🚀 go-pugleaf

Ralph Finch wrote:
> 
>    The Dam on the American River has been criticized several times
>    by credentialed scientists for its ability to actually reduce
>    flood potential.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers feels that
>    Upgrading the existing Folsom Dam and levees on the American
>    River would be more effective.
> 
> "Credentialed" = degreed?  You can find "experts" on both sides of
> every issue, though what seems to count more is the world-view of the
> "expert", more than the facts.

Okay, so which experts are saying that the dam is a good idea?

> The USACE acknowledges that if Sacramento is to have the 
> same degree of flood protection as other comparable metropolitan 
> US areas, an Auburn Dam is necessary.

Wrong. U.S. Army Corp of Engineers has stated that by upgrading 
the existing Folsom Dam and American River levees at a cost far 
less than the Auburn Dam, Sacramento can protect itself "against 
the most severe combination of meteorological and hydrological 
conditions reasonably characteristic of the region."

> <snip>
> The USGS has a culture of endless studies. The current "dry" dam
> proposal would only rarely or occasionally be filled anyway, so the
> probability of a major earthquake with a major flood event is far more
> remote than the probability of a levee failure or Folsom exceeding
> design capacity.

As you well know Ralph, the dam is a multi-purpose proposal, not
a dry dam proposal.

>    We do not all live on floodplains.
> 
> True.  So we should pay for only those programs that benefit us, and
> not our neighbors?  Sounds good to me...eliminate HUD, Education,
> probably about 9/10 of current govt.

As I mentioned before, the social programs to which you are 
referring are targeted for people who find themselves in dire 
circumstances due to factors beyond their control.  Moving onto 
a floodplain is simply not comparable.

Ralph, thank you so much for keeping this discussion alive.  
Without the forum you have provided the dam might actually 
have been constructed.  Thanks to you, we'll watch another 
Republican boondogle go "down the river."  Let's hope it takes 
a few Republican's jobs along with it.

-- 
Keith G. Wagner             ----------------------------

mailto:keithw@tidepool.com    "Visualize Whirled Peas"
mailto:kgw@axe.humboldt.edu           
                            ----------------------------
         
           http://www.tidepool.com/environment/