Latest news with #ArmyCorps
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Detroit Lake drawdown bad news for Stayton water, sewer
STAYTON, Ore. (KOIN) — Some cities are staring down a future without water as the Army Corps of Engineers prepares to drawdown Detroit Lake next fall. The corps is planning the drawdown to help an endangered fish species that they said is at risk without intervention. They are also drawing down the lake to end hydropower production at the dam. But city leaders in Stayton said the drawdown is bad news for them as their main water source, the North Santiam River, flows out of the lake. Salem braces for drinking water shortage as Detroit Lake drawdown looms Stayton City Council President Steve Sims said drawing down the lake so low will expose more sediment that the water will pick up. If too much sediment gets in the city's filtration system the city would go without water and sewer, but that's not all. 'There are no fire hydrants that would operate, so we wouldn't have any ability to fight fires with our water system,' Sims said. 'It'd have to be water trucks only, and we'd have to fill up somewhere else.' The city could pretreat their system, a project that Sims said could cost $20-30 million. But he said the city has only spent $13 million on their system over the last two years, and they do not have the kind of money for a pretreatment project now. Without help from somewhere, the project's cost will get passed on to the residents. 'The water portion of our bill, we're doing some math, is about $40 a month for the average customer, and we're talking adding $60,' Sims said. 'So that would be $100 a month just for the water. That doesn't include sewer rates, either. So we're talking a pretty significant increase for the average customer.' Andria Allmond with the Army Corps said in a statement, 'We are committed to working closely with local governments, water utilities, and residents to mitigate the impacts of this drawdown. 'We understand the urgency of maintaining clean, reliable water supplies and are actively collaborating to ensure that human needs are not overlooked in our efforts to restore ecological balance.' Crews continue to battle Burdoin Fire as hotter, drier weather returns 'We would have to know exactly what steps the Army Corps has taken each step of the way with the drawdown, where they are,' Sims said. 'And we'd like to see a slow draw down rather than a very rapid drawdown that would lower the turbidity.' Sims said the city has not gotten a formal response from the Army Corps. But he said city leaders are working with their state senator and representative to find a path forward. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Japan Today
24-07-2025
- General
- Japan Today
LA fires charred homes into piles of metal and concrete. By recycling them, they're given new life
Debris from January wildfires is processed at a recycling facility set up on a golf course in Altadena, Calif. By DORANY PINEDA Candace Frazee recently walked through the burnt remains of The Bunny Museum, searching for anything that could be salvaged before workers cleared the land. The Eaton Fire in Southern California in January scorched more than 60,000 bunny objects and memorabilia, leaving behind mounds of ash, steel and concrete littered across the landscape. Giant bunny statues that once greeted guests were left just wiry, hollow skeletons. Her home in the back was also gone. Yet amid the debris, there are valuable materials being redeemed: Metal, concrete and some trees are being recycled and given new life. 'It's fantastic. It's absolutely fantastic,' said Frazee of recycling the materials, who co-founded the museum with her husband. 'That's the right thing to do.' After the Palisades and Eaton fires scorched entire neighborhoods, the Army Corps of Engineers set up operations to recycle concrete and metal from mostly fire-damaged homes. Metal is compacted and concrete is crushed, then trucked to recycling facilities before re-entering the supply chain for future uses. And some trees and shrubs are processed and sold. 'A lot of this material can be reused in future construction, and that's just good for the environment,' said Col. Sonny Avichal, an Army Corps commander for the Eaton Fire. 'And so there is definitely this notion of, you know, a lot of the stuff that we're able to recover will actually come back and help rebuild Altadena.' The agency said these operations have sped up recovery efforts, reduced waste going to landfills and helped lower the number of trucks on the road, but they've also sparked some worries. Residents have raised concerns that the work produces or kick up particles into the air. The Army Corps maintains they're ensuring operations are safe by monitoring air quality and continually watering the sites to minimize dust. A large dump truck filled with wiry and garbled steel arrived at an Altadena golf course that had been partially burned. The metal pulled from fire-destroyed properties was compacted here before being trucked to a recycling facility where it can be melted, cast and resold. A steel beam can become a steel beam again, or be morphed into a car door or roof panel. Across the globe, the steel industry represents an estimated 8% of planet-warming emissions, and just 1 to 2 % in the U.S. — the fourth largest steel producer. And according to the American Iron and Steel Institute, a trade association, recycled steel doesn't lose its quality. Annually, some 60 to 80 million tons of steel scrap are recycled into new products in North America. Every refrigerator that's recycled reduces 215 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, according to the group's estimates. 'Steel is infinitely recyclable,' said Adina Renee Adler, executive director of the Global Steel Climate Council, an industry group working to reduce carbon emissions. 'It is, in fact, the most recycled material out of everything that we have.' Adler hopes people who lost homes to the fires will feel a glimmer of hope knowing some of those materials will be given new life. That could be for somebody else, somewhere else, or to build their own homes anew. The concrete that arrived to these sites is pulverized into large concrete chunks piled 10 feet (3.05 meters) high into inch-and-a-half and 3 inch pieces before being trucked to local construction materials companies. In its new form, concrete can be used to elevate ground in construction sites, for example, or provide a base layer before pavement is applied, or be used to create concrete again. Making concrete is responsible for roughly 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions and 2% in the U.S., most of which come from producing and processing its predecessor, cement. That's because coal and other fossil fuels, which emit greenhouse gases when burned, are the main energy sources for making cement, and the actual chemical reaction that occurs when producing it also releases planet-warming emissions, said Ben Skinner, a manager on the cement and concrete team with RMI, a group working to accelerate the clean energy transition. But recycling concrete doesn't substantially lower its carbon footprint, he added. It does, however, have 'great environmental impacts' because it reduces the extraction of new raw materials when it's turned into aggregate — stuff like sand or gravel used to make concrete — while still producing high quality material. It also keeps waste from going to landfills. Large trees were knocked onto homes and parkways from the same powerful winds that sent fires out of control, and the infernos scorched canopies. Trees that fell into ash get sent to landfills. Others that are still standing and pose a safety risk are cut down. Some logs are sent to local mills to be manufactured into lumber that can be used in the rebuilding process. Others are mulched to become soil amendment, the name for organic matter added to soil to improve its quality, then sold to companies and farmers, said Matthew Long, senior program manager for Environmental Chemical Corporation, the contractor running the operations. Long has done fire recovery work for nearly a decade — including in Hawaii after the Lahaina fires and other California blazes in 2017 and 2018. 'It's really rewarding work,' he said. 'You're interacting with someone who lost everything daily and helping them move to the next step of recovery.' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
LeMonde
24-07-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
Macron appoints new chief of the General Staff of the armed forces
After weeks of negotiations, French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed on Wednesday, July 23, during a cabinet meeting that Air Force General Fabien Mandon – his current personal military chief of staff at the Elysée Palace – will be appointed as the new chief of the General Staff of the armed forces. This appointment marks the end of General Thierry Burkhard's term, who had held the position since summer 2021, and signals a new era at the highest levels of the French defense leadership at a time when the risk of confrontation with Russia remains high and the 2027 presidential election looms ever closer. This decision had been anticipated, as General Burkhard, 60, had already received a one-year extension in 2024 – a rare exception, as serving for more than four years in this role is uncommon. "Thank you (...) for serving France with honor, courage and vision," Macron wrote on X. The president also confirmed the appointment of Army Corps General Vincent Giraud to replace General Mandon as personal military chief of staff. General Giraud had served as deputy chief of the armed forces for the past year and was expected to secure a prominent role in this carefully orchestrated transfer of responsibilities.
Newsweek
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
The Trump Administration Is Trying to Silence Us. It's Only Making Us Stronger
Hurricanes. Wildfires. Floods. As federal employees with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, we're often among the first on the ground when disaster strikes—and the last to leave. From the wildfires in Maui to the devastating floods in North Carolina, we're on the ground for as long as it takes, helping communities recover and rebuild. When we're not responding to crises, the workers at the Army Corps are performing other essential services to support the U.S. military, the public, and the economy. We design and build military bases and airfields for our troops; we clean up contaminated defense and superfund sites, and we maintain harbors and shipping channels to facilitate U.S. commerce. And while our work may not be as high-profile as other professions, it's vital for the prosperity of our communities and for reducing disaster risks. Given the importance of our work, it's concerning that President Donald Trump seems hell-bent on dismantling it. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors clear the remains of Lifeline Fellowship Christian Center, which burned to the ground in the Eaton Fire, on May 22, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors clear the remains of Lifeline Fellowship Christian Center, which burned to the ground in the Eaton Fire, on May 22, 2025, in Altadena, all started when President Trump took office and issued an executive order ripping away federal workers' collective bargaining rights. Through collective bargaining, workers can come together to negotiate improvements in their workplace, and perhaps most importantly, safe working conditions. For Army Corps workers, collective bargaining rights help to ensure that we have access to proper protective equipment on hazardous sites, and that rigorous safety systems are in place, even amid dangerous disaster relief missions. By negotiating these safety protocols into a binding contract, we have peace of mind knowing that proper safety precautions are being met, and that they can't be unreasonably taken away. If we weren't able to negotiate safe working conditions, our lives would be at risk, and our families would be forced to worry even more about whether we'd make it home safely. So it's hard to understand why the Trump administration is ignoring these basic rights, even after a federal judge ruled that the president's actions likely violated the law. What's worse, now the administration is refusing to honor the contracts that we've already negotiated, raising serious concerns about the safety of our worksites, and our ability to advocate for adequate protections. Under normal circumstances, Army Corps workers could appeal the president's actions to the agency tasked with safeguarding our collective bargaining rights, the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA). But the president created chaos at the agency when he fired the Chair, Susan Tsui Grundmann. Now the FLRA is refusing to hear our case challenging these decisions, which also means we have no access to federal courts to resolve our disagreement. This administration isn't just breaking the law—it's breaking the system that's supposed to uphold it. And this of course is by design. Trump's attacks on unions are part of a larger effort to weaken workers' rights across the country. But as it turns out, the opposite is happening. More Americans than ever approve of unions. And in Sacramento alone, hundreds of federal workers want to organize with our union. It appears that Trump and his allies are underestimating federal workers at the Army Corps. Every one of us takes an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That oath matters. And this administration is not going to stop us from honoring it. We're not just speaking out for ourselves. We're speaking out for the millions of Americans who rely on the services we provide, especially during times of crisis. Trump is trying to break the civil servants at the Army Corps. But we're still here. We're still uniting more workers. And we're not going anywhere. Colin Smalley is a geologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and president of Local 777 of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers in Chicago. The views presented are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Defense or its components. This disclaimer is required by regulation.
Newsweek
21-07-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
Jersey Shore GOP Strongholds Lose Federal Beach Aid After Decades
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Some of the New Jersey's most reliably Republican shore towns, which helped deliver strong support to the GOP in 2024, are now confronting an abrupt loss of federal beach replenishment funding — the first time in nearly three decades they've been left off the list. For the first time since 1996, the federal government has allocated no money for beach replenishment projects, canceling work slated for Avalon, Stone Harbor, Ocean City and other coastal communities in New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. Why It Matters Each year, Congress allocates $100–200 million to combat beach erosion. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers then dredges and deposits sand on eroded beaches in states like New Jersey, with state and local governments covering a small share of the cost. The federal government pays most of it — nearly $29 million funded the last replenishment of Avalon and Stone Harbor, New Jersey, in 2023. That project added nearly 700,000 cubic yards of sand to the beaches. This year, however, the Army Corps said its Philadelphia District, which oversees southern New Jersey, will get no funding for 2025, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday. What To Know The cuts land hardest on some of the same Republican-leaning towns that handed Donald Trump a decisive win in 2024. In Cape May County — home to Avalon, Stone Harbor and Ocean City — Trump won 58.7 percent of the vote against Democrat Kamala Harris's 39.5 percent, flipping the county from Democrat in 2020. Steve Rochette, a spokesman for the Army Corps, said the Philadelphia District had two projects eligible for funding in 2025 — Avalon-Stone Harbor and the north end of Ocean City — but neither will proceed. Projects in Maryland's Ocean City and Delaware's Bethany, Rehoboth and Dewey beaches also received zero funding. "This is the first time in 29 years this has happened," said Scott Wahl, Avalon's business administrator. "That means Avalon will not get a hydraulic fill. You're looking at tens of millions of dollars." Waves crash towards the beach after a blizzard hit the region on January 24, 2016 in Stone Harbor, New Jersey. A major snowstorm hit the East Coast over weekend breaking records of snow fall while... Waves crash towards the beach after a blizzard hit the region on January 24, 2016 in Stone Harbor, New Jersey. A major snowstorm hit the East Coast over weekend breaking records of snow fall while causing flooding and ice in other areas along the Mid-Atlantic region. More Getty Images Avalon and Stone Harbor have historically relied on federal help for sand replenishment. In 2023, the federal government paid nearly $29 million for a project that placed hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of sand along their beaches. Without that aid this year, Avalon resorted to scraping 39,000 cubic yards from other areas of its own beach at its own expense — a small fraction of what is typically needed. Wahl said the shore communities are willing to contribute but cannot cover the full costs alone. "Other towns don't even have enough sand to move around," he told the Inquirer. Advocates warn that delaying projects only compounds problems. Dan Ginolfi of the American Coastal Coalition said the limited number of dredging contractors and tight environmental windows mean projects need to be precisely timed. "If we can't get those projects done in a certain amount of time," Ginolfi said, "it increases the demand on the dredgers. The cost of dredging is already sky-high, and that just snowballs." Howard Marlowe, the coalition's founder, added: "New Jersey could afford to do one or two projects, but it can't afford to do all the ones that need to be done." What People Are Saying Scott Wahl, business administrator of Avalon, to the Inquirer: "We look at the beach not as an expense, but rather as an investment that pays rich dividends for resiliency, recreation, and fuels the economic engine on both the state and federal levels." Dan Ginolfi, executive director of the American Coastal Coalition, to the Inquirer: "If we can't get those projects done in a certain amount of time, it increases the demand on the dredgers. The cost of dredging is already sky-high, and that just snowballs." What Happens Next The Army Corps and New Jersey officials say they are continuing to monitor conditions and expect more communities — including Cape May, Ocean City, Sea Isle City and Strathmere — to be eligible for funding when the next budget cycle begins October 1. Until then, these coastal towns, many of which strongly supported Republican candidates last fall, remain without the federal dollars they've depended on for decades.
