AGENDA 21 RADIO

BY PAUL PRESTON

In an interview on Agenda 21 Radio Scott Cahill a known national expert on dam engineering and safety stated the latest report from an independent panel of experts brought in to guide state officials’ as they repair the crippled Oroville Dam should be made public in so far as it would reveal the risk of a dam failure. Cahill was concerned state dam officials with the Department of Water Resources are not telling the public the degree of danger which exists from a possible breach of the earthen dam. According to Cahill there is a high degree of certainty the dam will fail as additional stress from runoff season. People down stream from the dam who are in the innundation area need to be prepared to evacuate at a moments notice but if there is information in the secret report that could help people be prepared in advance it could save thousands of lives.

The move to block the report comes eight days after The Sacramento Bee reported on a earlier memo drafted by the four engineering consultants that pointed out troubling design flaws at Oroville Dam’s main spillway that might have led to the crater to form in its center on Feb. 7. Problems with the adjacent emergency spillway triggered two-day evacuations of nearly 200,000 people Feb. 12.

The complete interview with Scott Cahill will be made available from Agenda 21 Radio April 1, 2017.