The nation’s grid watchdog is ordering California to begin an independent investigation into the causes of a major dam failure that forced tens of thousands of residents to flee their homes this week from the threat of devastating floods.
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Cheryl LaFleur, the acting chairwoman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said Tuesday that the commission has a team on the ground at the Oroville Dam in California and is closely monitoring the emergency response and repair situation.
The flooding occurred after the dam’s emergency spillway began to break apart over the weekend. The spillway is a gigantic concrete ramp meant to relieve the dam if too much water has accumulated in the lake that the dam is meant to hold back.
“Our top priority is the safety of residents and property downstream from the dam, and to that end we are working with the California Dept. of Water Resources (DWR), the licensee and operator of the project” to help direct emergency activities, said LaFleur. FERC is the primary permit authority that oversees hydro-power dams like the one in California. Oroville is the tallest dam in the country.
LaFleur also ordered state regulators to begin assembling an investigative board tasked with reviewing the causes of the dam’s spillway failure and make recommendations to prevent a repeat incident.
California state authorities are directed to convene an independent board of consultants “to review current conditions, risk reduction measures, and proposed remedial options, and later perform a forensic analysis to determine both the cause of the spillway failure and whether it could occur again,” LaFleur said.
On Capitol Hill, members of the California delegation urged President Trump to declare the situation a federal emergency, which would make resources and funding available to California to stop the crisis from escalating.
“This federal assistance is needed because of the potential failure of Lake Oroville Dam emergency spillway, and the resulting catastrophic damage it would likely cause,” wrote Democratic Sens. Diane Feinstein and Kamala Harris.
Intense storms caused Lake Oroville to swell, forcing the dam’s operators to use the emergency spillway for the first time in the dam’s history. But the lake’s waters continued to crest over the dam, leading to the uncontrolled release of water that damaged the spillway. The situation reached emergency proportions Monday with nearly 200,000 people evacuating their homes for fear of intense flooding.
