HEATHER EIDSON / THE BEACON NEWS
Crosses serve as a reminder of lives lost in the washing machine-like boil of the Glen Palmer Dam in Yorkville over the past 30 years as construction work began last year to make the dam less hazardous.
BY MIKE CETERA
The state's Capital Development Board last week announced completion of a long-awaited study of some of the state's most dangerous dams. The findings come more than a year after three people drowned at the Glen Palmer Dam in Yorkville. Thirteen others have perished in the violent undertow of this Fox River dam during the last four decades.
The report makes a compelling financial argument that all Fox River dams should be removed.
For $13.8 million, six dams in St. Charles, Geneva, Batavia, North Aurora, Aurora and Montgomery could be removed. Or the state could spend $16.6 million on modifications.
Most town leaders prefer to modify rather than tear out dams, citing, among other things, the recreation upriver that dams provide (they tend to create a ponding effect). So now we're going to throw more tax money at improving dams that -- no matter how they are built -- will remain more dangerous than restoring the river to its natural habitat? Methinks the pro-dam ship has sailed.
Aside from the safety issue, ecological groups argue that dam removal will increase the health of the river's ecosystem.
With this in mind, is there a valid reason why taxpayers should spend more to keep the dams than to get rid of them?
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