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2 salmon-eating sea lions killed at Bonneville DamAssociated Press – Fri, Apr 6, 2012 PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Washington state wildlife spokesman says two salmon-eating California sea lions have been captured this week at Bonneville Dam and killed by lethal injection. The Oregonian reports the deaths are the first this year after a federal judge ruled last month the program could proceed. Washington Fish and Wildlife spokesman Craig Bartlett says the sea lions were captured Tuesday.

Who is buried in the Hoover Dam? The Hoover Dam is one of the most phenomenal structures in modern history. This 1244 feet long, 660 feet thick, and 726 feet high concrete behemoth holds back so much water that it deformed the earth's crust and caused 600 small earthquakes in the decade after its construction. Over 100 workers died constructing the Hoover Dam — and legend has it, some of them are buried within its concrete facade. Is there anything to these rumors? An enormous number of deaths - Over 100 people died in the construction of the Hoover Dam....

<p>GILBOA, N.Y. (AP) - Residents of Schoharie County downstream of the Blenheim-Gilboa Dam are being advised to move to higher ground because of the potential for flooding along the Schoharie Creek.</p> <p>The New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which owns the dam as part of its upstate water supply, says warning sirens were triggered Sunday afternoon by rising water due to higher-than-predicted rainfall and the loss of electronic monitoring devices at the dam.</p>

The Elwha River on Washington's Olympic Peninsula once teemed with legendary salmon runs before two towering concrete dams built nearly a century ago cut off fish access to upstream habitat, diminished their runs and altered the ecosystem. On June 1, nearly two decades after Congress called for full restoration of the river and its fish runs, federal workers will turn off the generators at the 1913 dam powerhouse and set in motion the largest dam removal project in U.S. history. Contractors will begin dismantling the dams this fall, a $324.7 million project that will take about three years and eventually...

SNIPPET: "LOWELL, Ore. -- The FBI wants to know the identity of a man who climbed a barbed wire fence and entered Lookout Point Dam, southeast of Eugene, on March 2. Surveillance cameras caught the intruder on tape just before 2 a.m." SNIPPET: "The Army Corps is offering $1000.00 reward for information leading to the man. Anyone with tips is asked to call: 1-866-413-7970."

New water panel chairman wants more California projects built Michael Doyle | McClatchy Newspapers last updated: January 14, 2011 07:49:40 PM WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, could start making waves in California water. As new chairman of the House water and power subcommittee, McClintock can promote his pet projects while he squeezes environmentalists. Politically, this means renewed talk of an Auburn dam, stricter scrutiny of San Joaquin River restoration and more support for hydropower. "We need to change the central objective of our federal water and power policy, to one of abundance," McClintock said in an interview. "That...

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - The National Weather Service reports that a dam along the east fork of the Virgin River near Zion National Park is about to break, and warned residents in Springdale and Rockville to evacuate immediately. The Washington County Commission also signed a declaration of emergency. The NWS report issued at about 12:30 p.m. said that the imminent failure of the Trees Ranch Dam on the east fork of the Virgin River in Washington County was reported by the Washington County Sheriffs department. The nearest downstream community is Rockville, which is at risk from imminent...

Pelosi's new position for Clyburn to avert Dem battle: 'Assistant Leader' By Molly K. Hooper - 11/13/10 04:00 PM ET House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) asked her colleagues Saturday to support Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) for "Assistant Leader," a newly created third-ranking position at the leadership table. In a letter to her fellow Democrats, Pelosi wrote "should I receive the privilege of serving as House Democratic Leader, I will be very honored to nominate our outstanding colleague, Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, to serve in the number three House Democratic position. I will also ask the Caucus to...

MANCHESTER, Iowa (AP) - The National Weather Service says the Lake Delhi dam in eastern Iowa has failed and that several small communities downstream could be severely flooded. Meteorologist Chris Legro says water has been detected flowing beneath the dam and that a complete failure was possible, sending a dramatic increase in water down the Maquoketa River. Legro says about half of Hopkinton, a city of about 700, could be flooded. He says flooding also was likely later in the day in Monticello, a city of about 3,600 people. People who live in the Freddy's Beach resort area around the...

BEIJING – Record-high water levels at China's massive Three Gorges Dam have called into question Beijing's claims that the world's largest hydroelectric project could withstand a 10,000-year flood. The water level reached 518 feet (158 meters) Saturday morning, just 55 feet (17 meters) from the reservoir's maximum capacity of 573 feet (175 meters), flood control headquarters in the central province of Hubei told The Associated Press. Water could go higher with China's national weather center issuing a warning Saturday of more torrential rains for the region through 8 a.m. Sunday.

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia – Two carloads of assailants attacked a hydroelectric station in southern Russia early Wednesday, killing two workers and setting off bombs. The attack took place in Kabardino-Balkariya, one of the republics in Russia's restive Caucasus region where clashes with insurgents are frequent...

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan—The U.S. has poured more than $100 million into upgrading the Kajaki hydropower plant, the biggest source of electricity in south Afghanistan. And it plans on spending much more, in an effort to woo local sympathies away from the Taliban insurgency. Yet, one of the biggest beneficiaries of this American-taxpayer-financed project are the Taliban themselves. Since U.S.-funded repairs of a turbine at the Kajaki plant doubled its capacity in October, nearly half of the total electrical output has flowed to districts in Helmand province where the Taliban administer the grid, Afghan officials say. In those districts, residents pay...

We are so distracted by the many battle fronts we face with just the Obama administration alone, that it's hard to keep up with all that's coming against us besides the enemies of America within our own government, for instance, the Mexican border violence and stealth invasion of our country by millions of people from south of the border. The enemy without has been creeping into our country through the southern border for years now, enabled by the politicians that swore to protect our country from enemies foreign and domestic. Like most of our politicians, Mexico is not truly our...

China's Monster Three Gorges Dam Is About To Slow The Rotation Of The Earth Cutler Cleveland, The Energy Watch Jun. 18, 2010, 9:23 AM The Myth: The filling of the reservoir behind Three Gorges Dam in China changed the rotation of the Earth. The Evidence: Three Gorges Dam, China crosses the Yangtze River in Hubei province, China. It the world’s largest hydroelectric power station by total capacity, which will be 22,500 MW when completed. When the water level is maximum at 175 meters (574 ft) over sea level (91 meters (299 ft) above river level), the reservoir created by the...

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama, who is due to visit Indonesia in June, was one of several suspected targets of Indonesian militants captured in police raids recently, an expert on militants said on Friday.

TORONTO - A Canadian-based ecologist says he has located the world's largest beaver dam in northwestern Canada using Google satellite technology. Ecologist Jean Thie located the 2,788-foot (850-meter) dam using Google Earth and NASA technology while researching the rate of melting permafrost in the country's far north. Situated in northern Alberta's Wood Buffalo National Park, which straddles the Alberta-Northwest Territories border, the dam stretches more than eight football fields long, Thie said Friday. Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here "I couldn't believe it when I saw it — it's a vast, vast area. There may be longer dams...

A Canadian ecologist has discovered the world's largest beaver dam in a remote area of northern Alberta, an animal-made structure so large it is visible from space. Researcher Jean Thie said Wednesday he used satellite imagery and Google Earth software to locate the dam, which is about 850 metres (2,800 feet) long on the southern edge of Wood Buffalo National Park. Average beaver dams in Canada are 10 to 100 metres long, and only rarely do they reach 500 metres. First discovered in October 2007, the gigantic dam is located in a virtually inaccessible part of the park south of...

This woodland construction is the world's biggest beaver dam, which at 2,790ft is more than twice the length of the Hoover dam and can be seen from space. The mammals use trees, mud and stone to make a type of moat where they can use their swimming skills to evade any predators. The families live in lodges on the dams and spend their days adding to and repairing the incredible structures. The dam was spotted by experts monitoring the size and spread of the beaver dams in North America. It is located on the southern edge of Wood Buffalo National...

China builds world's highest dam, India fears water theft(several times bigger than Three Gorges) 04/24/2010 12:36 CHINA - INDIA China builds world's highest dam, India fears water theft The dam will rise to 3,260 meters, on Yarlung Zangbo River (Brahmaputra, for Indians) using special materials and techniques. But India notes that the river is essential to the lives of millions of people and calls for assurances that Beijing does not seem to want to give. For that zone a war was fought that has never officially ended. Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - China has admitted that it is building a...

» 03/26/2010 16:49 LAOS - UNITED STATES Washington looks to Laos to contain China’s expansion The small Asian nation central to the interests of the two superpowers. The United States intends to strengthen development programs in environmental, humanitarian, commercial and military sectors. Chinese dams on the Mekong threaten the ecosystem of the entire South-East Asia. Vientiane (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The United States intends to strengthen cooperation with Laos to balance the expansion of China in South-East Asia. After decades of suspicions and misunderstandings a hangover from the war in Vietnam, Washington has started a bilateral program of economic development...

Last Update: 1:34 p.m. (GMT+7), Tuesday, March 16, 2010 Chinese dams blamed for Mekong River woes Tuoi Tre The mighty Mekong River has seen its water level shrink to a 20-year low, badly affecting farming in five nations in its lower region. Besides climate change and a decline in rainfall, the construction of giant dams on its mainstream by China is reported to be a major cause for this. Around 250 million people in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam depend on the Mekong for water, with 60 million earning a living mainly by fishing. Many parts of the 4,900-kilometer...

ROSCOE — A Bozeman company has filed applications with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a preliminary permit to proceed with feasibility studies of hydropower projects on East and West Rosebud river. The application, submitted to FERC by Hydrodynamics Inc., describes one diversion dam on each river. The dam on the East Rosebud would be approximately 400 feet downstream of East Rosebud Lake. On the West Rosebud, the dam would divert water roughly 800 feet downstream of Emerald Lake. The proposed dams would be 8 feet high and 100 feet long. Both would involve taking some of the river’s runoff...

Twelve years ago, the idea of a giant mudslide barreling down the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena was considered only a distant possibility. Nevertheless, the Devil's Gate Dam underwent a major enhancement that took two years to complete and enabled one of the oldest dams in Los Angeles County to withstand a potential massive debris flow. At the time, engineers thought the improvements might be overkill because conditions would never be extreme enough to test the dam's strength, at least not in their lifetimes. "Not a chance," recalled Brad Boman, engineering manager of water services at Pasadena Water and Power. But...

RIO DE JANEIRO — A massive power failure blacked out Brazil's two largest cities and other parts of Latin America's biggest nation for more than two hours late Tuesday, leaving millions of people in the dark after a huge hydroelectric dam suddenly went offline. Paraguay was also affected when the Itaipu dam straddling the two nations' border stopped producing 17,000 megawatts of power, resulting in outages in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and at least several other big Brazilian cities, Brazilian Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao said. The cause of the failure had not been determined, but Lobao said...

Quick background: I found this while searching for events that happened on September 9 (we just had 09/09/09). A Web site mistakenly lists this disaster as happening on September 9, 1963; actually it happened October 9, 1963. Hadn't heard of it before, but it's listed as one of the top engineering disasters in history. The Vajont (Vaiont) Landslide The site linked in the header provides small snapshots of the whole area. Two examples: Here's an annotated picture that helps put it in context. Here's a picture of the immediate aftermath: To really get this in perspective, though, use Google Maps....

6 Koreans Missing After River Near Border Surges Six South Koreans camping and fishing along a river flowing from North Korea were missing Sunday after it suddenly rose, possibly because a new dam in the North released a large amount of water without warning, The Associated Press reported Sunday, quoting officials. About 200 rescuers were trying to locate the missing people along the Imjin River, fire official Park Ju-il was quoted as saying. He said their identities were not immediately available. Gyeonggi provincial official Choi Kwon-rak said a North Korean dam just north of the border may have released large...

At least 10 people were killed and more than a dozen injured when a machine room flooded at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric plant, knocking out power in several Siberian regions and causing a panic near Russia’s largest dam. The plant, owned by state-controlled RusHydro, was halted after suffering “billions of rubles” of damage, and it could take as many as four years to be completely repaired, chief executive Vasily Zubakin said. The lost electricity could also dampen sales for metals firms with plants nearby, including United Company RusAl and Evraz Group. At least 72 workers were still missing almost a full...

Note: The following text is a quote: Ali Al-Marri Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to Al-Qaeda Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, 43, a dual national of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaeda. Al-Marri entered his guilty plea at a hearing this afternoon before Judge Michael M. Mihm in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. In so doing, al-Marri admitted that he agreed with others to provide material support or resources to al-Qaeda in the form of personnel, including himself, to work under al-Qaeda’s...

An earthquake that killed at least 80,000 people in Sichuan last year may have been triggered by an enormous dam just miles from the epicentre. The 511ft-high Zipingpu dam holds 315 million tonnes of water and lies just 550 yards from the fault line, and three miles from the epicentre, of the Sichuan earthquake. Now scientists in China and the United States believe the weight of water, and the effect of it penetrating into the rock, could have affected the pressure on the fault line underneath, possibly unleashing a chain of ruptures that led to the quake. Fan Xiao, the...

Famed rock-and-roll guitarist and longtime Ann Arbor resident Ronald "Ron" Asheton was found dead in his home on the city's west side this morning, police said. Asheton, 60, was an original member of The Stooges, a garage-rock band headlined by Iggy Pop and formed in Ann Arbor in 1967. His personal assistant contacted police late Monday night after being unable to reach Asheton for days, Detective Bill Stanford said. Officers went to the home on Highlake Avenue at around midnight and discovered Asheton's body on a living-room couch. He appeared to have been dead for at least several days, Stanford...

Rising water levels in China's giant Three Gorges Dam have triggered dozens of landslides in recent months, damaging houses, land and infrastructure worth millions of dollars, state media said on Thursday. In July, China finished evacuating residents from the last town to be submerged by the massive 660-km (400-mile) long reservoir on the Yangtze River, ending an exodus of some 1.4 million people that began four years ago. The 2,309-meter-long dam, the world's largest, aims to tame the river and provide cheap, clean energy for the country's rapid development. But critics say rising water levels in the reservoir are eroding...

A pier created by the Marines of Combat Logistics Battalion 2, 1st Marine Logistics Group's Haditha Dam Forward Logistics Element stands in the Euphrates River, supporting two pumps that pull 20 thousand to 30 thousand gallons of water from the river daily. The pier was created to combat the fluctuating water levels of the Euphrates. Photo by Cpl. Sean McGinty. HADITHA DAM — It may not look like much, but a recent construction project has saved the occupants of Haditha Dam from drought and back-breaking labor.In June, the Marines of Haditha Dam’s Forward Logistics Element created a small pier to...

An earthen dam broke near the Grand Canyon following heavy rains, and officials are evacuating hundreds from the massive gorge. Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge says Redlands Dam broke at about 6 a.m. and is causing some flooding in the town of Supai at the bottom of the canyon. She says Supai is not under water. About 400 members of the Havasupai Tribe live there. Oltrogge says some campers and river runners in the canyon also are being evacuated by seven helicopters at the scene. She says evacuees are being taken to a Red Cross shelter in Peach...

Another Dam Threat July 16, 2008 http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/another_dam_threat By Fred Burton and Scott Stewart At the stroke of midnight July 8, the Denver Water Board closed the road over Dillon Dam in Summit County, Colorado, citing security concerns. The board’s decision, which was implemented without advance notice to local governments and citizens, has not been well-received. It has sparked protests by enraged residents and has even prompted officials from Summit County, three affected towns nearby and the local fire and rescue department to file suit in state district court in a bid to force Denver Water to reopen the road. The...

Al-Qaeda Draws New Recruits Via Internet Al-Qaeda is using the Internet to recruit vulnerable young people to its terrorist network, according to a programme aired on Saudi Arabian TV late on Tuesday. Umm Osama, the founder of al-Qaeda's first women-only website, al-Khansa, joined several others on the programme to discuss how they renounced jihadist ideology. Among those who sought a response to this question was an imam from the Medina mosque, Saleh Ibn Awad al-Mudamsi, and the father of a young al-Qaeda suspect held in an Iraqi prison. Read More Qaeda Targets U.S. Oil Interests in North Africa U.S....

China earthquake: 80,000 being evacuated from under dam By Richard Spencer in Beijing Last Updated: 1:24AM BST 28/05/2008 Attempts are being made to complete the evacuation of 80,000 Chinese below a natural dam formed by landslides in the Sichuan earthquake. Satellite images show how the Jian valley has filled with water after a landslide blocked the river's flow The blockage, on the Jian river above the devastated town of Beichuan, is one of many that formed when landslides were triggered by the quake two weeks ago. Almost 2,000 soldiers, armed with dynamite and using a mechanical digger landed by helicopter,...

SPOKANE — The era of massive dam construction in the West — which tamed rivers, swallowed towns and created irrigated agriculture, cheap hydropower and persistent environmental problems — effectively ended in 1966 with the completion of Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona. But a booming population and growing fears about climate change have governments once again studying dams, this time to create huge reservoirs to capture more winter rain and spring snowmelt for use in dry summer months. New dams are being studied in Washington, California, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, Nevada and other states, even as dams are being torn down across...

Still in Control Pervez Musharraf was calm, confident and—despite a flurry of rumors—not about to announce his resignation. Instead, the Pakistani president's "concession" to his troubled nation was an announcement that he would allow Britain's Scotland Yard to help local law enforcement agencies with their investigation into last week's assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Speaking in a nationally televised address two hours after Pakistan's election commission announced the postponement of the ballot to Feb. 18, six weeks later than had been scheduled, Musharraf was notably deferential in his remarks about Bhutto, often invoking her "martyrdom" and extolling...

Excavations reveal ancient Egyptians were master dam builders 2007-12-03 06:47:01 New Delhi, Dec 3 (ANI): Archaeologists have discovered the remains of an ancient dam, dating back to some 4,000 years, in Upper Egypt, proving theories that ancient Egyptians were master dam builders. Discovered by an Egyptian-French archaeological team, which has been working in Luxor since March, the ancient dam was found a few meters away from the Karnak Temple in the city, some 500 km south of Cairo. "The 230-meter long dam was built during the age of the Middle Kingdom (of ancient Egypt) to protect the temple from the...

Sceptics about the world's biggest hydroelectric dam are being vindicated (MIAOHE) -- Peasants in the village of Miaohe on the north bank of the Yangzi River say nothing like it had occurred in their lifetimes, nor those of their parents and grandparents. One afternoon in April, for a few grim seconds, the ground shook beneath them. The Wild Cat landslide, long at rest beneath the terraced maize fields, orange-tree groves and earth-brick houses perched on the steep slope, was stirring. Experts had long worried about the Wild Cat, 17km (10 miles) upstream from the Three Gorges dam in a narrow...

(BEIJING) — The world's earliest irrigation system is being threatened by a hydroelectric project to be built in southwest China, state press said Friday, citing critics of the project. A series of 10 small hydro plants to be built on the Botiao river in Sichuan province will destroy the natural ecology of the Dujiangyan irrigation system, a UNESCO World Heritage listed site, the China Daily reported. "It is irrational to build such stations as they will destroy the natural ecology along the river," Chen Qingheng, a expert at the China Academy of Sciences, was quoted by the paper as saying....

SACRAMENTO - A federal jury on Thursday found a 29-year-old environmental activist guilty of conspiring to burn down or blow up a northern California dam, a genetics lab, cell phone towers and other targets. Eric McDavid of Foresthill, Calif. faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for what FBI agents said was as an eco-terrorist plot in the name of the Earth Liberation Front, a shadowy, loose-knit group of environmentalists that has claimed credit for arsons throughout the West. McDavid and two others were arrested in January 2006 after purchasing bottles of bleach, a car battery,...

It was hailed as one of the engineering feats of the 20th century. Now the Three Gorges Dam across China’s mighty Yangtze River threatens to become an environmental catastrophe. In an unprecedented admission of blame, Communist Party officials gave a stark warning yesterday of impending disaster in the vast area around the dam if preventive measures are not urgently introduced. For more than a decade China has promoted the world’s biggest hydro-electric project as the best way to end centuries of floods along the basin of the Yangtze and to provide energy to fuel the country’s economic boom. The Government...

It was hailed as one of the engineering feats of the 20th century. Now the Three Gorges Dam across China’s mighty Yangtze River threatens to become an environmental catastrophe. In an unprecedented admission of blame, Communist Party officials gave a stark warning yesterday of impending disaster in the vast area around the dam if preventive measures are not urgently introduced. For more than a decade China has promoted the world’s biggest hydro-electric project as the best way to end centuries of floods along the basin of the Yangtze and to provide energy to fuel the country’s economic boom. An aerial...

Charting the Mekong's Changes The nets yield almost no fish today, the same as yesterday and the day before that. For generations, Bun Neang's family has depended on the bounty of Cambodia's Tonle Sap, a vast lake fed by one of the world's greatest rivers, the Mekong. Two decades ago, his father could rely on a daily catch totaling about 65 lbs. (30 kg). When the water gods were feeling particularly charitable, he would land a Mekong catfish, a massive bottom-feeder that can weigh as much as a tiger. But today, when Bun Neang dips his net into the caramel-hued...

This newspaper, which cannot be excerpted or linked, has an interesting article today about shoddy dam construction by Saddam Hussein that threatens Mosul.

Fifty Six Pre-Islamic Graves Discovered behind Salman-e Farsi Dam 03 July 2007 LONDON, (CAIS) -- The first season of archaeological excavations in the Parto-Sasanian city behind Salman-e Farsi dam in Iranian Fars province has been wrapped up with unearthing fifty six graves belonging to post Achaemenid period (333-248 BCE), Parthian (248 BCE-224 CE) and Sasanian (224-651 CE) dynastic eras, as well as a number of Sasanian industrial centres in the eastern side of the city. Announcing this Alireza Jafari Zand, head of excavation team behind Salman-e Farsi Dam told Persian service of CHN: “A number of these graves have already...

Two years before its completion, the world’s largest dam is already changing the local weather, say scientists studying the Three Gorges Dam on China’s Yangtze River. Both modeling and actual meteorological data suggest that the reservoir is cooling its valley, which is causing changes in rainfall. "In China there are a lot of people who complain because of the construction of the dam" and specifically about changes in local weather, said climate modeler Liguang Wu of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland in College Park. To find out if the dam was really to blame, Wu...

Dam to empower villagers and strengthen community. KHOST PROVINCE, Afghanistan, June 22, 2007 — Through a $1.5 million project launched earlier this year, the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) Khost is finding that providing water for drinking and irrigation can be an effective weapon against terrorism. U.S. Navy Cmdr. David Adams, who took over command of the 120-member joint team in April, said that by providing the funding and oversight necessary to empower local governments throughout Khost to decide where and how diversion dams will be built, the Provincial Reconstruction Team helps connect the people to their government -- which is...

Warming threat fails to sway foes of dam (Auburn, CA)AuburnJournal.com By: Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer Tying global warming and the possibility of increased flooding into efforts to build a multipurpose Auburn dam, a California State University, Sacramento survey indicates that the more people fear the threat of a shrinking ozone layer, the less they want the controversial flood-control project. The poll of 1,100 adult residents, including nearly about 200 from Placer County, indicated that 74 percent of those taking the survey think the threat of global warming is a serious one. Forty-eight percent said it was very serious while...