As the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation works on plans to close the diversion tunnel, a shortage of energy supplies in the state has renewed discussion about building the Auburn dam for hydropower. Two new state Senate bills propose issuing bonds to finance a multipurpose, billion-dollar dam like the one originally authorized by Congress in 1965. Meanwhile, the dam's most stalwart supporter at the federal level, Rep. John Doolittle, was recently appointed to a seat on the House Appropriations Committee, putting him in a better position to advocate for federal funding for the dam. The freshly introduced legislation has been overshadowed by the energy crisis itself. And Doolittle appears to have set the issue on the back burner for now, lacking state and local sponsors for federal legislation to reauthorize the dam.
Environmentalists continue to oppose the dam and stand ready to enter any fray.
They expect the issue will crop up again repeatedly. The battle over an Auburn dam has never really gone away in three dozen years. It may often be submerged by other issues, but when it rises to the surface of political debate it produces a roiling controversy. State Senate bills 316 and SB 45X, both introduced on Feb. 20 by state Sen. Rico Oller, a Cameron Park Republican, propose issuing bonds of an unspecified amount to finance the Auburn dam. Like several state bills introduced in 1994, Oller's bills envision the kind of multipurpose dam proposed for the site in 1965.