United States

When you think of a dam, you usually think of the giant hydroelectric dams like the Hoover dam. These dams began to be constructed in the 1930’s especially in the western United States. Now, millions of people use this hydroelectric power every day. Hydroelectric power can produce over six million megawatt hours of electricity in the peak months for the state of California (St. John, 2014 para. 2). That is 20 percent of all of California’s electricity generation for a year (St. John, 2014 para. 2). This renewable energy source seems like a perfect replacement to fossil fuels, but it may not be as perfect as it seems. Dams of this scale have many different concerns about how they affect the environment around it.

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