The U.S. is about to begin the largest dam removal project in history

2023-03-16T09:00:00-04:00

Preconstruction work is underway on the largest dam removal and river restoration project in U.S. history. The $450 million project will take out four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River in Oregon and California to restore habitat and passage for migrating fish. Removal work will begin this summer, starting with Copco 2, which should be gone by this fall, according to ABC 12. The other three dams — Copco 1, the Iron Gate Dam and the JC Boyle Dam — will be removed by the end of 2024.

The projects were approved late last fall in the interest of protecting the local salmon population and other wildlife in the region. Local tribes will plant 19 billion seeds in the wake of the removals in order to boost the region's ecosystems, according to local public radio.

The removals are among the $3 billion worth of dam projects being funded under the new Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, though experts still say it isn’t enough to address the 15,600 dams across the country that are currently classified as “high-hazard potential structures” by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2021.

Consider the dumpster...

2014-02-25T13:38:00-05:00

The long and varied history of waste and its removal in New York from the 18th century onwards is the subject of Elizabeth Royte’s 2005 book Garbage Land and of the Urban Omnibus City of Systems video she narrates. In the video, Royte describes how her research into where exactly her trash was going after she threw it out has led her to become a more ecological citizen, with “a systems view” of our interconnected processes of manufacturing, transportation, disposal and re-use.

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The U.S. is about to begin the largest dam removal project in history

Consider the dumpster...