Legal news

Oroville Dam Has Been Subject of Lawsuits for Years

Posted Feb 17, 2017

Federal and state officials of California’s largest water agencies are said to have rejected concerns in the past decade that the massive earthen spillway at Oroville Dam could erode during heavy winter rains and cause catastrophic failure to the dam.  Butte County and environmental organizations have fought the relicensing of the Oroville Dam since 2005. Butte County also sued the state’s Department of Water Resources, accusing it of avoiding a rigorous assessment of climate change on the dam.  That case is now before the California Third District Court of Appeals,  County of Butte, et al. v. Department of Water Resources. The Sacramento Bee reports that the Oroville Dam’s flood-control manual has not been updated in more than half a century.   Read articles in the San Jose Mercury News and U.S. News and World Report.