Dam Trouble

Rather, they are cleverly using hydraulic mining to remove the dirt so they can build on a solid foundation.

...According to the Proposition 1A Bond Act, the high-speed rail project has to be financially viable; trains have to operate (without subsidy) every five minutes in either direction during the day; and funds for each segment of the route need to be identified before work on the leg in question can commence. Above all, trains have to make the 520-mile (840-km) journey between the Los Angeles basin and the San Francisco in two hours and 40 minutes, reaching speeds of 220 mph (350 kph). As for ridership, the rail authority reckoned some 65m to 96m passengers per year would be travelling the route by 2020. The basic fare was to be $55 one way.

That was all pie in the sky, a way of selling the deal to voters in 2008. A review in 2011 put ridership at a more realistic 30m passengers a year, with an end-to-end ticket price of $89. Meanwhile, the overall cost of the project had soared to $98 billion. And instead of going into service by the end of the decade, the high-speed railway would not be ready until 2033.

Of course DWR is saying they can fix it enough to allow the dam to partially refill next winter, because of course their only reason for being is their water customers in Socal, east bay and central valley project. The people in Oroville are just in the way, inconviently.

I would find it mildly surprising if something like this was left entirely to state law.