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Guest opinion: Searsville Dam debate continues

Original post made on Dec 30, 2014

The Almanac recently published two guest opinion pieces about the future of Stanford University's Searsville Dam. I was heartened to read Stanford professor Dr. Walter Bortz's impassioned and courageous call on his university to "tear down the dam." Jerry Hearn, a Stanford docent at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, followed this up with a Dec. 17 opinion piece that challenged Dr. Bortz and presented a clear bias against removing the dam. Everyone has the right to express his or her opinion. However, Jerry Hearn's opinion piece was disappointing for several reasons.

Read the full story here Web Link posted Wednesday, December 31, 2014, 12:00 AM

Comments (3)

Posted by Sheila
a resident of Woodside: other
on Dec 30, 2014 at 6:04 pm

A good resolution. Stanford needs to get this safety and legal liability of a dam off their books. Removing the dam is a win, win, win, win……..

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Posted by JR
a resident of Menlo Park: Stanford Hills
on Dec 30, 2014 at 7:35 pm

Kudos to the Almanac for keeping on this Searsville Dam story, it is THE environmental issue of our time on the peninsula. Removing the dam is an historic opportunity for Stanford to right a past wrong and improve this jewel of a creek that runs through our communities.

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Posted by Matt Stoecker
a resident of Portola Valley: Central Portola Valley
on Dec 31, 2014 at 10:15 am

Thank you Almanac for publishing.

Here are links to documents I reference above:

1) San Mateo County Map showing Searsville Dam adjacent to the most "violent" shaking regions of the San Andreas Fault:

Web Link

2) San Mateo County- Dam Failure Inundation Area (Searsville in Orange)

Web Link


3) San Mateo and U.S. Army Corps listing Searsville Dam as a "High Hazard" dam (p.5)

Web Link

4) Stanford SPEAR3 report describing potential "catastrophic" failure of Searsville Dam (p.7)

Web Link

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