Yuba City audience greets DWR with message of distrust
As in most of the other community meetings the Department of Water Resources has conducted about the Oroville Dam spillway crisis, staff members Tuesday night offered profuse apologies and community members voiced distrust.
“On behalf of the Department of Water Resources, I do want to say that we are very sorry,” Chief Deputy Director Cindy Messer said. “We are very sorry for the immense disruption in your lives … for the fear and frustration and uncertainty that I can only imagine that you went through.”
About 250 community members gathered in Franklin Hall at the Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds for a nearly four-hour back-and- forth with a panel of DWR representatives. Most people had filed out by the time it was over.
Questions from the audience ranged in topics – common concerns included transparency, finances, plans and communication efforts.
Many of those who stood to speak said they or their families had also been present for the floods of the past (1955, 1986, 1997).
And that spurred some emotional questions.
DWR officials emphasized the deadline of Nov. 1 to complete necessary repairs to the spillways.
“It won’t be the end of construction, but it will get us to the point where we repair the spillways so they can handle whatever weather comes our way next winter,” Messer said.
“The spillways were where the issues were in all of this,” she said. “The dam is safe, the dam was never at risk this winter.”
State Sen. Jim Nielsen, a Tehama Republican, and Assemblyman James Gallagher, a Yuba City Republican, both of whom represent the area, thanked DWR for hosting the public meetings. They also told the audience they would keep the Oroville situation as a top priority.
“I’ve heard loud and clear from you that, number one, we want this dam put back into a safe condition,” Gallagher said. “I’ve heard from you that we want absolute transparency ... I’ve heard from you that things need to change. The status quo up there is not acceptable.”
Geoff Shaw, who was a planning chief during the emergency response, echoed Messer’s apologies, and said what happened to Oroville was “unprecedented weather” and that the decision to evacuate was made within minutes.
Another common question from residents was, “Where is the director?” So far, acting DWR Director Bill Croyle has attended one of the community meetings (in Gridley). DWR officials told the audience members (one of whom called for Croyle’s replacement) that Croyle had other engagements related to the spillway emergency, such as being in Washington, D.C., last week.
More than a dozen community members waited hours to ask the panel questions. Here’s a sampling:
Chrissy Jolly, a vice principal for a local school, spoke of the days leading up to the evacuation and how parents didn’t feel safe taking their kids to school.
“Ironically that was pretty lucky because if (the evacuation) had happened on a school day, 20 percent of Sutter County’s population would have been in schools,” Jolly said. “Imagine what that would have looked like had kids not been at home with their parents.”
Mellon acknowledged the lack of communication.
“The department has made it very clear that we know we didn’t do a very good job early in that,” Mellon said. “We are absolutely looking into using technology and working with local partners ... to talk about how we can get information out faster.”
Bob Bouche, a Sutter County Fish and Game commissioner, voiced his concern with getting the river cleaned out. He also asked why the Hyatt Powerplant was shut down for maintenance while the spillway wasn’t working.
Joel Ledesma, a DWR incident commander, said the department needed enough time to do maintenance so it would be available by the end of this month.
“We know that the powerplant has to be rock solid for this summer,” Ledesma said.
Lawrence Mertz, who has been through three evacuations, asked if DWR will have to replace the entire spillway.
“The damage reports on the spillway reflect many constructions deviations to the original spillway design,” Mertz said, “I’m curious if you will have to replace the entire spillway because of that.”
Jeanne Kuttel, chief of engineering, confirmed that a more permanent fix won’t come for a couple of years.
“The ultimate plan is going to be to replace the entire spillway, both the upper and lower chutes,” Kuttel said. “Then, as we better understand the spillway operations of this interim fix, there’s discussions with our regulators in looking at a whole new spillway complex. So by no means are we going to be done even after this interim fix is complete over the next couple of years.”
Patrick Porgans, who said he has been monitoring Feather River activity since 1985, called out the DWR on its conflict of interest and pointed out inaccuracies in its reservoir flood control manual, witness index, and other DWR documents.
“You exceeded the downstream channel capacities by as much as 20,000 to 30,000 cubic feet per second,” Porgans said. “The Department of Water Resources is in the business of procuring or selling water ... so when you say that you were not encroaching the designated flood storage space on Feb. 6, you’re incorrect based on your own information.”
Porgans continued: “It’s not that they can’t use the designated flood storage area, but you abuse it because you’re holding on to that water to make that water available to your contractors. That’s what the data indicates.” Then came a round of applause.
“This river is being used as a channel, and they’re using it at your expense and to your demise. It’s time you have to be held accountable.”
The DWR panel did not respond to his comments because Progans “did not ask a question,” Mellon said.
Tom Tucker of Arboga became emotional as he reflected on the two floods and three evacuations his family has gone through, and suggested that DWR be subject to a fine for the way it handled the entire emergency spillway situation.
“When you’re talking about people’s homes, these are places where people put down roots,” Tucker said as he started to choke up.
Francis Coats asked why there was such a fear about using the spillway.
“People spent millions of dollars on the emergency spillway ... I expected it to work,” Coats said. “When I drive my car, I expect the spare tire to have air.”
Shaw said the spillway performs an emergency function and had been untested, and never used in the Oroville Dam’s history.