Elk Creek Dam

This piece of news, literally earth-shaking locally, caught my eye this morning. An old civil Engineering graduate always interested in a story about dam. This one is about the detonation of a part of the Elk Creek Dam that spanning the upper Rogue River in Oregon with this opening sentence:

The crack of explosives Tuesday sent waves of concrete crumbling and launched a plume of dust skyward, signaling the beginning of the end to Elk Creek Dam.

and

The plume slowly drifted upstream as a small group of witnesses oohed and aahed at the historical charge that will mark the end of a contentious community battle over the future of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers facility whose construction was stopped by lawsuits in 1986.

Whether people viewed it as a flood-control and water-storage opportunity wasted or a fish-killing boondoggle, those perched at a viewing area near the dam said they came for the spectacle.

A good background information about this controversial case can be found here.

But as a by-product of the internet age, I noticed that there's a forum for readers' to comment about the Mail Tribune article by Mark Freeman. There are some interesting comments. Here's one reaction:

It's hard for me to believe that we, the paying citizens of the nation, let a few radicals win this battle and not have to pay us back. The fight should have been decided before $113 million was flushed down the drain. Once started, it should have been allowed to be finished and put in use. I guess we need to rein in the powers given to politically appointed judges that cannot use common sense.

And here's another:

Elk Creek Dam wouldn't have made any difference in the amount of salmon in the Rogue...they went to Japan long ago. I grew up on Mare Island Navy Yard and after WW2 the US (as we always do with nations that attack us), helped rebuild Japan and feed their people. We let the Japanese trawlers fish right off our shores, you could recognize them by their rigging. Their canneries were in the bowels of their ships and their nets nearly overlaped. One Japanese trawler would leave and within two days another would take its place. They fished from Alaska to Mexico and took everything! The upper Rogue needs flood control, stored water, and power...no wonder there is a 94% disapproval rate for the Congress

But here's a hilarious one:

Did anyone bother to check with Al Gore about this? Al needs to be contacted before any major decision like this is made. Al knows it all. If he doesn't then he knows how to fake it very well. Don't question Al, he's the man, just like Kip on Napolean Dynamite. Al and Kip, manly men. They have all the answers (just not accurate answers), but hey, who cares at this point. Al, lead us into the point of no return. Tell us more unfounded lies for personal gain. Al keep doing harm to our universe. Al sell more books and do more speaking engagements. The world is ripe for your lies and venom. WAKE UP PEOPLE!

I thought, obviously wrongly, that Oregon is a state full of very liberal people. They are full of real Americans after all. Yea, Wake Up people!