New evidence indicates that Boyce Hydro predicted the Edenville Dam would fail on the east end a decade before the catastrophe, according to the Michigan Attorney General's Office.
MID-MICHIGAN (WJRT) - New evidence indicates that Boyce Hydro predicted the Edenville Dam would fail on the east end a decade before the catastrophe, according to the Michigan Attorney General's Office.
However, state officials say the dam's owner ignored critical safety measures and wasted money on side projects rather than making necessary repairs.
The Edenville Dam failed on May 19, 2020, after days of heavy rain caused the water level in Wixom Lake behind the structure to rise. Soil on the dam's east flank became liquified, causing it to break.
The contents of Wixom Lake rushed down the Tittabawassee River, where they overwhelmed the Sanford Dam and caused record flooding around the Midland area.
Time lapse photos of Edenville Dam failure on May 9, 2021
A series of images shows the Edenville Dam fail on May 9, 2020.
The attorney general's office is asking a federal judge to rule in favor of the state in a lawsuit over enforcement actions against Boyce Hydro, which owned the Edenville, Sanford, Smallwood and Secord dams when the disaster happened.
While gathering evidence for the lawsuit, state lawyers say Boyce Hydro determined in 2010 that the east flank of the Edenville Dam might fail if Wixom Lake rose too high. The company designed a repair, but never took action to complete it.
"We discovered an unconscionable disregard for safety and dam integrity that cost the community that relied on the security of that dam immeasurably, and it's important we share this with the court today," Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said.
The attorney general's office says Boyce Hydro never disclosed its concerns about the east flank to federal regulators, when the structure was under oversight of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The concerns also were not conveyed to state regulators after FERC suspended Boyce Hydro's license to generate hydroelectric power and the dam fell under state control in 2018.
"This fits with the company’s decades-long history of violations and antagonism toward federal and state regulators and illustrates the owners’ culpability in this catastrophic dam failure," said Aaron Keatley, acting director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.
The attorney general's office says the chief operator and dam safety engineer resigned in May 2017 because Boyce Hydro's manager, Lee Mueller, routinely neglected basic safety measures.
Instead, state attorneys claim Mueller spent Boyce Hydro's money on "expensive and unproductive" side projects, such as planning a music festival and trying to develop an RV park or residential neighborhood with a marina at the dam.
Mueller also allegedly purchased a sawmill and acquired a large amount of heavy equipment for Boyce Hydro. The attorney general's office says the chief operator resigned when Boyce Hydro directed staff to build a pond offsite rather than fix the Edenville Dam.
"The Edenville Dam failure was a devastating tragedy for thousands in that community, and these new revelations clearly show that failure began at the very top of Boyce Hydro," Nessel said.
If Michigan's attorneys are successful with the motion they filed in court Thursday, the state would be allowed to hold Boyce Hydro at fault for the dam failure and seize the company's remaining assets to give flood victims.
There was no timeline discussed Thursday for when a ruling would come.
