By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff
The Lakes Commission is ringing in the new year with a meeting Thursday, Jan. 9, featuring updates on the replacement of spillway gates at Albeni Falls Dam.
The meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Sandpoint Organic Agriculture Center (10881 N. Boyer Road) or virtually via Zoom by registering at bit.ly/41JSksk.
Area residents and elected officials alike have eagerly followed the process of assessing and ultimately replacing as many as 11 spillway gates at the dam, one of which was found in the spring of 2024 to contain steel defects.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the dam, indicated in October that based on analysis of the 1950s-era steel used to fabricate the gates, it could take no fewer than four years and up to 10 to finish the replacement project.
However, according to a Dec. 11 letter sent to the Corps by Idaho Gov. Brad Little, U.S. Rep. Russ Fulcher, and U.S. Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, the design completion target for gate replacement has been moved up from the fall of 2025 to July 2025.
USACE Col. Kate Sanborn visits Albeni Falls Dam near Oldtown to address the gate defects with stakeholders in May 2024. Photo by Ben Olson.
Little, members of the Idaho congressional delegation and Dist. 1A Rep. Mark Sauter have called on the Corps to expedite its efforts so that the annual refill of Lake Pend Oreille takes place in time for summer boating season, to lessen the danger of flooding, and to ensure waterfront property owners aren’t left high and dry.
Lake levels were slower to rise in 2024, but reached a summer pool of 2,061.75 — about six slightly below the typical range of 2,062-2,062.5 feet — around June 19, which is the Corps’ median refill date.
According to the Dec. 11 letter, “While the open line of communication is appreciated and valued we remain deeply concerned that public safety risks and more efficient processes appear to have not been adequately identified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.”
Meanwhile, the letter challenged the “conservative approach to dam operations,” which the Corps has maintained does not present health or safety threats.
According to the letter, the Corps’ correspondence with the Governor’s Office in October stated that gate failure could result in upstream flooding and “around the lake in certain rare scenarios.”
However, citing another correspondence between the Lakes Commission and the Corps, the letter went on to quote the latter as stating “this issue is not prevalent everywhere.”
“If the issue is not prevalent, one can justifiably assume that the potential risk of catastrophic flooding might not be so rare,” the letter stated.
“We remain deeply troubled with timelines targeting replacement of all gates by the end of the decade,” signatories wrote.
Going forward, the letter asked a number of questions of the Corps related to whether contracting with private sector engineering firms would help speed up the design process, which facilities are being considered for manufacturing the gates, and cost comparisons between private and public sector production.
“Facilities with the expertise and space capacity to manufacture hydraulic steel structures of this size are limited. This is a large piece of fabricated steel that has stringent structural engineering requirements that must be met during the fabrication process before being placed in service,” Corps Public Affairs Specialist Nicole Celestine told the Reader in September.
“We anticipate the first gate to arrive on-site in three to five years. Subsequent authorized gates are anticipated to be in place in approximately six-month intervals after the first gate,” she added.
The Lakes Commission stated in a news release that representatives of both the Corps and state of Idaho will be on hand at the Jan. 9 meeting to provide an update on the issue.
“Gate replacement at Albeni Falls is one of our top priorities in North Idaho,” the Dec. 11 letter stated. That’s a result of the loud, clear and constructive feedback our offices have received from the community. If your own vision statement is to engineer solutions for America’s ‘toughest challenges,’ it’s troubling that we have only received justification for delays. Should this trend continue, our concerns over public safety and economic viability will not be resolved.”
Attend the Thursday, Jan. 9 meeting, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., in person at the Sandpoint Organic Agriculture Center (10881 N. Boyer Road) or virtually via Zoom by registering at bit.ly/41JSksk. After registering, virtual attendees will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
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Coming up this week! Don’t miss New Year’s Eve Celebrations, the Polar Bear Plunge, and more! See the full list of events in the 
