Army Corps of Engineers says it has isolated a faulty turbine and is assessing the damaging
Not that little: Little Goose Dam is 2,655 feet long with an effective height of about 100 feet. Photo: USACE
By Chuck Thompson. November 16, 2022. On Oct. 25, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed that between 300-600 gallons of oil has leaked into the Snake River.
The oil comes from one of six turbines used to produce hydroelectricity at the Little Goose Dam in Eastern Washington.
“Our team at Little Goose Dam took appropriate actions to remove the turbine from service, assess and contain the leak,” Paul Ocker, operations division chief for the Corp’s Walla Walla District, said in a press release. “The turbine will remain out of service and isolated from the river until repaired.”
Power line: Little Goose is part of a network of hydroelectric dams in the Columbia-Snake system. Map: USACE
News of the leak, which continued for an estimated 90 days before being discovered, has been covered by numerous news organizations including NewsData, which reports that “as of Nov. 15, the volume of oil leaked into the Snake River is still under investigation.”
Little Goose Dam is one of four dams on the lower Snake River long targeted by environmentalists to be breached in order to allow for upriver fish passage.
It’s among the four Snake River dams included in Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson’s plan to breach dams under his $33 million Columbia Basin Initiative.
Chuck Thompson is editor of Columbia Insight.
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The Army corps identified it, and contained it. Now let’s look at all of the sunken boats, abandoned cars and RVs along the river, which constantly leak into the ground and river.