What do you know about Glen Canyon Institute?

by Pamela Hyde Executive Director

Glen Canyon Institute - you are the folks that want to take down the dam, right?"

     We hear that from folks all the time. We also get questions like, "How soon will you be draining Lake Powell?" and "Do you have a plan for dismantling the dam?"

     Not surprisingly, many people are not quite clear about what Glen Canyon Institute is and what we are actually doing. Even some of our members are a little foggy. How much do YOU know about Glen Canyon Institute?

Let’s find out! Grab a pencil and take this quick little quiz….

1. Glen Canyon Institute proposes that Glen Canyon Dam be
(a) removed
(b) decommissioned
(c) vaporized by lasers as a test of the "Star Wars" defense program

2. Lake Powell will be drained
(a) next year next year
(b) in ten years in ten years
(c) in 25 years in 25 years
(d) over Floyd Dominy’s dead body over Floyd Dominy’s dead body
(e) no one knows how soon, but realistically it may take some time

3. Glen Canyon Institute is conducting a CEA of the proposal to decommission the dam and drain the reservoir. CEA stands for
(a) Citizens Environmental Assessment
(b) Clever Economic Articulation
(c) Core Eutrophic Anomaly

4. Glen Canyon Institute is conducting scientific and technical studies and holding public meetings as the first step in our efforts to restore Glen Canyon because
(a) We need to demonstrate that our proposal has merit and is based on sound information and public interest
(b) This approach offers the best opportunity for public endorsement while providing a means to assess potential impacts.
(c) The federal government will need to do a thorough environmental impact analysis of the proposal before any decision can be made and this approach will spur it to undertake such an analysis.
(d) All of the above.

5. A fun way to learn more about Glen Canyon Institute is to
(a) set up a beach chair on the boat ramp at Hite Marina and ask boaters launching their boats into Lake Powell.
(b) visit the Glen Canyon Institute web site at www.glencanyon.org.
(c) read the past three issues of Hidden Passage cover-to-cover.
(d) go on a Glen Canyon Institute river trip.

Easy enough, right? How’d you do? Let’s check it out.

1.

     Although a lot of people think we want to remove Glen Canyon Dam, what we are actually proposing is (b) that it be decommissioned. What does this mean? Basically it means that the dam would no longer be operated. Water would not be stored behind the dam and run through the turbines in the power plant to produce electricity, and the reservoir would be drained.
     To do this without removing the dam would mean that there would have to be a way for the Colorado River to flow around the dam. We suggest that new bypass tunnels be drilled through the sandstone around the dam, so that the full volume of the river can flow through these tunnels on either side of the dam.

     We do not advocate doing away with the dam through violent means.

     Catastrophic failure of the dam would cause devastation of the ecosystem along the river in the Grand Canyon as the full force of the water in the reservoir scoured everything downstream. It would also pose a threat to human life below Hoover Dam downstream. So no lasers, no explosives, no precision earthquake.

2.

     Did you choose (d)? I guess I can give you partial credit for that. (For those of you who aren’t acquainted with Floyd Dominy, he was the commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation who was in charge of building Glen Canyon Dam.) The correct answer is (e). Anyone who tells you with certainty when the reservoir will be drained—or that it will not be drained—is not being truthful. No one knows exactly when the reservoir will be drained, but realistically it is inevitable, and it may take some time. Hopefully our efforts will make that day arrive sooner.

3.

     OK, not a real tough one. The answer is (a), Citizens Environmental Assessment. Although the CEA will deal with economic and scientific issues, the CEA is an effort initiated by citizens to assess the environmental implications of decommissioning the dam and draining the reservoir.
     The federal government, which owns and operates the dam, has no process that requires regular review of the environmental impacts of the dam. Since it has failed to undertake such a review, we as citizens must initiate federal action, and can do so by using the process that federal agencies do under the National Environmental Policy Act.
     Glen Canyon Institute is conducting scientific and technical studies and preparing to hold a series of public meetings in order to gather the needed data. We plan to pull this information together in a scientifically supportable document that takes the first step toward evaluating the decommissioning proposal.

4.

     Don’t you hate this kind of multiple choice question? "Hmm, maybe it’s all of them…but is (c) really right…?" The answer here is (d) all of the above.

5.

     All of these ways to learn more about Glen Canyon Institute might be fun (depending on your definition of fun!). You can certainly learn a lot about what we are doing by visiting our web site or reading Hidden Passage. But for a fun learning environment, nothing beats a Glen Canyon Institute river trip, (d).
     Our trips take you down the unflooded sections of river above the reservoir, either through Cataract Canyon on the Colorado River or through the canyons of the San Juan River, where you learn all about the geology, archaeology and history of this canyon country. Our hope is that you get a little taste of what Glen Canyon was like before Lake Powell, and learn to appreciate the value of a free flowing river, and that you experience the kind of fun that you can only have on the river. (See center insert for more on our river trips.)
     If you got all five right, congratulations! You are a serious "drainer" and Glen Canyon Institute supporter. If you got three or four right, you are probably serious about restoring Glen Canyon, but didn’t know much about Glen Canyon Institute up to now.
     If you got one or two right, maybe you are looking into this issue for the first time, and hopefully you have learned a little more about Glen Canyon Institute and what we are about.
     If you got none right, you are probably one of those people who react badly to multiple choice quizzes. Forgive us for causing any negative flashbacks to the sat, and go directly to the more calming, soothing, right-brain parts of this publication.
     So now when you tell your friends, "I’m a member of Glen Canyon Institute," and they say, "Oh yeah, they’re the folks that want to take down the dam," you’ll know what to say…right?