In my backyard
Over Labor Day weekend, I hiked the Silver Dollar Lake Trail in Arapaho National Forest, located 54 miles west of Denver, Colorado. The trail to Silver Dollar Lake climbs past Naylor Lake and once you reach Silver Dollar Lake, hikers have the option of scaling a half mile additional steep hill to Murray Lake.
Pikas (fluffy little big-earred mammals) scurried along the rocks, squeaking at me as I walked by. One bald eagle soared by Naylor lake to its nest in one of the many pine trees nearby. And up high on the hills above Murray lake, I spotted three mountain goats lazily grazing. Other hikers borrowed my binoculars to enjoy the wildlife as we all rested on mossy rocks.
The drive to reach the trail head was as lovely as the hike itself. Turning off I70 through Georgetown, curving up steep switchbacks through the canyon - the overlooks through the I70 corridor were breathtaking, and perhaps a little vertigo-inducing at times. Early in the morning we were still covered in shade and enjoying a pleasantly refreshing crispy 40 degree F temperature. I passed a group of big horn sheep ewes and lambs feeding along the side of the road.
At the seemingly top of the hill, at about 10,000 ft elevation, I was confronted with a large human-made reservoir. Further along the road, after another 1000 ft elevation gain, a large slab of concrete stood out at the foot of another reservoir. I had reached the Cabin Creek Hydropower Plant, which I didn’t even know existed.
The Cabin Creek Hydropower plant is located on Clear Creek, a "creek" fed by a “stream” named Fall “River.” Clear Creek is 66 mile long tributary of the South Platte River.
The series of two reservoirs here are used to create pumped storage electricity. It is currently operated by Xcel Energy. When it was built in 1967, it was considered an Engineering Marvel. It was the highest altitude pumped storage plant in the world (now it is in China)and the second largest of its kind in the US. However, since the plant is now 54 years old, “it is reaching the end of its useful life” and since its construction, “not much has changed at the plant so the necessity for upgrades is reaching a critical point.” In 2015, Xcel spent $88 million to refurbish the plant over a five-year period, giving the plant an additional 40 years of life.
The average dam life is approximately 50 years but in the US, it is 65 years. Massive social and ecological risks are associated with these aging dams. With technological advances, the Cabin Creek plant will have a grand total of 90 year life span- only slightly longer than a person’s life expectancy.
If we are looking for long-term sustainable solutions to peace and prosperity for people and the planet, according to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, then hydropower is not the solution we seek, but only a temporary stop gap to a much larger problem.