The Sacramento Union has a good article on the chances for the dam to be built in the near future on page ten in the current issue, entitled No Place for Auburn Dam in New Water Plans.
Our 2006 Research Report—which is on our website—looks at the oppositional environment surrounding the building of the Auburn Dam to shed light on its motivation and origin; as the public supports building Auburn Dam and few fully understand the opposition to the project.
As a part of our report we suggested an agenda for policy discussion
“1) For Government Leadership: Consider the optimal solution for flood protection, at the 500 year level, the Auburn Dam; while remembering economic, equity, and efficiency concerns.
• When weighed against the minimum $14 - $30 billion potential damage costs of a major flood, the $3 - $5 billion estimated maximum costs to build the Auburn Dam seems an economically sound decision.
• The biggest losers in a major flood, as we have witnessed so tragically in New Orleans, are the poor and the equity argument to protect them at the optimal level from flooding they are ill-equipped to respond to, seems obvious.
• It is certainly efficient, when considering flood protection strategies, to consider the revenue produced by the reduction in flood insurance costs, hydropower, and recreational assets (weighed against those lost from the flooding) Auburn Dam will produce as opposed to solely relying on non-revenue producing levees.
“2) For Environmental Parkway Organizations: Consider this statement from an interview with Michael North, president of Greenstar, from Grist Magazine (2004):
Grist: What's one issue about which you disagree with other environmentalists?
Michael North: That protecting endangered species and ecosystems is more important than protecting people, communities, and culture. Implicitly, by their actions, environmentalists sometimes overlook the historic human element, the fact that people are part of the global ecosystem too. Environmentalists would never actually say this, of course, but sometimes their actions express it…
“a) The environmental movement has been good for our country as it has dramatically increased the awareness of all of us to the importance of taking care of our precious natural resources; but we have reached the point where the convergence of environmental awareness by the public, government, and business, needs little further adversarial driven reminders to do more.
“b) It is truly time to work together to build and preserve our community and the Parkway which is its heart.” (p. 41-42)
