Chico >> Questions about Oroville Dam spillway plans, fish hatchery deaths and transparency were on the minds of those who attended the Department of Water Resources meeting Thursday.

State water agency officials got an earful at the Chico Masonic Family Center during a session designed to take questions and comments about the Oroville Dam spillway crisis. It was the sixth in the DWR’s outreach effort.

READ THE LETTER FROM CONCERNED CITIZENS AND AGENCIES

The damage to the spillway in February led to the evacuation of 180,000 people and spread fear and outrage throughout nearby communities.

Though he was expected to make it, DWR Acting Director Bill Croyle was not in attendance. Earlier that day, he testified before a state Assembly committee in Sacramento.

Dave Steindorf, special projects director for American Whitewater, said DWR has shown a “disturbing pattern of behavior,” and appears to be afraid of using the emergency spillway.

“That seems problematic,” he said.

David Gutierrez, DWR safety of dams division chief, responded that it’s not fear, it’s that any time the emergency spillway is used, there will be a significant amount of debris generated, and uncontrolled releases.

Steindorf added that he has been anxiously awaiting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission relicensing, but the project needs to be returned to its former condition.

“In addition to the physical changes that have happened to the dam out there, there are obviously changes that have happened downstream to the habitat,” he said. “There’s changes that are going to happen this year to recreation and people’s affiliated access to different resources out there at the lake and the river.”

Barbara Vlamis, of AquAlliance, said “a fool could see” that DWR was not prepared for an emergency.

“What’s sad is you were not prepared even for maintenance,” she said. She cited several incidents where she felt DWR dishonored its trust with the public.

“You didn’t want to look bad early, so you kept saying everything’s fine, everything’s going according to plan,” she said. “It is so obvious everything was out of control.”

She appeared frustrated and mentioned hundreds of public records act requests that have remained without responses. Being overwhelmed is not an excuse anymore, she said.

“The more you can do to disclose everything that you can to the public, it will improve, if nothing else, your image, and it might help to rebuild some trust,” she said. “We don’t trust you. When you say the dam’s safe, who should believe you?”

Erin Mellon, state Natural Resources Agency spokeswoman, said the agencies want the public to see all the information it can and know what is being discussed. She said it has redacted a very small percentage of the board of consultants memos. They are doing what they can to respond to all of the very specific public records act requests, she said.

“I’m sorry the communication hasn’t been there since the incident, but we are doing what we can now to move forward and be better,” she said.

Reyes Barboza wanted to know why there was a strategy in place before the forensics analysis is complete.

Gutierrez said DWR asked for possible causes of the failure from the forensics team. DWR will now comb through the list of 24 items released, and make sure those are addressed in the construction of the new spillway.

“We knew it was going to take some time to figure out exactly what happened,” he said. “But we can’t wait for the results because we’re going to design a new spillway.”

Other questions asked by attendees included how much the final project will cost and how much has been spent so far. Mellon responded with a $500 million estimate for all the work and staff time, and clarified that state water contractors would be covering the cost, not taxpayers. She said $133 million has been spent so far.

Congressman Doug LaMalfa was also in attendance Thursday. He said the main spillway is functioning, but it’s “obvious” it’s not good enough and a solid structure needs to be in place for both spillways long-term.

“This indeed was a man-made disaster, not one made by nature,” he said.

He added that timeliness is “what’s very key” because “we don’t know what next winter will bring.”

“People need to know it’s going to be done safely, efficiently and properly, because these are your tax dollars.”

Cindy Messer offered an apology on behalf of DWR, but also a “very big thank you” to Chico. She said DWR heard amazing stories of the “deeds and support” Chicoans offered to evacuees.

She made promises that DWR was sticking by its Nov. 1 repair date and would continue to hold more of these meetings on a regular basis.

FISH HATCHERY

California Fish and Wildlife spokesman Andrew Hughan addressed the 200,000 to 300,000 fall-run young chinook salmon that “essentially suffocated” at Feather River Fish Hatchery’s Thermalito annex Wednesday. An electrical wire shorted and disabled a pump, drastically reducing the amount of water in the hatchery runways. More than two million salmon survived at the facility.

“That’s a lot of fish, but at the end of the day it’s one percent of the total fish production of the state,” he said. “Between us and the federal government we produce 30 million fall-run chinook salmon for you to fish.”

“We mourn the loss of those fish, we’re very upset about it, along with DWR,” he said. “It was a mechanical failure, it was nothing negligent … It was just bad luck, unfortunately.”

Kevin Brock, a local fishing guide, said he knows it wasn’t DWR’s fault, but he wanted to know if the community was going to get all of those fish back.

Hughan said if they need to ask for a permit to get those fish, they will, there is just a process involved.

Brock also expressed concerns with the sediment that has risen in the Feather River.

“When those flows drop, it’s flat as can be,” he said. It’s not only affecting fish and spawning, but agriculture, he said.

Jeremy Hill, of DWR flood management, said they are currently looking at the impacts of sedimentation on the river.

LAST MEETING

Six local meetings have already happened. A final meeting takes place Monday in Sacramento at Tsakopoulos Library Galleria, 828 I St., beginning with an information session at 1:30 p.m. and followed by a presentation at 2:30 p.m.

CONTACT DWR

Phone: 1-800-248-7026

Email: oroville@water.ca.gov

News releases and information about the Lake Oroville spillway incident can be found at water.ca.gov.

DWR also has Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts.

Contact reporter Ashiah Scharaga at 896-7768.