The Governor’s office has finally released details of a nearly week-old report the Department of Natural Resources put together on dam safety in the state. The report recommends more state oversight of dams including professional inspections at least every five years for dams that pose high or significant hazards, and dams that are at least twenty-five feet in height or have at least fifty acre-feet of storage. It would also require owners of lower hazard dams to self-inspect every five years. Right now, the state regulates 600 dams. If implemented, these changes would bump that number up to five thousand. Governor Matt Blunt is backing the changes.
