Auburn dam is Doolittle's folly of a project
For 20 years, Congressman John Doolittle has had as his favorite project the construction of a dam at Auburn. The project was stopped in 1979 over concerns about its safety since it was to be built over the Bear Mountains fault zone.An earthquake near Oroville Dam occurred in 1975 and raised fears about such an event for the proposed Auburn dam. Geologists warn that the increased pressure from a large dam has precipitated earthquakes including one in India that cost lives.
The type of rock and soil in the Auburn area requires a very large amount of material for the dam with a height as tall as the Hoover Dam. Now it has been discovered that there is a belt of naturally occurring asbestos running through the dam site.
So far, over $400 million has been spent on the dam with another $30 million spent to remediate the site. Now Congressman Doolittle has "earmarked" another $1 million for yet another 'feasibility study' for the Auburn dam project.
"Earmarking," which has come under public scrutiny, is a way to get a congressman's favorite "pork barrel" project passed without any oversight. This is a waste of taxpayer dollars. Doolittle's argument that the $5 billion dam will pay for itself is wrong. Most of the water that the dam will store, is already owned by others. This makes the cost of the available water prohibitively high.
Doolittle needs to put the interests of the majority above the special interests of developers. Stop wasting taxpayers' money and keep Auburn safe. The Folsom Dam project, which Doolittle opposed for many years, is a better idea for flood control than the already rejected Auburn dam project.
Karen Tajbl, Auburn
From the Roseville Press-Tribune:
Will Doolittle win re-election?
How nice that Congress-man Doolittle,who continues to live up to his name, finally is on record as doing "something." Not for Placer County, but for money in interceding on tribal gambling in Iowa and directing a contract for his disgraced buddy ex-Congressman "Duke" Cunningham's San Diego district. In both cases, he got substantial contributions to his campaign war chest.Meanwhile he has four words only for his Placer County constituents, "NO COMMENT" and "AUBURN DAM."
Since Democrats and Independent voters are a distinct minority in PlacerCounty, will the Republican voters in Placer County re-elect an arrogant, lying politician back to Congress just because he is a Republican conservative?
Gene Martineau, Roseville
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