While the move is unprecedented, it is not without some flaws.

The PPL Corporation, the power company which currently owns the dams, currently has no plans to replace the lost power with a new sustainable source. Instead it has increased the output from three up-river dams and intends to reactivate the turbines on another currently inactive dam…

[Read the rest of this entry at CleanTechnica.]

]]> http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/08/28/conservationists-to-purchase-and-destroy-two-maine-dams/feed/ http://cleantechnica.com/2008/08/25/conservationists-to-purchase-and-destroy-two-maine-dams/ http://cleantechnica.com/2008/08/25/conservationists-to-purchase-and-destroy-two-maine-dams/#comments Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:57:00 +0000 Alex Felsinger http://cleantechnica.com/2008/08/25/conservationists-to-purchase-and-destroy-two-maine-dams/

Through a combination of federal grants and private donations, a coalition of seven conservation groups called the Penobscot River Restoration Trust have gathered enough money to purchase and demolish two dams and install a fish bypass on another. By doing so, they hope to replenish the thinning Atlantic salmon, river herring, and many other migratory fish populations.

While the move is unprecedented, it is not without some flaws.

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Many dams in Southwest China sustained significant damage after the recent massive earthquake.

The Min River and its tributaries have 30 dams upstream from Dujiangyan and 16 incurred significant damage from the recent earthquake. The Zipingpu dam is an example where a dam failure could have disastrous consequences.

Zipingpu dam threatens millions

The Zipingpu reservoir can hold a staggering 1.1 billion cubic meters of water, but the dam wall was cracked after the earthquake. Dujiangyan, with a population of 600,000 would be devastated by a dam failure first. Within a couple hours, water would then hit the provincial capital, Chengdu.

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In the last few years, global warming has received all of the press. But shortages of fresh water are arguably the greater near-term environmental threat in many corners of the globe. In the Western United States, major die-offs of salmon have been attributed to too little clean water flowing downstream after cities and farms pulled out their allotments. In Australia, as much as 25%¹ of farmland may soon be degraded due to water-related problems. And, many predict that future wars in the Mideast are as likely to be about water as they are to be about religion or energy.

Environmental Impacts of Excessive Water Use

Fresh water is at present a somewhat local commodity. Unlike some of the other environmental impacts we discuss on this website, such as petroleum use or global warming, water use in the United States primarily affects US residents (except for some limited overlaps with Mexico and Canada). This could easily change – the only thing that prevents the shipment of water over much larger distances is its weight and relatively low cost today compared to other commodities. And, in almost all other regions in the world, water supply issues are increasingly of international concern.

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We are taking this opportunity to honor the beauty of the road, and also to honor the people who first built it. These days, the past is often bulldozed away without a second thought. We go on with what is newer, bigger, supposedly better. This road was the work of many people over many winters. With mules and horses laden with equipment, they made a path into a road. They had to blast and clean debris and when they finished in 1923, an era ended. Cars entered Hyampom for the first time and the Land of Trails disappeared. Many of us will miss this old road, just as we miss the hardiness of the people who built it. We will miss it’s beauty, it’s familiar twists and turns. We will miss how it made Hyampom seem special–a hard place to get to, but worth it for the wise.

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The Klamath River, the third largest river on the west coast, was once one of the most productive salmon rivers in the country with over a million salmon returning to spawn in its waters each year. Now the Klamath River is only a shadow of its former self due to dams, diversions, agriculture, industrial pollution, mining, road building and poor forestry.

Every 50 years, the Klamath River Dams undergo relicensing, and now is the chance for dam removal. Many critics of dam removal state that the dams produce “clean,” renewable energy. Although hydroelectricity is sustainable, such as the micro hydro system that powers my home, on a massive scale it is not green. New projects are being protested worldwide. On the Klamath, algae growth caused by warm water temperatures created by the dams and diversions actually produce methane emissions, a powerful greenhouse gas.

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California Governor Schwarzenegger’s State of the State Address:

Likewise, on infrastructure, I will continue to push for action. We have a water system built decades ago for 18 million people.

Today we have 37 million people. In 20 years, we will have 50 million people. We have to get going.

Already homes and businesses are facing mandatory cutbacks. Farms are unable to irrigate crops. Building permits are being denied.

And yet raging flood waters run wasted into the sea because they can’t be captured. We must expand water storage. We must build new water delivery systems. We must fix the Delta and restore its ecosystem.

We will also continue to make California the world’s environmental leader.

We are leading on climate change, low carbon fuels, energy efficiency - and on clean, green technology. When it comes to cleaning our air, preserving our oceans, protecting our environment, California will continue to be the foremost advocate for change.

And if we have to sue the federal government to get out of our way, we will do so.

Full text of State of the State Address available here.

Sierra Club perspective available at California Progressive Report.

Image courtesy of astro.com

Last week China reiterated its commitment to renewable energy, particularly hydropower. The Asian nation plans to triple its hydropower production to 300,000 megawatts by 2020.

Chinese officials also asked the world to cut them some slack in their efforts to cut global warming pollution.

China’s contribution to global warming has been relatively small compared to the more developed Western nations, they argue, and they shouldn’t be held overly accountable. According to Chen Deming of the National Development and Reform Commission, "I hope the international media will give us some development rights, some development space and not overly blame us."

Wind power and biofuels, in addition to big hydro, will help China reach its goal of producing 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. But it’s the hydropower expansion that is raising the eyebrows of some who are concerned about the large dams’ environmental impact.

Chen Deming argued that cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that contribute to global warming is more important than any negative environmental impact of huge hydropower. Other groups like Greenpeace argue that the damage caused by large dams – like the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River — could have more consequences than conventional power plants because of the massive amount of CO2 released when trees and plant life are destroyed.

AFX News, via Forbes
Associated Press, via DelawareOnline

Image: China’s Three Gorges Dam