Vol. 2, No. 4, (Drainit Times No. 2)
LIVING RIVERS' efforts to obtain information on the communities impacted, should Glen Canyon and Hoover dams fail, are headed for the courts. On April 2, the Department of Interior denied LIVING RIVERS' appeal of the BuRec's November 2001 decision to deny its Freedom of Information Act request for dam failure inundation maps.
At issue is BuRec's claim that this information should be withheld because it pertains solely to the internal operations of the agency. LIVING RIVERS contends that the tremendous risks associated with the failure of one or both of these dams should be made known to the public. BuRec documents obtained through other sources reveal that if Glen Canyon Dam failed, a 500-foot wall of water will scour much of the Grand Canyon. This will cause tremendous ecological damage, loss of sacred sites, and the certain death of any recreationists unable to escape to higher ground.
But of potentially greater concern are the impacts this torrent will have when it reaches Hoover Dam. It is estimated that a 75-foot wall of water will overtop Hoover Dam, posing significant threat to dams downstream, riverside communities such as Laughlin, Nevada and Blythe, California, as well as several Indian nations. Such a flood could also threaten the water supplies of tens of millions of people. If Hoover Dam failed in the process, the catastrophe would be monumental. BuRec, however, is withholding this information and keeping those who might be affected, in either scenario, in the dark.
In 1997, the US Court of Appeals forced the Department of Agriculture to release maps pertaining to spotted owl habitat to the Maricopa Audubon Society. At that time, the Federal government was asserting that such maps were germane solely to the internal operations of the agency and thus not releasable to the public. LIVING RIVERS hopes that the courts will find that inundation maps belong in the public domain too.
