Last week was the deadline for comments on FERC's draft Environmental Assessment on the rebuilding of the Taum Sauk project's upper reservoir. In December 2005, the pumped storage hydroelectric project failed, sending more than one billions gallons of water into a popular state park.

At 5:12am on December 14, 2005, the upper reservoir of the Taum Sauk Pumped Storage hydropower project breached.

The failure released one billion gallons of water - a weight of 8 billion pounds, and more than the entire City of St. Louis consumes in two days - over twenty minutes. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is covering the breach in depth.

On May 14, an earthen dike on the Dead River near Marquette, Michigan collapsed, sending an 8-billion gallon torrent of water downstream and ultimately forcing another dam breach the following day. Over 1,700 people were evacuated from their homes.

The 90-year old dam, which held back Silver Lake, was restraining the pressure of heavy rains at the time of collapse, but according to reports, the water level was nowhere near anticipated critical levels. Investigations are still underway.

On April 15th, the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Montana jointly issued a proposed Superfund cleanup plan that calls for the removal of FERC project Milltown Dam. The action follows a local groundswell that ultimately turned the president and governor from opponents of dam removal into supporters.

Intense mining upstream has allowed heavy metals to tumble into the Milltown Reservoir, over time rendering the waters toxic. The Environmental Protection Agency considers the dam' s impoundment a Superfund site and has spent years evaluating clean up options. Area citizens have been clamoring to remove the old, failing dam before toxics leach into the groundwater system or worse, the dam breaks. Unfortunately, EPA already is responsible for delivering clean water to many nearby households whose water supply has been poisoned by arsenic. Removal of the dam will eventually provide badly needed fish passage for a variety of trout species including the endangered bull trout.