Many think of hydro-electric as cheap clean energy. The Elwha dam after 100 years is about to start the largest dam removal project in the US on Sept 17, 2011.
This PDF shows the dam removal process.
June 1, 2011 was the ceremony to turn off the power.
Two Elwha River dams unplugged on Wednesday
The end of an era arrived here Wednesday with the final shutdown of two dams on the Elwha River.
Seattle Times staff reporter
STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Kevin Yancy, manager of the Elwha hydroelectric project for the Bureau of Reclamation, throws a switch Wednesday to shut down the Elwha Dam for good after nearly 100 years of generating electricity. The Elwha and a nearby dam will be torn down beginning this fall.
STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Members of the media and employees of Olympic National Park watch as the 97-year-old Elwha Dam's giant turbines spin down after being shut off from their flow of water during the shutdown of the dam Wednesday.
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PORT ANGELES,
Clallam County —
The end of an era arrived Wednesday with the final shutdown of two dams on the Elwha River.
The dams were unplugged from the Western power grid and their mighty turbines stilled, in preparation for taking both dams down beginning in September.
"We are cutting the heart out of these old girls," said Kevin Yancy, manager of the Elwha hydroelectric project for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. But their time, he acknowledged, has passed, after nearly a century of generating power that fueled development of the Olympic Peninsula.
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