[env-trinity] FEMA approves Oroville Dam spillway & January storm disaster declaration requests

[Dan Bacher]

  http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/14/1633851/-FEMA-approves-Oroville-Dam-spillway-January-storm-disaster-declaration-requests


FEMA approves Oroville Dam spillway & January storm disaster  
declaration requests

by Dan Bacher

Just hours after the Butte County Sheriff reduced the immediate  
evacuation order of Oroville region residents to an evacuation  
warning, President Donald Trump and the Federal Emergency Management  
Agency (FEMA) today approved both recent gubernatorial requests for  
federal assistance – one to support the response to the situation at  
Oroville Dam and the other to help with the impacts of January storms.
'

“I want to thank FEMA for moving quickly to approve our requests,”  
said California Governor Jerry Brown in a statement. “This federal aid  
will get money and resources where it’s needed most.”

A press release from the White House said Robert J. Fenton, the Acting  
Administrator of FEMA, Department of Homeland Security, has named  
Timothy J. Scranton as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal  
recovery operations in the impacted areas.

Yesterday, Governor Brown met with emergency response officials and  
sent a letter to President Donald Trump and FEMA requesting a  
Presidential Emergency Declaration for Direct Federal Assistance to  
support the communities impacted by the situation at the Oroville  
Dam's emergency spillway.

“Separately, last Friday, Governor Brown requested a Presidential  
Major Disaster Declaration for the state to bolster ongoing state and  
local recovery efforts following January storms that caused additional  
flooding, mudslides, erosion, power outages and damage to critical  
infrastructure across California,” according to the Governor’s Office.

On Sunday, Governor Brown declared a state of emergency to bolster the  
state’s response to the situation in Oroville and support local  
evacuations. The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services has also  
activated the State Operations Center in Mather, California to its  
highest level and is coordinating with personnel at the Incident  
Command Post in Oroville, California and with other local, state and  
federal emergency response officials to address all emergency  
management needs.

More information on state and federal disaster declarations can be  
found here.

The Butte County Sheriff’s Office today reduced the immediate  
evacuation order to an evacuation order, allowing residents in the  
region impacted by the order to return to their homes and businesses.

“Due to lower lake levels, further inspections, ongoing work to shore- 
up the Oroville Dam emergency spillway and updated weather forecasts,  
effective at 1:00 p.m. today, the Evacuation Order for the Oroville  
Dam Spillway Incident has been reduced to an Evacuation Warning,"  
according to a statement from the Butte County Sheriff’s Office. “Any  
resident displaced by the evacuation may return home at 1:00 p.m.;  
however all residents are advised to remain vigilant and prepared as  
conditions can rapidly change. People who have special needs or  
require extended time to evacuate should consider remaining evacuated.  
An Evacuation Warning means the immediate threat has ended but the  
potential for an emergency remains and therefore residents must remain  
prepared for the possibility of an Evacuation Order.”  (www.dailykos.com/...)

On Sunday, February 12, state officials ordered the evacuation of over  
188,000 people from Butte, Yuba and Sutter Counties.

On the following day, members of the newly-formed Delta Caucus of the  
California Legislature on February 13 issued a statement regarding the  
“hazardous situation” at Oroville Dam after The Mercury News reported  
that previous concerns about the safety of the Dam’s current  
infrastructure were ignored.

They said they have a “duty to ensure California’s existing  
infrastructure is maintained and upgraded, and not sacrificed in favor  
of conveyance projects,” referring to Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to  
build two massive water tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River  
Delta, the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas.

The following bipartisan group of legislators endorsed this statement:  
Senator Bill Dodd (Co-Chair), D-Napa; Senator Richard Pan, D- 
Sacramento; Assemblymember Jim Frazier (Co-Chair), D-Oakley;  
Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman, D-Stockton; Assemblymember  
Catharine Baker, R-Dublin; Assemblymember Jim Cooper, D-Elk Grove;  
Assemblymember Tim Grayson, D-Concord:

“We are concerned that a clear alarm raised 12 years ago about the  
state of the Oroville Dam’s emergency spillway was discounted. There  
has been more than enough time since then for upgrades and maintenance  
to the structure. Instead, nearly 185,000 people have been displaced,  
and there are still people in harm’s way.

A catastrophic failure at Oroville would result in uncontrolled  
releases that do considerably more harm to the surrounding  
communities, and threaten those further downstream, including levee- 
protected communities in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. For now, we  
have a collective responsibility to ensure that people are safe and  
that necessary steps are taken to prevent further compromise of the  
entire Oroville facility.

When the immediate threats have subsided, we need to clearly assess  
this disaster and its causes.  We have a duty to ensure California’s  
existing infrastructure is maintained and upgraded, and not sacrificed  
in favor of conveyance projects.”

For more information, go to: www.dailykos.com/...


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