Claim: The state of California ignored structural issues with the Oroville dam and paid for programs to benefit undocumented people instead.
Verdict: REFUTES

Retrieved passages:
title: Friends of the River
text: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to require the managers of Oroville Dam in California to lay concrete on the emergency spillway. The motion was rejected, and approximately 12 years later the emergency spillway was used and began to erode, threatening the dam with potential collapse. Oroville and the surrounding area were evacuated. Charity Navigator gives the organization four stars out of four for accountability and transparency and three out of four stars overall. In fiscal year ending 12/2014, the organization spent 69.5% of its revenue on program expenses, 13.9% on administrative expenses, and 16.6% on fundraising expenses. Friends of

title: Oroville Dam
text: on fish migration have included the construction of a salmon/steelhead fish incubator on the river, which began shortly after the dam was completed. In February 2017, the main and emergency spillways threatened to fail, leading to the evacuation of 188,000 people living near the dam. After deterioration of the main spillway largely stabilized and the water level of the dam's reservoir dropped below the top of the emergency spillway, the evacuation order was lifted. In 1935, work began on the Central Valley Project (CVP), a federal water project that would develop the Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems for irrigation

title: Oroville Dam crisis
text: threatened to undermine and collapse the concrete weir, which could have sent a 30-foot (10 m) wall of water into the Feather River below and flooded communities downstream. No collapse occurred, but the water further damaged the main spillway and eroded the bare slope of the emergency spillway. Oroville Dam, an important part of the California State Water Project, is an earthen embankment dam on the Feather River, east of the city of Oroville in Northern California. The dam is used for flood control, water storage, hydroelectric power generation, and water quality improvement in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta. Completed

title: Oroville Dam
text: Feather River from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta into the State Water Project's California Aqueduct, which provides a major supply of water for irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley as well as municipal and industrial water supplies to coastal Southern California, and has prevented large amounts of flood damage to the area — more than $1.3 billion between the years of 1987 and 1999. The dam has confined fish migration up the Feather River and the controlled flow of the river as a result of the Oroville Dam has affected riparian habitat. Multiple attempts at trying to counter the dam's impacts

title: Oroville Dam crisis
text: Oroville Dam crisis In February 2017, Oroville Dam's main and emergency spillways were damaged, prompting the evacuation of more than 180,000 people living downstream along the Feather River and the relocation of a fish hatchery. Heavy rainfall during the 2017 California floods damaged the main spillway on February 7, so the California Department of Water Resources stopped the spillway flow to assess the damage and contemplate its next steps. The rain eventually raised the lake level until it flowed over the emergency spillway, even after the damaged main spillway was reopened. As water flowed over the emergency spillway, headward erosion

title: Oroville Dam crisis
text: had excavated the original crater into a deep plunge pool which acts as a hydraulic cushion, dissipating much of the energy that otherwise might have caused additional damage to the spillway. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ordered the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to assemble a team of five independent experts to assess the dam and issue recommendations. On February 17, 2017, the DWR commissioned an independent Board of Consultants (BOC) to investigate causes, review and comment on repairs to Oroville Dam. Memoranda (reports) prepared by the BOC are posted at the DWR web site. DWR also assembled

title: Oroville Dam
text: the Feather River Project, the direct predecessor to the SWP, which included a major dam on the Feather River at Oroville, and aqueducts and pumping plants to transfer stored water to destinations in central and southern California. The proposed project was strongly opposed by voters in Northern California and parts of Southern California that received water from the Colorado River, but was supported by other Southern Californians and San Joaquin Valley farmers. However, major flooding in the 1950s prompted the 1957 passage of an emergency flood-control bill that provided sufficient funding for construction for a dam at Oroville – regardless

title: California State Water Project
text: rivers, especially the Klamath – the largest Pacific coast salmon river south of the Columbia River. The project would have eliminated 98 percent of the salmon spawning grounds on the Klamath. California Governor Ronald Reagan refused to approve the Dos Rios project, citing economic insensibility and fraudulent claims made by project proponents. The flood control benefits, for example, were largely exaggerated; the Dos Rios dam would have reduced the record Eel River flood crest of 1964 by only had it been in place. In 1980, the North Coast rivers were incorporated into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system, effectively

title: Oroville Dam
text: with the last of 155 million tons (140.6 million t) of material that took over 40,000 train trips to transport. On May 4, 1968, Oroville Dam was officially dedicated by the state of California. Among the notable figures present were California governor Ronald Reagan, who spoke, Chief Justice (formerly California governor) Earl Warren, Senator Thomas Kuchel, and California Representative Harold T. "Bizz" Johnson. The dedication was accompanied by a week of festivities in nearby Oroville, attended by nearly 50,000 people. On October 17, 2005, three environmental groups filed a motion with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission urging federal officials to

title: California Department of Water Resources
text: of a key facility in the operation of the State Water Project: Oroville Dam. The DWR and the United States Bureau of Reclamation also signed an agreement to design a joint reservoir in San Luis. Because water from the Oroville and Shasta dams (from the existing Central Valley Project) would be moved down the existing Sacramento River channel into the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, excess flows would roll through the delta and then be stored in the Central Valley until needed. Construction of the Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant, located near Tracy, California, also began in 1963. Though the DWR

title: Oroville Dam
text: one of two major projects passed that set up California's statewide water system. Construction was initiated in 1961, and despite numerous difficulties encountered during its construction, including multiple floods and a major train wreck on the rail line used to transport materials to the dam site, the embankment was topped out in 1967 and the entire project was ready for use in 1968. The dam began to generate electricity shortly afterwards with completion of the Edward Hyatt Pump-Generating Plant, then the country's largest underground power station. Since its completion in 1968, the Oroville Dam has allocated the flow of the

title: Oroville–Thermalito Complex
text: the California State Water Project system. Construction on the Afterbay began in 1965 and was completed in 1968. The barrier dam, located right next to and just upstream of the Feather River Fish Hatchery, serves to divert fish away from the mainstream and into a fish ladder that leads to the hatchery. Flows at the barrier dam are controlled by releases at the Oroville Dam spillway and Thermalito Diversion Dam. The barrier dam prevents the fish from entering the lake and guides them to the fish ladder. The barrier dam is tall and has a crest length of . The

title: California State Water Project
text: Dos Rios Project on the Eel River system, which would have involved constructing a gigantic dam on the Middle Fork of the Eel River, diverting water through the Grindstone Tunnel into the Sacramento Valley. Supporters of this project cited the disastrous Christmas flood of 1964 and the flood control benefits Dos Rios would provide to the Eel River basin. The Klamath and Dos Rios diversions were heavily opposed by local towns and Native American tribes, whose land would have been flooded under the reservoirs. Fishermen expressed concerns over the impact of the dams on the salmon runs of North Coast

title: Oroville Dam crisis
text: ordered to be ready for "immediate deployment if the dam spillway should fail" to help with evacuation and relief efforts. On February 14, at 2:45PM local time, the evacuation order above was reduced to an evacuation watch by emergency management officials and the State of California Department of Water Resources, and people were allowed to return to the evacuated areas. The immediate harm from the damage is limited to the area downstream of the breach, eroding the hillside to form a canyon. However, a major danger is that the spillway can erode back up toward the gate because of being

title: Oroville Dam
text: concrete section, constructing a concrete secant cutoff wall for the emergency spillway. The cost estimate at this point is over $500 million. In October 2017, hairline cracks were found in the rebuilt spillway. Things that added to the cost included relocating power lines, dredging the river downstream of the dam, as well as the discovery that the bedrock under the spillway was weak, necessitating deeper excavations and more concrete. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) commissioned an independent board of consultants (BOC) to review and comment on repairs to Oroville Dam. Memoranda (reports) prepared by the BOC are posted

title: California State Water Project
text: of the North and Middle forks of the Feather River. Collectively referred to as the Upper Feather River Lakes, these three reservoirs provide a combined storage capacity of about . Water released from the Upper Feather River system flows into Lake Oroville, which is formed by the Oroville Dam several miles above the city of Oroville. At , Oroville is the tallest dam in the United States; by volume it is the largest dam in California. Authorized by an emergency flood control measure in 1957, Oroville Dam was built between 1961 and 1967 with the reservoir filling for the first

title: 2017 California floods
text: heavy storm runoff into Lake Oroville, dam operators were forced to continue using the concrete spillway, eventually resulting in the destruction of the lower half of the chute. The reservoir rose so quickly that it overtopped the emergency spillway, which had never been tested for safety, and threatened to undermine it. Over 188,000 people in the Feather River valley were evacuated as officials feared the collapse of the emergency spillway, which could have sent a 30-foot (9 m) wall of water into the Feather River below and flooded communities downstream. High water flows in the Feather River caused considerable damage,

title: Oroville Dam crisis
text: of Oroville was not considered at that time, as officials stated that there was no threat to public safety. The uncontrolled flow over the weir topped out at . Erosion at the base of the weir—which was expected—progressed much faster than anticipated. The headward erosion of the emergency spillway threatened to undermine and collapse the concrete weir, in which case a wall of water would be sent into the Feather River below and flood communities downstream. Fearing a collapse, the Butte County Sheriff's Office issued an evacuation order of the Oroville area. To ease pressure on the emergency spillway and

title: Feather River
text: At about high, it is the tallest dam in the United States and wields nearly complete control over the flow of the Feather River by creating one of the largest reservoirs in California. The dam was built with the purpose of preventing the frequent floods that often inundated this part of the Sacramento Valley, and to store water for agricultural uses downstream during the dry season. The dam is the principal feature for the California State Water Project, storing water for more than 23 million people and of farmland in Central and Southern California Directly downstream from Oroville Dam lies

title: Eel River (California)
text: dam. When exposed, this would end up becoming the "Achilles' heel of the project". Meanwhile, the Bureau insisted that its first priority – English Ridge – should receive the first federal funding. As Marc Reisner describes in "Cadillac Desert" (1986), "the feuding agencies were about to lock horns and starve over the first two dams on their priority list". By 1969, a strong opposition movement had formed, led by a Round Valley rancher named Richard Wilson, who had studied hydraulics at Dartmouth College. Wilson calculated that Dos Rios would have reduced the flood crest of the 1964 flood at Fort