Heavier downpours fueled by climate change are putting many dams at increased risk of failure. Experts have estimated it could cost tens of billions of dollars to repair and upgrade the 15,500 dams nationwide classified as high hazard.
Achieving many of these goals will be difficult, requiring significant regulatory changes at both the state and federal level, as well as major new sources of funding. Many of the nation’s dams serve a vast array of purposes, such as producing electricity, controlling floods, irrigating crops and creating reservoirs for boaters. Taking down older dams or upgrading existing ones can often be a complicated process that requires balancing numerous competing interests.
The two sides will also have to overcome a legacy of mutual antagonism.
Even today, environmentalists and industry have clashed over a new Trump administration proposal to modify clean water rules around hydropower projects, as well as over negotiations to remove four aging dams on the Klamath River in Oregon and California. Many environmental groups came of age opposing hydropower dams in the 20th century, and defusing those tensions will take time.
“I certainly wouldn’t call this peace in our time just yet,” said Mr. Irvin of American Rivers. “The two sides will continue to have serious policy differences." But, he added, the fact that both sides had agreed to work on a set of concrete actions to promote clean energy while reducing the ecological impact of dams was “a big deal.”
Dan Reicher, a senior scholar at Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment and founding director of Stanford’s Center for Energy Policy and Finance, who helped convene the dialogue between industry and green groups, said that neither side benefited from the current deadlock over hydropower. The regulatory disputes around dam upgrades have made it harder for the industry to attract investment, while environmentalists have so far made only slow progress in removing dams.
“What’s different now is climate change,” Mr. Reicher said. “The industry has realized it can prosper by offering an important solution to the climate crisis. And the conservation community has realized that global warming is the biggest threat faced by the rivers they love. If rising temperatures fry or flood a river, then what have you really accomplished?”