“This is mother nature kind of kicking us”: Water released over spillway at Calif. dam
Water started flowing over an emergency spillway at the nation’s tallest dam, on Lake Oroville, for the first time Saturday after erosion damaged the Northern California dam’s main spillway.
Joy as China shelves plans to dam ‘angry river’
Environmentalists in China are celebrating after controversial plans to build a series of giant hydroelectric dams on the country’s last free-flowing river were shelved.
Taking Down Dams and Letting the Fish Flow
Nationwide, dam removals are gaining traction. Four dams are slated for removal from the Klamath River alone in California and Oregon by 2020. And the lessons are the same everywhere: Unplug the rivers, and the fish will return.
Mega Dams Remain Controversial Source of Energy
Although mega dams can have devastating impacts on ecosystems and indigenous communities, many of the world’s poorest countries still see them as a way to fill gaping holes in their energy supplies.
The Wrong Climate for Damming Rivers, Video
Though large hydropower projects are often presented as a “clean and green” source of energy, nothing could be further from the truth.
China May Shelve Plans to Build Dams on Its Last Wild River
Springing from Tibetan glaciers and flowing through China, Myanmar and Thailand, before spilling into the Andaman Sea, the Nu River- the last free-flowing river in China- could become a national park, as officials appear to back away from a proposal for multiple dams.
Brazil Amazon dam project suspended over concerns for indigenous people
Plans to build a 8,000-megawatt dam in the Amazon (the São Luiz do Tapajós dam) have been put on hold after Brazil’s environmental agency, Ibama, suspended the licensing process over concerns about its impact on the indigenous community in the region.
Rural Community Fights a Second Dam and a New Expropriation of Land, Mexico
In 1976, the construction of a hydroelectric dam destroyed farmland in the rural municipality of Chicoasén in southern Mexico. Forty years later, part of the local population is fighting a second dam. The 240-MW Chicoasén 2 dam, to be built at a cost of 300 million dollars, is scheduled to come onstream in July 2018.
Dam projects on world’s largest rivers threaten ecosystems, rural livelihoods
Advocates of huge hydroelectric dam projects on the Amazon, Congo, and Mekong river basins often overestimate economic benefits and underestimate far-reaching effects on biodiversity, according to a new article by scientists representing 30 academic, government, and conservation organizations in eight countries.