Infrastructure Bill Overview - Member Only Event (free)
What does it mean for the dam and levee industry now that the $1,2 trillion infrastructure bill has passed? Join USSD on December 13th at 11am MT for a free, one-hour, members-only webinar with Jeff Leahey, Esq., Vice President of Strategic Marketing Innovations (SMI). Hear an overview of the bill, where the funding is going and impacts to dams and levees.
Leahey worked extensively on the hydro grants programs of the bill (i.e. Sections 242, 243 and the new Section 247 programs for hydro production, hydro efficiency increases, and now grid resiliency, environmental improvements, and dam safety). These total over $750 million with another $800 million in the bill for dam safety and $800 million more for dam removal funding.
About the Presenter
Jeff Leahey, Esq. is an experienced government affairs professional, who has worked in Washington, DC for 20 years. With a background in energy, environment, and natural resource issues, he uses his experience, skills, and contacts to advance clients’ legislative and regulatory policy goals. He currently works as a vice president for SMI, a Washington, DC-based consulting firm that has been assisting organizations with government relations and strategy for over 25 years.
Prior to joining the SMI team, Jeff served as the Executive Vice President for Governmental Affairs at the National Hydropower Association representing NHA before the Congress, Administration, and federal agencies on various matters including climate and clean energy policy, tax policy, R&D funding, and many others. Jeff has testified before Congress, drafted legislative policy, and developed comments on regulatory and administrative proposals. He has developed and implemented successful lobbying campaigns, led complex policy negotiations, and overseen public affairs messaging initiatives. As a senior staff member of the organization, Jeff also carried out management and programmatic responsibilities for the association.
Jeff currently serves as a Board member of NHA and in leadership on the Board of the National Energy Resources Organization (NERO). He is an attorney and graduate of Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, MA. He is also a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, MO, with a BA in biology and political science.
Structural Behavior of Dams
Online Workshop - 24 PDHs
Bruce Brand’s “Structural Behavior of Dams” is a 4-day course on Dam Engineering. It is at the same time very theoretical and very practical. Theory is presented and then applied to real-world dam engineering situations.
Bruce originally developed the course for FERC engineers, but now is offering it to the dam engineering community. The target audience is experienced engineers - it would not be appropriate for novices. Classes are small; no more than 12 students.
Topics
Beam Theory with an emphasis on geometric non-linearities
Safety Factor
Loads on Dams
Steady State Hydrodynamic
Uplift
Lateral Earth
Debris
Follower Forces
Seismic Loads
Analysis Methods
FEA Background
Dynamics
Classical
Explicit
Surge Tank Example
Wave Radiating Boundaries
Fracture Mechanics
Rock Mechanics
Case Histories
Arch Dams
Gravity Arches
Slab and Buttress Topics
In addition to instruction, Bruce provides the following software:
2DSTAB Gravity Dam Analysis
TGRIB Tainter gate Analysis
VF2D 2 Dim. Non-Linear FEA
ARVAR 3 Dim. Non-linear FEA
DAMGEN Gravity Dam Mesh Generator
ARCHMKR Arch Dam Mesh Generator
For more information or to register click here: USSD's Learning Center.
Dam Safety Training
Despite the criticism that Potential Failure Mode Analysis (PFMA) has received following the Oroville Dam spillway incident, it has been viewed as a standard of care for dam safety evaluations in the U.S., and with some possible improvements to be more expansive, is expected to be so into the future. Many PFMA’s have been performed for state- and federally-regulated dams, and as a result of that investment, considerable knowledge has been obtained about vulnerabilities associated with specific dams. As the federal dam owners have embraced risk assessment as the next step in ensuring that dam safety risks are properly evaluated and managed, it is expected that private and state dam owners will benefit from following suit. Indeed, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has recently adopted Risk Informed Decision Making (RIDM) as part of their engineering guidelines. The intent of this training is to leverage and improve on the significant investment that has already been made in performing PFMA’s, and use this information to perform semi-quantitative risk assessments (SQRA) for individual dams or dam portfolios. These assessments can then be used as a screening tool to identify PFM’s and overall risks which are not likely to meet Tolerable Risk Guidelines (TRG) based on life safety, and as a prioritization tool for reducing risk, performing additional investigations or studies, or performing quantitative risk assessments. A simplified method for categorizing additional consequences such as those incurred at Oroville is also presented in this training.
Eligible for 22 PDHs
The target audience for this training is dam owners and regulators who are familiar with the PFMA process, and are wanting to move these types of evaluations into the risk arena. This would include FERC licensees and their consultants; private, municipal, and state dam owners; and state and federal dam safety regulators.
This course will take place over a week and will cover review of the PFMA process, TRG’s, using the PFMA results to perform a SQRA (including additional required input and how to obtain it), estimating consequences including but not limited to life safety, assessing the results, building the dam safety case, and prioritizing risk reduction actions.
For more information and to register,
visit USSD's Learning Center.
Join USSD and colleagues in beautiful San Diego at the Town and Country Resort, for what will be the first face-to-face conference in two years!
The USSD Technical Program Committee is putting the finishing touches on an excellent program with over 100 technical sessions, two plenaries, a Legacy Lecture, and six workshops. Stay through the week and register for an outstanding field tour being planned for San Vicente Dam and Lake Murray on Friday.
New to the program is Women Who Give a Dam which showcases accomplishments of women in the industry, It includes a technical session followed by a luncheon with a keynote speaker.
Don't forget to pack your workout gear and running shoes! A 5k FUNds run/walk AND fitness classes are scheduled to raise funds for the USSD Scholarship Program.
5k FUNds Run/Walk Registration
Morning Fitness Registration
Technical Program Chair: Joe Goldstein, Geosyntec
Technical Program Vice-Chair: Ed Toms, AECOM
Conference email: 2022conference@ussdams.org
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