Elwha Dam Demolition Underway (9/17)

[hatrack]

The largest dam demolition in the nation’s history will begin Saturday when an excavator claws away at the concrete supports for Washington’s 108-foot Elwha River Dam, a ceremonial act of destruction that will signal not only the structure’s demise but the latest step in a broad shift in the way Americans are managing rivers. Faced with aging infrastructure and declining fish stocks, communities are tearing down dams across the country in key waterways that can generate more economic benefits when they’re unfettered than when they’re controlled.

EDIT

The two dams on the Elwha River generate a modest amount of electricity — 19 megawatts, compared with the 500 megawatts of an average coal-fired power plant. Linda Church Ciocci, president of the National Hydropower Association, said hydropower’s low carbon emissions makes it an ideal energy source. The industry hopes to increase its capacity 66 percent in 15 to 20 years by upgrading dams and converting non-powered dams, as well as through technological innovations such as wave and tidal energy.

“We have a tremendous opportunity in the United States to increase renewable generation through hydropower,” Ciocci said. States and local governments across the country, meanwhile, are grappling with how to deal with dams that have outlived their usefulness. Most of the country’s 80,000 dams were built more than 50 years ago.

Martin Doyle, a Duke University professor of river science and policy, estimates that 85 percent of dams in the United States will be near the end of their operational lives by 2020.

EDIT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/elwha-dam-removal-illustrates-growing-movement/2011/09/13/gIQAZFjtYK_story.html

[Botany]

1. Rivers were meant to run free

[Dennis Donovan]

2. Just so people know, that's the dam in the OP...

I only found that out by looking at the link to the picture...

[hatrack]

3. And there's another dam also underway on the same river - Glines Canyon Dam, IIRC

nt

[GliderGuider]

4. Well, that's safer than having Derrick Jensen blow it up at night... /nt

[pscot]

8. But not near as much fun

[hunter]

5. Taking down dams would be an excellent Federal jobs program.

Let's all cheer for the salmon!

:applause:

[hatrack]

6. IIRC, the Elwha had the biggest humpback salmon run in the US ex. Alaska

We'll see what comes next!

[Botany]

7. MMMMMMM humpback