Feds revoked failed Midland Michigan dam's license in 2018 over inability to handle big floods

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Feds revoked failed Edenville dam's license in 2018 over inability to handle big floods

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission spent 14 years trying to get the Edenville dam's owners to improve spillway protection.

www.freep.com

 

[dayooper]

North Central Michigan got hammered with rain last weekend. A campground near our property houses the NWS flood gauge for the Rifle River. It normally reads 2-3 feet, but read 15.5 feet at its peak. Broke the record high by 2 feet and that record stood for 70 years.

My friend has a place just upstream from The Edenville Dam. It’s about mile below another dam. He told me that it was just hanging on and was worried it would be next.

 

[DrQ]

Posted in another thread:

The dam has a 14 year troubled history:

Breached dam in Michigan flooding had 14-year history of safety violations - National | Globalnews.ca

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said it repeatedly raised concerns about the Edenville dam’s ability to prevent flooding during extreme conditions because of its inadequate spillway capacity.

globalnews.ca

But when you look at the timeline of the events leading up to the events:

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/egle/egle-BoyceHydroDamChronology_691440_7.pdf

September 10, 2018 – FERC revokes the Edenville Dam license. Upon revocation of the FERC license the dam became regulated under Part 315 Dam Safety of the NREPA MCL 324.31501 et seq.​

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"In its 2018 order revoking Boyce Hydro’s license, the commission said its primary concern about the dam was its inability to handle “the probable maximum flood” — the type of event that could be expected from “the most severe combination of critical meteorologic and hydrologic conditions that is reasonably possible” in the area."​

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October 2018 – DEQ alleges Boyce Hydro, LLC conducted a major drawdown of Wixom Lake without obtaining the necessary permits.​

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October 4, 2018 – DEQ Dam Safety Staff meet with dam owner and perform a cursory inspection of the dam to identify any critical deficiencies at the dam. Water levels were observed to be approximately 4.1 feet below normal lake level.​

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May 16, 2019 – Permit WRP016343 v.1 issued to Boyce Hydro, LLC for refill of Wixom Lake back to normal summer pool elevation.​

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September 25, 2019 – an application was submitted for an eight-foot drawdown of Wixom Lake. The application for permit was subsequently denied on November 25, 2019.​

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November 2019 – Boyce began drawing down Wixom Lake notwithstanding denial of their permit application.​

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December 5, 2019 – Consent Judgement entered resolving previous enforcement lawsuit requiring Boyce Hydro to obtain Part 91 permit and Notice of Coverage; restore impacted wetland and stream areas; conduct floodplain compensation; obtain an after-the-fact permit; and pay $161,000 of enforcement costs and charges.​

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December 12, 2019 – Enforcement Notice issued for drawdown of Wixom Lake without authorization.​

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December 20 & 23, 2019 – DNR and EGLE conducted site inspection and performed mussel surveys.​

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February 6, 2020 – Pre-application meeting with Four Lakes Task Force consultants to discuss repairs, permitting, next steps.​

March 16, 2020 – Pre-application meeting with Four Lakes Task Force consultants to discuss repairs, permitting, next steps.​

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May 1, 2020 –Complaint filed in Ingham Circuit Court. Case No. 20-000255-CE Attorney General Ex Rel the People of the State of Michigan; The Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy; and the Department of Natural Resources v. Lee Mueller; Boyce Michigan, LLC; Edenville Hydro Property, LLC; Boyce Hydro Power, LLC; Boyce Hydro, LLC; WD Boyce Trust 2350; WD Boyce Trust 3649; WD Boyce Trust 3650; Stephen B. Hulberg; and Michele G. Mueller. The purpose of the complaint is to recover natural resource damages for the harm caused by the unauthorized 2018 and 2019 drawdowns.​

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May 19, 2020 – Edenville and Sanford Dams breach and fail during flooding event. Secord and Smallwood Dams reported to be in stable condition by Boyce Hydro staff. Water reported to be receding at both dams.​

It looks as if Boyce Michigan, LLC started taking steps to address the issues with the dam in 2018 and they were repeatedly thwarted by the residents and the State. It looks as if environmental concerns were greater than dam safety concerns.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Posted in another thread:


But when you look at the timeline of the events leading up to the events:

An interesting narrative, but I don't see where any of that narrative has any influence on spillway capacity. The spillway capacity is fixed by the design, not by operating conditions. Regardless of operating level, the spillway capacity was inadequate, it had been known to be inadequate for years, and the dam operators had done almost nothing to address the problem.

Under any circumstances it was an unsafe dam, and there is no indication in the narrative to indicate that Boyce was doing anything to fix the unsafe design.

To me it's like driving a car without an emergency brake system, and saying that's not a problem because I will be sure to operate the car carefully so I will never need to use the emergency brake. Which is fine, of course, until a situation arises when the emergency brake is needed.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

There's also a pretty scathing timeline of events in this document. https://www.ferc.gov/CalendarFiles/20180910172800-P-10808-058.pdf

The timeline for this disaster doesn't start on September 18, 2018, and ignoring antecedent events creates a highly incomplete picture. IMHO - that's a bit like starting the narrative about Alaska Airlines Flight 261 at the point where the pilots radio that they are having problems, instead of going back to track down the fundamental problems in aircraft maintenance that caused the jackscrew to fail

 

[DrQ]

Agreed, that Boyce Michigan, LLC did not start really taking action until the license was revoked. But any action to increase the spillway capacity required lowering the lake level. Whenever they attempted to do it, they were stopped by the State of Michigan and the landowners surrounding the lake.

Michigan can't point fingers without a few pointing right back.

 

["Roger"]

An interesting narrative, but I don't see where any of that narrative has any influence on spillway capacity. The spillway capacity is fixed by the design, not by operating conditions. Regardless of operating level, the spillway capacity was inadequate, it had been known to be inadequate for years, and the dam operators had done almost nothing to address the problem. ...

Touchy because of TUG rules. I read that the problem was the dam was designed for different weather conditions that were prevalent in 1918.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Agreed, that Boyce Michigan, LLC did not start really taking action until the license was revoked. But any action to increase the spillway capacity required lowering the lake level. Whenever they attempted to do it, they were stopped by the State of Michigan and the landowners surrounding the lake.

Michigan can't point fingers without a few pointing right back.

I'm confused. How does lowering the level of the lake change the discharge capacity of the spillway?

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Touchy because of TUG rules. I read that the problem was the dam was designed for different weather conditions that were prevalent in 1918.

A very common problem Roger. And throughout most of the US the answer has been to either increase spillway capacity or remove the dame from service, with the degree of urgency related to the potential impacts associated with failure.

From a quick reading of the FERC history, the issue involves ability to handle the maximum probable event. In some circumstances lowering pool level is a valid strategy to handle maximum probable event. That's an option where the reservoir capacity is very large in relation to streamflow, so that the reservoir volume is largely enough to handle the MPE. In the case of this dam, in the FERC hearding lowering pool level was one of the options that was considered. It was also rejected because it only added minimally to the ability to handle the MPE.

*******

And I don't think it's so much that the weather was different in 1918. It's that now we have more data than we had in 1918, and a key part of that is more awareness of the frequency and severity of extreme events.

 

[PigsDad]

I'm confused. How does lowering the level of the lake change the discharge capacity of the spillway?

Wouldn't they need to lower the level of the reservoir in order to to do the work to modify/expand the spillway?

Kurt

 

[Passepartout]

Somebody better have some VERY deep pockets. Probably the taxpayers from all over and as yet unborn.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Wouldn't they need to lower the level of the reservoir in order to to do the work to modify/expand the spillway?

Kurt

Maybe, maybe not. But there's nothing that indicates they had completed a modified design and were simply awaiting permission to lower the lake level to make the changes. In fact, the record indicates that they were pretty much ignoring all orders to come up with a suitable plan. FERC pulled the license only after granting them a bunch of extensions to come up with a suitable plan.

 

[DrQ]

I'm confused. How does lowering the level of the lake change the discharge capacity of the spillway?

It doesn't, but it does:

• Allows you to cut into the earth dam at or below the existing spillway hight to build additional spillways
• Decreases the pool to allow additional capacity in the event of a heavy rain so the spillway is not needed

You can do the same with a coffer dam, but it is more expensive and does not temporarily increase the pool capacity which would help keep the spillway from being needed to a greater capacity.

 

[DrQ]

This is case of too many agency's getting involved with the process. DNR, EGLE, shoreline residents ...

"But the company failed to complete either project, repeatedly seeking extensions and missing deadlines, the agency said. Among its other violations: performing unauthorized dam repairs and earth-moving and failing to file an adequate public safety plan, maintain recreation facilities or monitor water quality"​

I had to chuckle on this one:

"A lawsuit filed April 30 says the lengthy drawdowns in 2018 and 2019 killed “thousands, if not millions” of freshwater mussels, many listed as endangered species."​

Oh the musselamity!

There did not seem to be a prioritization of issues. Was the threat of flooding more important?, recreation more important?, water quality?, the mussels? Oh the mussels!

Obviously, Boyce Michigan, LLC was in WAY over it's head and had decided to sell the white elephant, it just did not do it fast enough.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Obviously, Boyce Michigan, LLC was in WAY over it's head and had decided to sell the white elephant, it just did not do it fast enough.

Probably the most indisputable sentence in this entire thread!

 

[DrQ]

FERC had it right from the get go, but without a snarling dog like The ARMY Corps of Engineers that would have the authority to tell the other agencies to POUND SAND, nothing gets done.

Nobody could dictate to them; "It's the flooding, stupid" until the water was up to their necks.

It reminds me of the fiasco up in Flint with the water supply.

 

[bbodb1]

One thing I think we all would agree on in this thread - our infrastructure in this country (in its many forms) is long overdue for some serious attention.

 

[dayooper]

FERC had it right from the get go, but without a snarling dog like The ARMY Corps of Engineers that would have the authority to tell the other agencies to POUND SAND, nothing gets done.

Nobody could dictate to them; "It's the flooding, stupid" until the water was up to their necks.

It reminds me of the fiasco up in Flint with the water supply.

It’s still a fiasco. They are still handing out drinking water to the residents and nothing has been done. With the financial crunch here, nothing will get done. I live 5 minutes from Flint and have spent all but 8 years of my life in Flint’s shadow. I have plenty to say on the topic, but won’t as many here will consider it a contentious political view.

Flint has come a long way in the past decade. We have a downtown that has many restaurants and cafe’s. The Farmers Market is one of the best around. U of M Flint and Kettering University have really helped the process along. It will never be what it was back in the ‘50’s, but it’s far better than it was in the ‘90’s.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Here is the discharge data for water gage USGS 04156000 TITTABAWASSEE RIVER AT MIDLAND, MI

removed - I did some calculations that need more thought.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Here's a fascinating video showing the actual failure. The dam wasn't overtopped - it was a toe failure, almost certainly caused by hydraulic pressure behind the dam, combined with inadequate toe drainage.

Or course, had the toe not failed, the dam likely would have been overtopped. In the background you can see the spillway operating at max capacity.

Michigan Dam Collapse Video Shows a ‘Classic’ Example of Earthworks Failure

As residents of Michigan’s Midland county scramble to recover from devastating floods, a video has emerged showing the critical moment when Eden dam collapsed, in a failure experts are attributing to shoddy maintenance and climate change.

earther.gizmodo.com

This link has a longer portion of video. You can see that dam actually was overtopped initially, and the overtopping then initiated the toe failure. I would surmise it was because water then invaded the dam core.

Video shows Michigan dam break as it happened: ‘Catastrophic is the only thing I can call it’

"It’s going to be years before anything returns to any type of normal.”

www.mlive.com

 

[Steve Fatula]

That\s pretty clear, the video. Definitely toe failure! Sadly, there are likely a lot of these all around the country.

We had our spillway near us utilized twice since 2000, worked very well. Lake ended up almost 6' above the spillway (which is an odd thought), but that was still more than 20 feet below the top of the dam. Our dam was built in 1944. Still in decent shape from what I have read. We topped just over 100,000 cfs. On our property we measured that year just over 100" of rain, it was a very bad year. We actually had 40 consecutive days of rain, 5 of them were days over 5", and one over 9". I'll never forget that as I've never seen so much rain in my lifetime. I know there are places on earth hat get many times that, but not too many times in the continental US!

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

That\s pretty clear, the video. Definitely toe failure! Sadly, there are likely a lot of these all around the country.

We had our spillway near us utilized twice since 2000, worked very well. Lake ended up almost 6' above the spillway (which is an odd thought), but that was still more than 20 feet below the top of the dam. Our dam was built in 1944. Still in decent shape from what I have read. We topped just over 100,000 cfs. On our property we measured that year just over 100" of rain, it was a very bad year. We actually had 40 consecutive days of rain, 5 of them were days over 5", and one over 9". I'll never forget that as I've never seen so much rain in my lifetime. I know there are places on earth hat get many times that, but not too many times in the continental US!

I forgot to put in the link to the second video - I've added it to my post now. It's more complete, and you can see initial overtopping, followed by toe failure.

 

[DrQ]

That\s pretty clear, the video. Definitely toe failure! Sadly, there are likely a lot of these all around the country.

We had our spillway near us utilized twice since 2000, worked very well. Lake ended up almost 6' above the spillway (which is an odd thought), but that was still more than 20 feet below the top of the dam. Our dam was built in 1944. Still in decent shape from what I have read. We topped just over 100,000 cfs. On our property we measured that year just over 100" of rain, it was a very bad year. We actually had 40 consecutive days of rain, 5 of them were days over 5", and one over 9". I'll never forget that as I've never seen so much rain in my lifetime. I know there are places on earth hat get many times that, but not too many times in the continental US!

You're talking about Lake Texoma, owned and operated by the ARMY Corps of Engineers. The Big Dawgs!

 

[Steve Fatula]

That's confusing then. I thought the purpose of spillways was to prevent overtopping, as mentioned in my post, we were still far far below the top of the dam yet well above the spillway level. How can it top the dam when the spillway should prevent that? Was it not designed well from the beginning? Maybe they didn't do that (design wise) in 1918?

Even wikipedia says "Spillways ensure that the water does not overflow and damage or destroy the dam."

I realize spillways can't prevent an old dam from failing, but they should prevent water from going over. Just trying to understand how water can get that high. All I understand is the way it works in my state and all the lakes I've been to here (40+) are built as our local lake is. Maybe not the same everywhere I guess.

 

[Steve Fatula]

You're talking about Lake Texoma, owned and operated by the ARMY Corps of Engineers. The Big Dawgs!

That would be correct, I am ~2 miles as the crow flies. Very good detective work! Maybe that is the difference in design. It's simply not possible for that dam to be topped. It could fail, but not be topped. 500" wouldn't likely do it.

I still recall when I lived in Tulsa in 1986. Lake Keystone there was releasing over 300,000 cfs. That was a *lot* of water! If sustained over a 4.5 month period, it would supply the entire state of California yearly usage, residential, industrial, farming, irrigation, etc., all of it. I don't recall how long it flowed up there, here water was being released most of 2015, it took months just to get down to the spillway level.