HomeMy WebLinkAbout05.30.21 Palermo ,Tunnel in the Oroville Dam and my response to DWR
From:Snyder, Ashley
To:Paulsen, Shaina;Reaster, Kayla
Subject:FW: FW: BOS correspondence
Date:Wednesday, June 2, 2021 8:19:16 AM
Attachments:Palermo Tunnel in the Oroville Dam and my response to DWR.msg
05-30-2021 Jerry Antonetti FW letter RE Palermo Tunnel response to DWR -Sarkisian.pdf
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Ashley N. Snyder
Assistant Clerk of the Board
Butte County Administration
25 County Center Drive, Suite 200, Oroville, CA 95965
T: 530.552.3307 | F: 530.538.7120
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From: Bennett, Robin <RBennett@buttecounty.net>
Sent: Tuesday, June 1, 2021 4:47 PM
To: Snyder, Ashley <ansnyder@buttecounty.net>
Cc: Pickett, Andy <APickett@buttecounty.net>; Reaster, Kayla <kreaster@buttecounty.net>
Subject: FW: BOS correspondence
Pleaseseetheattachedemailnoteand“cc”totheBOSfromJerry
Antonetti,foryourrecords.
Thankyou,
Executive Assistant
Office: 530-762-2186 Cell: 530-990-2678
Supervisor Doug Teeter, District 5
Butte County Board of Supervisors
747 Elliott Road, Suite B
Paradise, CA 95969 Email: rbennett@buttecounty.net
From:Jerry Antonetti
To:Connelly, Bill;Teeter, Doug;Lucero, Debra;Ritter, Tami;Kimmelshue@buttecounty.net
Subject:Palermo ,Tunnel in the Oroville Dam and my response to DWR
Date:Sunday, May 30, 2021 6:43:58 PM
Attachments:Palermo ,Tunnel response to DWR.pdf
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Foe your Information !
Jerry Antonetti
530/589/1803
Good morning to you Mr. Sarkisian;
I thank you for the emailed response below and for providing me with a pdf. copy of the ancient
agreement between DWR and OWID. The pdf. Attachment on your email is a very poor rendition of the
tunnel through Oroville Dam that now delivers only 40 cfs to the Palermo cannel and is the subject of
my inquiry.
A full and compressive read of the original provisions of that 60 + year old agreement / copy is difficult
to understand as portions of the agreement are illegible. I gleaned from what I was able to read on my
copy was that DWR was to provide up to 40 cfs to the Palermo Canal with actual water delivery as
quantified by acre feet per month and to be delivered at or near the Kelley Ridge Penstock that also has
the existing ability to also provide the agreed to 40 cfs should the subject unnel be shut down. I
have contacted Mr. Matt Colwell, South Feather Water & Power to see if their records of the ancient
Mr. Sarkisian, as you have stated in a most unconvincing way below
evaluated by both the independent Level 2 Risk Analysis effort and the Comprehensive Needs Assessment
project. Neither effort is identifying the Palermo Tunnel as rising to a level to take the action you
suggested over the While I understand that necessary studies and continuing inspections are
was originally tunneled through the highly erodible red rock at tunnel flow line elevation, is 60+ years
old, is subjected to 350 feet of reservoir head pressure at 150 PSI exposing the entire length of the
tunnel up to the outlet valve. Should a catastrophic failure occur caused by blow out, earth quake,
settlement of the massive earth fill dam etc. may God forbid, the loss would be in the BILLIONS of
dollars and thousands of lives. Why is DWR allowing this catastrophic flood risk that is exposing the
downriver area to what amounts to a Damocles Sword that is hanging over our heads for a lousy 40 cfs
when their already exist the other means of delivery ? This Palermo Tunnel needs to be abandoned and
the sooner the better!
You and I both know that all man-made facilities have a limited life span and the exposure of this aging
existing 60 year old subject facility will continue to deteriorate over the next as
time is ticking away . DWR benchmark of structural loss and maintenance failures has already been
exhibited by the failed DWR Evaluated Risk Analysis on other facilities that were constructed in the same
time period (1960s) as the Palermo tunnel. That lack of accurate Risk Analysis by DWR resulted in a
series of failures, like the River Valve Outlet System 2009 through 2014 another very significant recent
losses of the Thermalito Power Plant fire in Nov. 2012, still not operational and the major Oroville Dam
Radial gated Spillway catastrophe in Feb. 2017 with the ongoing overall tabs running in the BILLIONS !!
I am sure that the conscience of DWRngineers at all of those times was,
Best Regards;
Jerry Antonetti
Ja-01@sbcglobal.net
530/589/1803