. Dams built for hydroelectric power can flood vast stretches of land, displacing people and animals. Solar panel arrays can likewise make environments less hospitable for inhabits. Wind turbines can present hazards to birds and other avian species, and have also been opposed by some for aesthetic reasons. Fortunately, careful site selection can minimize such impacts. In a paper presented at the International Conference onEnvironmental Science and Technology in 2014, Gdańsk University of Technology professor EwaKlugmann-Radziemska noted that mindful consideration of migration patterns can minimize bird deaths due to wind farms. Likewise, she observed that due to the potential impacts of large-scale solar fields on their environments, they are perhaps best suited to “lower-quality locations such asabandoned mining land, or existing transportation and transmission corridors.”

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu16

It’s also important to keep in mind the fact that, while renewable energy sources aren’t without their environmental impacts, these impacts are in many cases much less significant than those from conventional sources. For instance, according to Dr. Klugmann-Radziemska, even accounting for the dangers wind turbines present to birds, fossil-fueled facilities are roughly 17 times more damaging to these animals, largely due to their contribution to climate change.Other complaints have more of an aesthetic basis. In the U.S., large-scale solar farms in places ranging from Vermont to North Carolina to South Dakota have run into resistance, with residents raising concerns that these projects could prove, among other things, property-value-deflating eyesores. Massachusetts’ Cape Cod is home to perhaps the most notorious battle over renewables. There, disagreements over the placement of 130 offshore wind turbines has gone onfor more than a decade, with residents claiming that, in addition to possible environmental impacts, the proposed turbines would damage the area’s ocean views. More recent developmentsare proving a draw as well. For instance, according to a 2013 article by Joanna Foster at Think Progress, wind farms across the country are drawing people by the busload. Installations in Michigan’s Great Lakes region, North Palms Springs, Calif., and Atlantic City, N.J., have all proved popular tourist draws, she wrote. Even the much-maligned Cape Cod wind farms have gotten some support, as local ferry company Hy-line Cruises has announced that it plans to run sightseeing trips to the turbines if and when they are finally installed. As the saying goes, it’s an ill wind that blows no good. However, not everyone considers renewable installations a nuisance. Rather, some are objects of fascination—tourist attractions, in fact. For example, last year more than 720,000 people took paid tours of Nevada’s Hoover Dam, arguably the most famous renewable energy project in U.S. history.

(There’s danger everywhere.)The 5 Viruses You Never Want to Get Ebola's up there, but there are others that could be even worse By Jenn Gidman, Newser Staff, Oct 30, 2016, newser.com (NEWSER) – The deadliest Ebola outbreak ever endedearlier this year, but despite advances in vaccines andantiviral drugs, Live Science notes "we're a long way fromwinning" the war against not only Ebola, but other viruses,too—some even deadlier than Ebola. The site lists some ofthe worst threats: • Marburg virus• Hantavirus• Rabies• HIV• SmallpoxFind out what other deadly viruses made the cut: http://www.livescience.com/56598-deadliest-viruses-on-earth.html(There's a dangerous virus that leaps from squirrels to people.)http://www.newser.com/story/209549/deadly-new-virus-jumped-from-squirrels-to-people.html

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu17

iThis compilation of articles and other information is provided at no cost for those interested in hydropower, dams, and water resourcesissues and development, and should not be used for any commercial or other purpose. Any copyrighted material herein is distributed withoutprofit or payment from those who have an interest in receiving this information for non-profit and educational purposes only.