Guajataca Dam, spillway erosion, and repairs

As Puerto Rico continues to grapple with the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, information on damage to the Guajataca Dam remains scarce, while reports suggest spillway repairs may be ongoing.

Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico last month, bringing 150 mph winds and 20 inches of rain.  Damage to infrastructure was widespread, and the destruction of electricity and communications networks hindered efforts to assess the damage and move toward recovery.

Early reports suggested that the Guajataca Dam had "failed".  On September 22, the National Weather Service's San Juan office tweeted an alert of a "flash flood emergency for a dam failure" at the Guajataca Dam and noted ongoing evacuations.

But as reported by Vox on September 30, an Army Corps spokesman said that the dam was not breached and "has not failed and not collapsed."  The article described damage to the dam's overflow spillway.

According to a Department of Defense posting dated October 1, 2017, the Defense Department has deployed more response capacity to Puerto Rico, while the Guajataca Dam spillway continued to erode.  The Defense Department said U.S. Transportation Command delivered 900 super sandbags for spillway stabilization to Aguadilla Airport on September 30, and that spillway sandbag installation by the Army Corps of Engineers would start on October 1 and will be complete by October 2.

An article posted by The Independent on October 4 describes the Army Corps' use of Osprey V2 rotor-tilt heavy-lift aircraft to drop concrete barriers from the dam into the spillway, in an attempt to limit further erosion of the spillway channel.  The article says the "channel has suffered serious erosion as much of its cement cladding was washed away."

Dam safety and flood control spillway damage have featured prominently in recent news.  California's Oroville Dam's spillway was damaged earlier this year, including a concrete failure on the lower chute of the gated flood control spillway, severe erosion under the gated spillway, and erosion in the areas on the hillside beneath the emergency spillway.  According to the California Department of Water Resources, repairs at Oroville Dam will remain ongoing into 2018 or beyond.

September 3, 2010 - Elwha dam removal; Northwest Passage

Hydroelectricity: I'm continuing to follow the removal of two dams on the Elwha River in Washington.

Here is a map I created showing the two dam sites.

Here is the Bureau of Reclamation's information on sedimentation behind the Elwha River dams: nearly 18 million cubic yards of sediment behind Glines Canyon Dam and Elwha Dam.  The Bureau gives this history:

Private companies constructed two large dams on the Elwha River during the early 1900’s. Elwha Dam, constructed during the period 1910-13, is a 105-foot high concrete gravity dam that forms Lake Aldwell 8 miles upstream from the river's mouth. Glines Canyon Dam, built in 1927, is a 210-foot high concrete arch dam that forms Lake Mills 13 miles upstream from the river's mouth. When the dams were first built, they were significant producers of electricity on the Olympic Peninsula. Today, the dams are operated in a run-of-the river mode and generate about 40 percent of the electricity needs for the Diashowa America paper mill in Port Angeles, Washington.

The Bureau also has interesting information on erosion after drawdown.  As we've seen before, drawdown can be done to minimize harms but can also cause serious problems if the newly exposed slopes of the impoundment or riverbank are unstable.




Meanwhile, in Maine, a graphic example of how business climate can make a difference: an entire lumber mill, closed for the past four years, is up for sale and might be moved piece by piece to Siberia.  People often talk about how jobs move overseas; here, not only the (already lost) jobs but the workplace may move.
The situation on the Sebasticook River continues to brew after the Fort Halifax dam removal; now, town officials are considering a renewed investigation into erosion of the riverbanks after drawdown and dam breach.

An interesting bit of fisheries news: Native Americans from the Passamaquoddy Tribe continue to fish federal waters, despite being cited for lack of permits and certain mandatory safety gear during a scallop fishing trip off Nantucket.  The natives point to their indigenous fishing rights.

Arctic news: I have a special interest in the Canadian Arctic, including the fabled Northwest Passage.  Today comes news that a fuel tanker has run aground along that shipping route on a sandbar near Gjoa Haven.

September 2, 2010 - sewage digestion; dam damage

In August, news covered the plans of the Lewiston-Auburn Water Pollution Control Authority to build a anaerobic digester plant at its sewage treatment facility.  The plant would reduce the Authority's solids disposal costs and could generate significant energy from the methane produced.  Now, the Lewiston Sun Journal says they're clarifying that it is "not a given" that the Authority will develop the project.

Hydroelectricity: a rock has fallen onto the Ennis Dam on the Madison River in Montana.  Here is a map of the Ennis Lake and gorge area.  You can see pictures here and a map here.  It looks like Ennis Lake will be drawn down 5' to relieve some of the back-pressure on the dam, and then later draw it down another 4' for a full inspection and possible repairs.  Ennis Lake only averages 8'-9' deep, so this drawdown will have noticeable effects -- if not as permanent as the effects of drawdown prior to breach.  Hopefully the drawdown will not cause landslides and erosion as at Fort Halifax on the Kennebec River in Maine.

What's it like behind the gates of Bath Iron Works?  This Working Waterfront piece gives a good description of a tour of the large defense contractor on the Kennebec River.

July 23, 2010 - no Senate energy bill for now; wind gets boosts

A bit of New Meadows eye candy:


Sure enough, the Senate climate bill is dead. Instead, we'll get a weak energy bill addressing the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, promoting building energy efficiency through the HomeStar program, and promoting the use of natural gas as a fuel for large trucks.

In Maine, the Fort Halifax dam removal saga continues. Prior to removal of this dam on the Sebasticook River, the town of Winslow, Maine and residents had voiced concerns about erosion, and had appealed (without success) the Department of Environmental Protection's orders approving dam removal. After the dam was removed, portions of the former impoundment's banks suffered severe erosion. The town had to spend over $725,000 to demolish six homes on Dallaire Street that were threatened by the newly eroded banks. The affected areas also included the river bank below the historic (mid-1700s) Fort Hill Cemetery, eroding the bank back much closer to the cemetery fence and grave sites. Former dam owner FPL Energy Maine Hydro commissioned a study of why this erosion happened. FPLE's study concluded that the dam removal and drawdown "did not play a significant role"; instead, the study pointed to unstable soils, steep slopes, heavy rain, and an earthquake. Both the town and the state expressed doubts about this conclusion. Now the town has officially asked the DEP to perform its own study, and to enforce the conditions in its dam removal order that require FPLE to monitor and remediate erosion.

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has approved Susan Collins's request for $10 million in funding for the University of Maine's development, deployment and testing of deepwater and offshore wind turbines. The funding must now be approved by the full Senate, but the parallel House bill still lacks such an appropriation.

Wind is big in California too. It looks like Terra-Gen's Alta Wind Energy Center near Tehachapi is going forward, as it has placed an order with Vestas Wind Systems for 190 3 MW turbines. The Alta Wind project represents the largest financing of a North American wind-energy development to date. Part of the financial picture includes a 1,550 MW power purchase agreement with Southern California Edison for part of the project output. The project will have domestic economic benefits as well: Vestas will manufacture the blades in Windsor, Colorado, and most of the towers in Pueblo, CO.

A growing storm in the Gulf of Mexico has put BP's efforts at the oil well site on hold.

June 7, 2010 - update: Fort Halifax dam removal and erosion

A Morning Sentinel article today describes how the Maine Department of Environmental Protection is requiring FPL Energy Maine Hydro, the company that removed its Fort Halifax dam in July 2008, to stabilize the riverbank beneath the Fort Hill cemetery.

After years of legal battles, FPL removed the Fort Halifax dam from the mouth of the Sebasticook River in Winslow, Maine. As a condition of its dam removal permit, FPL was required to "closely monitor the slope adjacent to the cemetery and promptly remediate any slumping or erosion" in order "to protect the Fort Hill Cemetery from irreparable harm." Back in April, the riverbank suffered after another major landslides. FPL commissioned a study by Findlay Engineering Inc. of Yarmouth, which concluded that heavy rains and a small earthquake 41 miles away were contributing factors, but largely absolved FPL of responsibility.

Today, the news breaks that the Maine DEP is challenging FPL's study. DEP points to soil loss during the dewatering process, and a resulting lack of work by FPL to re-stabilize the slope after drawdown.

4/28/10: dam repair and communications; from wood mill to energy plant

Dam news: repairs to the New Mills Dam in Gardiner, Maine. In order to repair two uprights on the New Mills Dam in Gardiner, the Cobbossee Watershed District has drawn down Cobbosseecontee Stream and attached Pleasant Pond by almost a vertical foot, exposing more pond and stream bottom than in the past six years. The two wooden uprights of the dam were damaged by high water and bashed by ice in late February. Kruger Energy, which also operates a hydroelectric dam downstream that it acquired last November from Ridgewood Maine Hydro Partners LP, is performing the repairs, which are expected to take one day.

The New Mills Dam demonstrates one relatively common form of small dam ownership in New England. In this case, the dam is owned by the municipalities of Gardiner, Litchfield and Richmond. These three owners pay for the upkeep, while Kruger Energy is contracted out to manage maintenance and repairs.

Here, the drawdown has concerned some people who live along the impoundment. They are concerned about erosion, nesting ducks, fish, and in general about the management of the impoundment. While the drawdown is required for safety during the dam repairs, this situation demonstrates the importance of communication and collaboration between dam owners and neighboring abutters.



From a forest products mill to an energy facility! The town of Madison is considering the potential transformation of the former Anson Stick Mill into an energy-producing facility. The town acquired the abandoned mill and its biomass boiler from Downeast Woodcrafters, and now is exploring creating a municipal heating district within the downtown area. While municipal heating districts are common in Europe, as well as on American institutional campuses (e.g. universities), the practice is not widely deployed in New England. Madison Economic Development Director Joy Hikel said the goal behind a potential energy-producing facility is twofold: to reduce heating or electricity costs for the owners of the downtown buildings by 40 to 50 percent, and to provide local utility Madison Electric Works with an affordable source of energy to sell to consumers.

4/2/10

Stretching slightly beyond energy policy: the Town of Scarborough has finally acquired the parking lot at Higgins Beach. What do you get when you take the Portland area's most consistent surf beach, then ban on-street parking, then charge two arms and a leg for parking in the one private lot in the village? Angry surfers. Higgins was always my favorite break when we lived in Portland, but the parking scene -- especially in summer -- was always a nightmare. If the dirt parking lot was ever built on, it would have eliminated the one place beachgoers could have parked for miles around. The owner of the 1.5 acre lot, plus a 10 acre (presumably unbuildable) strip near the marsh, wanted nearly $1.5 million. Fortunately, a deal has been cut, using $632,145 from the Land for Maine's Future program, a matching amount from the town's bond and $7,270 from fundraising by The Trust for Public Land and the Surfrider Foundation. Thank you.

The Tesoro oil refinery in Anacortes, Washington suffered an explosion and a fire, killing 4 people and leaving 3 more missing.

More on the landslide in Winslow, Maine after the removal of the Fort Halifax dam: Maine Department of Environmental Protection has ordered (former) dam licensee NextEra to study and report on what went wrong. (A bit of pedigree is useful here, since it can be confusing: NextEra Energy Resources is the entity in question, formerly known as Florida Power & Light Energy, or sometimes known as FPLE Maine Hydro LLC.) The landslide threatens the Fort Hill Cemetery, with graves as old as the mid-1700s.

Rail issues: a Pan Am train derailed in downtown Norridgewock Wednesday.

There's a fair amount of hype going around about the weaknesses of the federal EnergyStar appliance rating program.

In Colorado, dominant utility Xcel Energy is replacing 900 MW of coal plants -- 30% of the entire Colorado coal-fueled generation -- with natural gas plants, all because the legislature enacted the Colorado Clean Air – Clean Jobs Act, which caps emissions at 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour. Now it's a race for regulatory approval: by December, utility proposals must be approved by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, and must be operational by 2017.

Did you know that until this week, there had only been one known tropical cyclone in the South Atlantic Ocean? Now there have been two. Today, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-12 identified Tropical Storm 90Q off the coast of Argentina.

In Los Angeles, a good editorial from the LA Times bashing the Department of Water and Power board for endorsing Mayor Villaraigosa's proposed rate hike to fund electric efficiency -- which as reported yesterday, didn't pass.