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DEP Responds to Auditor General's Dam Safety Program Audit PADEP asserts that efforts that began more than four years ago to improve the safety of Pennsylvania’s dams and levees have already addressed many of the recommendations offered in a recent report released by the Auditor General. "This report reflects the programs of the past, not the programs as they are today,” said DEP Secretary McGinty of the report, which examined the programs from July 2002 to September 2006. Shortly after taking office, Governor Rendell enacted an aggressive and far-reaching initiative to better enforce dam and levee safety requirements associated with the program. DEP has stepped up inspections and enforcement actions, improved lines of communications with local officials and other agencies, and taken steps to ensure emergency response capabilities are well organized. When Governor Rendell took office, three out of four high-hazard dams did not have a current emergency action plan. Today, the commonwealth is on track to reach a 95 percent compliance rate. The national average for compliance is 49 percent. Through his Rebuilding Pennsylvania initiative, Governor Rendell has called for $37 million to rehabilitate unsafe state-owned dams, and another $6.6 million to leverage local dollars in order to repair or breach unsafe publicly owned dams. The Governor’s proposal also will invest $100 million for flood-control projects over the next three years. Of that total, approximately $91 million would be for capital flood protection projects, while the balance would be available to increase the number of flood-protection grants awarded to municipalities each year, boost support for stream improvement projects, and complete emergency closure work and rehabilitation projects. PADEP Press Release 5/1/2008 For more information about dam safety design, dam removal, or hydrologic and hydraulic analysis, please contact F. X. Browne, Inc. at info@fxbrowne.com.
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