Dam-Nation

We spoke with Ron Stork, Senior Policy Advisor, Friends of the River in Sacramento. He joined Friends of the River as Associate Conservation Director in 1987 and became the Senior Policy Advocate in 1995 as a national expert in flood management, federal water resources development, hydropower reform, and Wild & Scenic Rivers. A couple of years ago we spoke with him about raising of Shasta Dam, being foisted on California by the federal government and opposed by both environmental groups and the Winnimem Wintu native Americans. He gave us his thoughts on recent Trump administration efforts to push ahead with that project. We also asked him about something closer to home: a recently-released self-study of the state of the Oroville Dam issued by the Department of Water Resources. The dam came within a whisker of breaking in high flows in 2017 and resulted in the evacuation of 280,000 people and billions of dollars in rebuilding expenses. The report claimed the dam is in good shape, but that "acceptable" weaknesses persist, to be addressed if "cost effective."Butte County Supervisor declared this report to be "The fox guarding the hen house.