The Region - News from Sept. 8, 1985

An estimated $232 million could be saved in the proposed construction of Auburn Dam on the American River northeast of Sacramento if it were redesigned and built at a different site, engineers said. The study by Bechtel National Inc. for the state Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation suggested six alternatives that could be built more cheaply than the current design. The estimated cost of the dam has tripled to more than $1.4 billion since construction was stopped in 1975 after an earthquake near the Oroville Dam in Butte County raised safety questions. Doug Baldwin of the Bureau of Reclamation said Bechtel was commissioned to see if the costs could be trimmed to get the project moving again.