Story about the meeting (which your blogger and the ARPPS president also attended) of the Council with Congressman Doolittle briefing us on the progress of the Auburn Dam.
The meeting was packed (standing room only) with dam supporters who generally agreed that finally after many years of work, the dam was really going to be built this time. There were a few protesters on the sidewalk who seem to follow the issue and Congressman Doolittle around these days.
An excerpt.
Doolittle makes case for Auburn dam
By: Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer
FAIR OAKS - U.S. Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, delivered a buoyant pep talk Friday to the Auburn Dam Council on the latest prospects in Washington, D.C. for a multipurpose dam on the American River at Auburn.
But he also warned that costs are going up for the multi-billion-dollar project, and a local partner to share the costs of a $30 million feasibility study on the dam has yet to come forward.
Outside the Fair Oaks restaurant, a group of demonstrators served notice that continued opposition to the dam is as strong as ever. They say the dam would destroy an already-established recreational resource and river eco-system.
First conceived in the mid-1950s and partially built in the 1970s until earthquake, cost and environmental questions stalled work at the site indefinitely, the Auburn dam plan has been given new life after Gulf Coast flooding caused renewed concerns over the threat of a similar disaster in the Sacramento area.
Doolittle said that levee and Folsom dam improvements now taking place aren't enough for flood protection.
The 400-year flood protection a multipurpose dam would offer is essential for the safety of the region, Doolittle said. Speaking before an audience of about 40 people at the dam booster group's monthly meeting, Doolittle said that one of the factors moving the dam forward in Washington is the support it is now receiving from both Jerry Lewis, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and David Hobson, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development.
Doolittle said the support on the dam from Lewis has been "phenomenal," noting the California Republican spent time living in Sacramento while serving in the state Legislature and knows the flooding concerns firsthand.
"They're both personally committed to making this happen," Doolittle said. "We've never had support from those two positions before.
"Doolittle added that he's attempting to convince U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to back the dam and help create a climate of cooperation that will move the project forward.
Doolittle was the prime mover behind freeing $1 million in federal funding for a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation cost-benefit analysis on the dam. That report is expected by the end of the month.
Doolittle said that dam opponents have used inflated cost figures in the past on the dam and the study will provide updated numbers. But he warned that construction cost increases in recent years have meant the dam's price tag is rising.
"Unfortunately construction costs are rising 20 percent annually and it's making any project - anything with concrete and steel - extremely unpredictable and expensive," Doolittle said. "The dam I'm supporting is 70 stories high and involves a lot of concrete.
"Doolittle has also been moving funding through Congress that would provide $3 million in the Energy and Water Bill for an Auburn dam feasibility study. Doolittle said the feasibility study is required by law and needs a local partner.
"I'm looking for a non-federal cost-sharing partner and they'll need about $15 million," Doolittle said. "When we identify that, we're really going to start moving."
One possible partner is the state.
