Friday, April 21, 2006

 By: Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer

The American River Authority is being positioned as a potential major player if a renewed bid to build a multipurpose Auburn dam gains momentum on Sacramento-area flood fears.

Any future dam project will need a local sponsor and Placer County Supervisor Bruce Kranz, the joint powers authority's chairman, said he believes the authority could step up to fit that bill.

But a spokesman for Protect American River Canyons, an Auburn group opposing dam construction in the American River, said that any new dam proposal would fail - most importantly because any arguments would fall down on fiscal grounds.

Funded by Congress and supported by U.S. Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, a $1 million study on multipurpose dam feasibility and costs is expected to be completed this summer. That could spur more discussion in Washington, D.C. on its potential to protect property and lives in the floodplain.

Kranz said that once cost estimates are in, the authority will have a clearer picture on what its role could be in building the long-delayed dam.

Formed in 1982 to back a multipurpose dam at Auburn that would provide water storage and energy generation capacity as well as flood control, the authority initially was composed of Placer and El Dorado county water agency and elected representatives. In the late 1990s, it found some interest in its plan to float a $700 million bond issue to finance construction of what was then a $1.1 billion multipurpose dam but plans were ultimately dropped.

Two attempts in Congress in the 1990s to build flood-control structures were moved forward by the multi-jurisdictional Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency but they too failed to come close to winning federal funding approval.

Kranz said that he foresees a potential move forward by the American River Authority, with cooperation from Sacramento area governments and water agencies, that would provide the local share of dam construction costs. The local share could be financed with power generation and water sale revenues, he said. The local share of construction costs for an Auburn dam have been pegged in the past at 35 percent.

Tim Woodall, president of Auburn-based Protect American River Canyons, said that estimates he's heard are that the dam would cost more than $5 billion - five times the cost of a similar structure less than two decades ago.

"The water and electricity such a dam would produce would be so expensive there would be no market for either one," Woodall said.

Kranz said that in conversations with long-term dam proponent Doolittle, the political door has not been closed on the concept of a convertible Auburn dam - one that could initially be built for flood control with features installed on the project to allow future power generation and water storage. But that would preclude any initial revenue generation, he added.

The authority's mid-May meeting will explore the organization's options for local sponsorship, using the backing of at least three counties - Placer, El Dorado and new member Stanislaus - as well as area water agencies - to float a tax-free bond. Placer and El Dorado county water agencies remain the lone ones on the authority.

"We'll be looking at a concept of a revenue bond that would pay for it," Kranz said.

Past studies by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation have shown little revenue from energy generation at a multipurpose dam but Kranz said the report, completed in the early 1990s, needs to be updated to reflect today's costs and more efficient power-generating equipment.

"We need to know what the costs are," Kranz said. "We don't know how much to ask for until we find out the current price of the dam."

Kranz said that with Colorado River supplies drying up for Southern California markets it will only be a matter of time before those areas start to eye Auburn dam as a water source.

New Orleans flooding and the tremendous toll in lives and property that followed have turned attention to the potential for a similar catastrophe in low-lying areas around Sacramento protected by levees.

Woodall said additional flood protection from a multipurpose dam wouldn't be a wise investment because the government is already working on projects authorized by Congress to increase flood safety. They include modifying Folsom Dam and strengthening downstream levees.

"They'll protect Sacramento against an American River flood much larger than any that has occurred in recorded history," Woodall said. "Given these hard realities, it is difficult to envision how dam supporters will be able to generate the billions of dollars in financial support needed from local sponsors of the dam."

Woodall said the authority is veering from its mission if it moves toward becoming the local sponsor on a project that revolves around flood control.

"The ARA's mission has nothing to do with flood control and none of its member water agencies and counties have a single constituent living in the American River floodplain," Woodall said. "The ARA should not be wasting its time pursuing this pipe dream and certainly not be wasting taxpayer funds to do so."

The debate over the dam has been a long-simmering one in Auburn but City Councilman Bob Snyder said it hasn't been on the front-burner for quite some time. In the late 1990s, the Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce entered the debate, polling its members and finding no clear majority favored either dam construction or leaving the canyon area undeveloped. Snyder was involved as a chamber member in organizing the survey.

In the mid-2000s, Snyder said he doesn't anticipate the issue landing on any upcoming agendas, nor has it been brought up at chamber meetings.

"It hasn't surfaced as an issue," Snyder said.

Snyder said it would be hard to ignore the possibility of a New Orleans-like catastrophe in Sacramento but that in the end, Auburn would be a very small player in the politics of bringing a dam to Auburn.

"I won't say we're oblivious but I'm not expecting any action from the City Council," he said. "It's now just a topic of conversation."

The Journal's Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com.