Hydro Leader November/December 2021

For our cover story, we have the honor of interviewing Representative Annie Kuster of New Hampshire. Representative Kuster was the cosponsor in the House of Representatives of the Twenty-First Century Dams Act, which would invest over $25 billion in dam upgrades, dam safety measures, and hydropower tax credits. The bill has bipartisan backing and is supported by both hydropower industry groups and environmental groups.

The catastrophic breach of central Michigan’s Edenville and Sanford Dams in May 2020 forced the evacuation of thousands of area residents and resulted in serious property damage. After the incident, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) engaged an independent forensic team (IFT) to investigate its causes. The IFT has recently released an interim report in which, among other findings, it identifies static liquefaction as the most likely mechanism by which Edenville Dam failed. Because this has not historically been considered a common failure mode for embankment dams, this finding is significant for the dam and hydropower industries. In this interview, consultant John France, who is leading the IFT, tells us more about the investigation.