dam failure News

Miner BHP Potentially Faces $44B Bill in Brazil Dam Case

LONDON –– Mining group BHP Group is potentially facing a 36 billion pound ($44 billion) lawsuit in London over Brazil’s worst environmental disaster after the number of claimants more than tripled to 700,000, their lawyers said on Wednesday. BHP was …

Michigan Sues Dam Owner Over Sediment in Kalamazoo River

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The state of Michigan sued the owner and operator of a hydroelectric dam, alleging that its mismanaged drawdown of a lake to do repairs created sediment that has choked a 30-mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River, …

Michigan Lawmakers Propose $500M to Repair Dams After Breach

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan lawmakers on Wednesday proposed spending $500 million to repair aging dams a year after a hydroelectric dam failed to hold back floodwaters in the Midland area, causing more than $250 million in damage, draining lakes …

UK Court to Reconsider $6.9B Brazil Dam Lawsuit Against BHP

LONDON — London’s Court of Appeal will hear a request to revive a 5 billion pound ($6.95 billion) lawsuit against Anglo-Australian mining group BHP over a 2015 dam failure in Brazil, a court order showed. Judge Nicholas Underhill has agreed …

Alaska Officials Say Landslide Danger Remains After Storm

HAINES, Alaska (AP) — Officials in southeast Alaska have repeated warnings about possible landslide danger in the community of Haines, where two people remain missing after a large slide last week. Torrential rain across much of the region caused havoc …

Plants Cropping Up in Lost Michigan Lakes Where Dams Failed

LANSING, Mich. — Nature is returning to craters left from lakes drained by two dams that failed in May during torrential rain in mid-Michigan. But not always in a good way. “Shortly after the water receded, you could look out …

COVID-19 Sweeps Away Matriarch in Flood-Ravaged Mid-Michigan

MIDLAND, Mich.–With floodwaters rising and his wife hospitalized with COVID-19, Kevin Hennig feared the worst — missing critical moments with her. “I was worried about the bridges and the roads washing out, and I wouldn’t be able to get to …

Affected Nebraska Residents Get Bad News About Dam Failure

NIOBRARA, Neb. — People who suffered losses when the Spencer Dam failed in northern Nebraska have gotten more bad news: A state law limits the liability of the dam’s owner. Nebraska Public Power District, which owns the dam, has said …

Soggy Alberto Triggers Mudslides, Dam Failure Concern

Mudslides triggered by the soggy remnants of Alberto forced evacuations below a dam and closed an interstate highway in the western mountains of North Carolina on Wednesday. Forecasters warned that the leftovers of the Atlantic hurricane season’s first named storm …

Safety Probe Warns California Dam Crisis a ‘Wake-up Call’

“Long-term and systemic failures” by California dam managers and regulators to recognize inherent construction and design flaws at the tallest U.S. dam caused last year’s near-disaster there, an independent panel of dam safety experts said Friday, calling it a wake-up …