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Author: Hannah Mitchell
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  • Don’t bet on the weather: The role hydropower plays in balancing the grid during extreme circumstances

    The power grid produces as it is consumed. Energy production rises and falls in tandem with human activity, allowing electricity to flow continuously into homes and businesses . However, this flow can be interrupted.
  • Chasing the storm: Working with FEMA during Hurricane Beryl

    This summer, the record-breaking Hurricane Beryl entered the Caribbean Sea as a Category 5 hurricane before weakening to a Category 1 hurricane and hitting the Texas coast, July 8. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Walla Walla District Temporary Emergency Power Planning and Response Team (PRT) was on the ground supporting efforts to get the lights back on for over 2.7 million who lost power in the Houston area.
  • Sharing the load: Partnering to keep people safe

    To prevent flooding in a desert, sometimes you must build a dam without a river.
  • Finding the spark: One Walla Walla native’s drive to become an electrical engineer

    Growing up, Eric Hedine loved science and pictured himself becoming a biologist. However, his plans shifted when he discovered electrical engineering.
  • Serving the Northwest from afar

    Every day, Gabrielle Marucci sits down at her desk and logs into her computer, checking her email and meeting schedule. Her desk sits next to a window and, outside, one might expect to see scenery indicative of the Pacific Northwest. Marucci, after all, works for the Walla Walla District, located in the state of Washington.
  • What a leader looks like

    “What does being a leader mean to you?” This was a question posed by Lt. Col. ShaiLin KingSlack, Commander of the Walla Walla District, when she spoke to tribal students at schools in Pendleton, Oregon.
  • The end of a long journey: a history of Lower Granite Lock and Dam

    It was early in the morning and a steam-powered paddleboat made its way up the lower Snake River, trimmed with colored flags. The date was June 19, 1975, and the mood was festive. The vessel was heading for Lower Granite Lock and Dam, whose pool had been raised just four months prior.
  • Larger than life: A history of Dworshak Dam

    In May 1948, floodwaters on the Columbia River overtopped the cofferdam where construction was underway on McNary Lock and Dam. This flood, one of the largest on record, was one of many documented in the region since the mid-1880s. The propensity for flooding in the Northwest sparked much discussion about regional flood control.
  • Waiting in the wings: A history of Little Goose Lock and Dam

    By 1962, Ice Harbor Lock and Dam had been built and construction of the second lower Snake River dam, Lower Monumental, was being passed to the US Army Corps of Engineers Seattle District. The third dam in the queue was right on the heels of Lower Monumental, but construction could not begin until the details of its downstream neighbor were determined.
  • 'We’ll cross that bridge…': A history of Lower Monumental Lock and Dam

    Lower Monumental Lock and Dam sits on a remote stretch of the Snake River, in a landscape of wheat fields and rolling hills. The only town within a 20-minute drive is Kahlotus, Washington, six miles north, with a population of less than 200. The only major road is State Highway 261, which crosses the river at Lyons Ferry, 18 miles upriver.