On July 24, 2007, the CEO of Portland General Electric Peggy Fowler depressed the handle of an old-fashioned TNT box at the same time that a construction crew detonated explosives within Marmot Dam. The blast weakened the dam so that the crew could continue its demolition.

You can see photos of the Marmot Dam removal here. 

On hand to celebrate was a crowd of officials, dam removal settlement signatories, and Sandy River aficionados. PGE agreed to remove Marmot Dam and another dam on the Little Sandy River, grant 1500 acres of watershed lands to a lands conservancy, and donate its water rights instream. As a result, salmon and steelhead will have unimpeded access to 95 miles of upstream Sandy River habitat.

The settlement agreement was the outgrowth of a license renewal for PGE's Bull Run project. The company determined that the cost of continued operation under a modern permit (its existing license was decades old) would make the project uneconomic to run.

PGE has set up a website with the history of the dam's life and plans for removal.

The Sunday after the removal, the Oregonian published the following statement in its July 29th editorial:

Over the history of the Northwest, rivers tamed by dams have been like zoo animals. It's been hard to imagine them ever running wild again.

That's why the blast Tuesday that marked the start of the removal of Marmot Dam on the Sandy River sent shock waves all across the region. After a century of being held back, a Northwest river is about to runfree again.

The Oregonian made the point that dams aren't "going to start falling like dominoes," but that dam removals in the region are an important lesson in balancing resources and power production, and a brave step worth repeating. Great job, Oregonian.