State water officials intend to revoke the water rights connected to the controversial Auburn dam project on the American River.
If approved, the order would effectively seal the fate of the unbuilt and politically contentious dam.
In a draft order released Thursday, California Water Resources Control Board staff members concluded that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has "failed to construct the project and apply water to beneficial use with due diligence."
The order is based on exhaustive hearings and testimony conducted in July. It still must be approved by the water board at a meeting set for Dec. 2.
Water rights associated with an Auburn dam enable the Bureau of Reclamation to store a staggering amount of water - 5 million acre-feet - at different times of the year. But since the project was halted by earthquake concerns in 1976, the federal government has failed to proceed with construction on any new version of the dam, as required by the terms of its water rights.
"In fact," the order states, "the only construction that Reclamation has performed relative to the project was to restore north fork American River flows to the former dam site by sealing a bypass tunnel necessary for project construction."
Once removed from federal hands, the water rights could become available to others.
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