The Auburn Dam seismic issues are being raised by Senator Feinstein, and they are important issues, but rather than studying them prior to beginning the dam’s feasibility study, as the Senator requests, the urgency of needed flood protection for Sacramento should mandate they be done together.
An excerpt.
Feinstein raises dam seismic, cost issues
Her concerns about project inserted into Senate bill
By: Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer Saturday, August 12, 2006 10:52 PM PDT
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is adding a potential roadblock to Rep. John Doolittle's renewed push for a multipurpose dam at Auburn.
Doolittle, R-Roseville, has wrapped $3 million in funding for initial work on a new Auburn dam feasibility study into the $30 billion Energy and Water Appropriations Bill.
The California senator's spokesman Scott Gerber said Feinstein remains concerned about seismic and cost issues surrounding the long-delayed dam project.
While the $3 million for the feasibility study's first stages remains intact in both Senate and House bills, Feinstein's concerns have taken the form of language inserted in the proposed Senate version of the $30 billion Energy and Water Appropriations Bill.
Now moving through both houses in Washington, D.C. the Senate's version of the appropriations bill includes language that would order no additional funding on a feasibility study until a seismic and cost-benefit analysis occurs, Gerber said.
The feasibility study is expected to cost about $30 million over five years, with a local government entity providing 50 percent cost-sharing.
The bill also includes $1 million for an initial study on relocating Highway 49 if an Auburn dam were to be built, as well as $15 million for Folsom bridge construction over the American River, $32 million for safety improvements at Folsom Dam and $15 million for Sacramento levee improvements.
