Westlands Reveals Real Reason For Buying Bollibokka. They Want Shasta Dam Raised 200 Feet…
By Tom Chandler on Mar 21, 2007 in Environment
The first time I heard talk about raising the Shasta Dam, the number was six feet. Not that much, and frankly, I was puzzled why they’d go to the trouble.
A while later, I started hearing bigger numbers–up to 18.5 feet.
Westlands–the Fresno-based irrigation district that recently bought the Bollibokka Club on the McCloud–made it clear what they really want: Shasta Dam raised up to 200 feet.
From the Redding Record Searchlight Web site (frankly, it’s an awful story, but here’s some key information):
While the bureau is looking at possibly raising the dam 6½ feet to 18½ feet, the dam’s base could support a raise of up to 200 feet. Tourists often hear that when they visit the dam, which was built between 1938 and 1945. The original plans called for an 800-foot dam, but the lack of supplies and labor cut it to 602 feet.
Birmingham said Westlands bought the extra 6-1/3 miles of McCloud shoreline to make room for a potential dam raise of more than 18½ feet, perhaps as much as 200 feet.
Imagine how much of the Upper Sacramento, McCloud and Pit Rivers would disappear if they raised the lake only 50 feet. But 200 feet? Holy crap.
We knew there was a darker motive to Westland’s acquisition of the Bollibokka Club.
Technorati Tags: westlands, shasta dam, bollibokka, upper sacramento river, mccloud river
isaac roman | Mar 21, 2007 | Reply
sick sick sick, just plain sick. my stomach is all jumbly. i think i’m going to throw up
brthomas | Mar 25, 2007 | Reply
Please keep us posted on this topic. Lots of kayakers & rafters like to boat on those rivers in the winter when the flow is too high for flyfishing.
BRT Whitewater
barbara Bonadeo | Sep 26, 2007 | Reply
More and/or higher dams mean more people and more industrial
demands for water. Enough is enough! Let’s get rid of those
water-intensive crops, like cotton and rice, and grow what survives
best in the Central Valley’s natural environment. Let the rivers
flow free and wild as they were once. We need to re-think and
reconstruct our entire production and consumption systems within
ecological limits.
Tom Chandler | Sep 26, 2007 | Reply
When do we reach our limits? The Delta’s in collapse, so I’d guessing we’re already reaching its limits…
barbara Bonadeo | Sep 28, 2007 | Reply
Reply to T. Chandler
Perhaps it is more correct to say: When do we attend to our limits?
brthomas | Dec 23, 2007 | Reply
Irrigation should be prohibited on the selenium-poisoned toxic soils of the Westlands Water District!!
Yolo County is becoming another battleground in the California Water Wars
Tom Chandler | Dec 23, 2007 | Reply
Yeah, a study done prior to the Westlands project predicted the selenium poisoning, and you’ve gotta chalk the whole thing up as one of those projects that should have never been started, shouldn’t be continued, yet wields enough political power that it not only won’t die, it keeps getting more government handouts.