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Jerry Brown's administration blocks public review of Oroville Dam records
 Geee... wonder why?[SacBee] Gov. Jerry Brown's administration is using federal security regulations written to thwart terrorism to deny public access to records that experts say could guide repairs to the Oroville Dam and provide insight into what led to the near catastrophic failure of its emergency spillway. Uh huh... right... terrorism. The administration also is blocking public review of records that would show how Brown's office handled the February crisis at Oroville Dam that led to the two-day evacuation of nearly 200,000 Northern Californians. And there is the real reason as the office had its head up its ass Days after the evacuation orders were lifted in February, The Sacramento Bee filed requests to the state under the California Public Records Act. In one request, the newspaper sought design specifications, federal inspection reports, technical documents, the results of rock sampling and other information. Outside engineers told The Bee such records would likely provide an accounting of what caused a gaping chasm to form in the dam's main concrete spillway on Feb. 7 and the near collapse of the dam's emergency spillway a few days later. The Bee also sought internal communications and emails from Brown's office. Those records could show how Brown and his top staff members were coordinating the ongoing crisis with each other, with outside agencies and with members of the public. I'm honestly surprised at someone in the press doing journalistic stuff instead of being a mouthpiece for the demoncrats The administration denied the request for technical information about the dam and provided a limited response to the request for internal communications. Its secrecy has outraged state and federal lawmakers representing the people living below the dam, who frantically fled the area after officials warned of a "30-foot wall of water" cascading down the Feather River when the dam's emergency spillway nearly gave way on Feb. 12. "This is very, very disturbing to me," said Assemblyman James Gallagher, R-Yuba City. "We just want transparency. We want to know what happened up there and why this happened in the first place." Why? The government is corrupt and ignored warnings then fucked up the response until it was almost too late. Oroville resident Beth Bello said the state owes it to residents to provide full disclosure of what happened. Bello's cellphone video of concrete debris and water blasting off the crumbling spillway in February went viral during the crisis. She said Tuesday she is far more concerned about state officials' inability to maintain their facilities than she was about terrorism. "The terrorist issue is irrelevant – completely irrelevant – to what happened to the spillway and the damage to it," she said. "The structural integrity of it is much more of a threat than ever a terrorist, especially at this point in time." In denying the request for information about the dam itself, Brown's Department of Water Resources cited provisions in state and federal law that allow government officials to block certain records because of security concerns. And protect their asses from the voters. Posted by: DarthVader 2017-04-12 |
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