Dam To Get Improved Security Feds To Focus On Staffing, Equipment At Grand Coulee
The federal government plans to spend $500,000 to $750,000 this year to improve security at Grand Coulee Dam.
Dam manager Steve Clark said the plans are a continuation of efforts that began last year after a survey identified significant security weaknesses.
Many of last year’s changes involved procedures, such as requiring employees to wear identification badges, Clark said. The focus this year will be on staffing and equipment, he said.
Clark declined to discuss some of the measures, but said they include closed-circuit television, gates and around-the-clock patrols.
“We’re still doing some evaluation of future plans, so I don’t have numbers for that,” Clark said. “But probably the majority of the work will be done this year and next year.”
A review prompted by last year’s bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City was highly critical of security precautions at Grand Coulee Dam. In addition to lax security, the report cited the presence of several nearby militia and Freemen groups.
Concerns about dam safety in the Northwest were heightened last year by reports that 500 pounds of explosives stolen from a North Idaho mine might have been destined for a Canadian terrorist group that wanted to blow up a dam. And explosives were set off last year in an unoccupied control room of a dam on the Klamath River in southern Oregon, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.
The Grand Coulee security report said it might take a nuclear bomb to cause total failure of what songwriter Woody Guthrie dubbed “the biggest thing built by the hand of a man.” But federal inspectors said determined saboteurs could cause major destruction just by attacking the spillgates that hold back the top 30 feet of water in Lake Roosevelt.
To reduce the threat, visitors are no longer allowed to wander around inside the dam without escorts. Clark said visitors are now limited to small, guided tours.
Cars have also been banned from driving across the top of the dam.
“We’re working on some plans that may allow us to reopen the top of the dam for the summer during daylight hours,” Clark said.
One of the most costly security improvements has been conversion of the dam’s fire department to a guard squad. Officials planned two years ago to save $200,000 to $250,000 a year by eliminating the 17-member fire department.
The department was reduced by attrition, but was brought back up to 12 last year when its focus shifted to security and four guards were hired. Clark said the force was beefed up temporarily while security weaknesses are corrected, but eight to 10 guards will be retained permanently.
“It gives us full-time, 24-hour patrolling and monitoring on closed-circuit television,” Clark said. “We will continue to evaluate and make whatever changes we think are appropriate.”
, DataTimes