The State - News from June 26, 1987

The House of Representatives passed and sent to the Senate a water and energy funding bill providing $1 million for research on the proposed Auburn Dam, keeping the long-stalled project alive for at least another year. However, the bill also has language setting a one-year deadline for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to come up with a realistic proposal for funding. The possibility that the dam might play a role in future flood protection for the Sacramento metropolitan region helped to keep it alive. The Sacramento area’s congressmen, state legislators and e1853254002public pressure to stop squabbling and come up with a practical solution to the problem of checking floods in the region. The 680-foot dam on the North Fork of the American River 30 miles northeast of Sacramento was authorized by Congress in 1965. Construction was halted in 1975 after an earthquake in the central Sierra raised questions about the project’s safety.