PG&E Abandons Potter Valley Dam Project License (What Does That Mean for the Eel?)
Scott Dam which is part of the Potter Valley Project. [Photo cropped by one from PG&E]
Today PG&E submitted a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) providing our “Notice of Withdrawal of Notice Of Intent to File License Application and Pre-Application Document” for the Potter Valley Project. As a result, PG&E will expeditiously cease all activities related to the relicensing of the Project. Our decision to cease Project relicensing will also result in the stoppage of our efforts to sell the Project via the Request for Offers (RFO) process.
Although the timing is unclear at this point, we anticipate that PG&E’s action will result in FERC initiating its Orphan Project process. In accordance with the Orphan process, FERC will provide interested parties the opportunity to submit an application for a new Project license. We believe this path will allow interested parties more time to prepare for the acquisition of the Project and the ability to submit a License Application on their own terms rather than assuming PG&E’s current application. If the Orphan process does not result in the issuance of a new Project License, it is expected FERC will order PG&E to prepare and submit a Surrender Application and Decommissioning Plan.
PG&E will continue to own and operate the Project in accordance with the terms and conditions of the current Project license and all laws, rules, and regulations governing the operation of the Project until a new license is issued or the Project is decommissioned. PG&E also intends to support the Orphan process through provision of work products and information developed to date in the relicensing process to those who apply to FERC for a new Project license.
PG&E recognizes that many stakeholders have invested significant effort in the relicensing process and we are very appreciative. We apologize for any challenges or inconvenience this action might cause.
We’ll be working on answers about what this means for our Eel River.
Earlier Chapters:
- PG&E announced it may sell or abandon the Potter Valley Project
- Congressman Huffman Comments on PG&Es Plans for the Potter Valley Project
- PG&E Plans to Sell or Auction the PVP
- Hot Potato PG&E Offered PVP to the Eel Russian River Commission
- PG&E Begins Auction of the PVP
- A Deeper Look At PG&E’s Auction of the PVP
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It will be interesting to see who ponies up for this albatross. My money is on the gluttonous wine barons, or the Sonoma/Marin water agencies…. Anybody care to wager?
My bet is a cannabis corporation. If they have money for a Super Bowl ad surely they can purchase the dam project.
Yes, the dam is gonna go to pot.
Lol
There’s already a joint agency created by Supes of the counties the Eel flows through, which will continue what they’ve been planning all along, to acquire the facilities and continue to send Northern water South. This will make their process easier, I assume, since they won’t have to haggle through PG&E. It’s startling to me that a company preparing for bankruptcy walks away from property worthless to them but of great value to its neighbors. PG&E obviously can’t be bothered with shareholder value . . .
So…its damed if they do, damed if they dont?
Where did you get your information? Didn’t you read the last paragraph?
“PG&E recognizes that many stakeholders have invested significant effort in the relicensing process and we are very appreciative. We apologize for any challenges or inconvenience this action might cause.”
James Marmon MSW
Former Potter Valley Pear Grower.
With PG&E cleared yesterday of negligence regarding the 2017 Tubbs Fire in Sonoma County , everything changes. The City of Santa Rosa and County of Sonoma better prepare for lawsuits against them for not being prepared, poor warning systems, lack of Emergency Personnel and so on and so on. Liability for the 6 thousand homes, businesses and dozens of lives lost is now sitting in their laps. Sonoma County will probably be the ones who file for bankruptcy, not PG&E. Erin Brockovich is not going to walk out of there without getting some money for herself and her clients.
Erin Brockovich joins legal team suing PG&E over October wildfires
“Celebrity environmental crusader Erin Brockovich, made famous by an Oscar-winning film about her work fighting PG&E, has joined the legal team representing more than 1,500 North Bay residents suing the utility company over last year’s wildfires.”
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/8449965-181/celebrity-environmental-advocate-erin-brockovich
Insurance Companies will be suing too.
James Marmon MSW
As for your “joint agency created by Supes of the counties the Eel flows through, which will continue what they’ve been planning all along, to acquire the facilities and continue to send Northern water South.” You better do some more research, this just came out 2 hours ago.
PG&E abandoning water-power project in remote Mendocino County
“In a letter to Mendocino County stakeholders, the embattled utility said: “We recognize the gravity of this action, but believe it is appropriate given PG&E’s current circumstances.””
“Janet Pauli, a Potter Valley rancher, said PG&E’s move was a complete surprise.
The Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, a coalition of five local agencies chaired by Pauli, had worked for months on a proposal to take over the project and had a Feb. 1 deadline to submit the plan, “Suddenly, the path forward just got pulled right out from under us,” she said.
The orphan process, which could lead to decommissioning “has the potential to threaten the regional water supply,” Pauli said.”
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/local/9211996-181/pge-abandoning-water-power-project-in
Mendocino County Inland Water & Power Commission
ABOUT IWPC
Protecting Mendocino County’s Water Supply, for Today and for Tomorrow.
The Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission (IWPC)—a Joint Powers Authority representing the County of Mendocino, City of Ukiah, Redwood Valley County Water District, Potter Valley Irrigation District and the Mendocino County Russian River Flood Control and Water Conservation Improvement District.
https://www.mendoiwpc.com/who-is-iwpc
Let’s kill all the fish for some goddamned pears
Yeah, because you need to steal every last drop of water to grow pears…..
You’re delusional huh.
~speaking of water and the hemp plant . . . did ya’ all get an “Important Public Hearing Notice Local Coastal Program” for a Humboldt County Cannabis Cultivation amendment, in the mail, from the unelected California Coastal Commission, to be held in Half Moon Bay at the Ocean Hotel & Spa on February 8th @ 9:00 a.m?
This “project” should not be relicensed under any circumstance. PG&E should have to pay for decommissioning and removal.
🕯Why?
It steals Eel River water and blocks fish access to critical spawning grounds. There is no fish ladder at the big dam.
🕯Great response. 👍🏾 Now we know why.😁🖖
They are the ones who profited from it.
PG&E has a plan to f*ck The Eel in new way I’m sure. Corporate criminals always have a hidden plan.
Wow Coletta, you are so very interesting… Always willing to slam into any conversation on this site. What’s your birth sign? Vergo or Capricorn? P.s. I do agree with you on this one…
Wait a minute! What’s wrong with Capricorns?? I vote to take the dam down and give it back to the Salmon.
You believe in astrology?
Probably a shell company from the monopoly no doubt.
The county the eel “flows through” is not Sonoma. That water was robbed from the Potter Valley Project since its inception. Pot $ will not buy the stolen water. The wine industry will own this one, sure as rain…
Tear down that dam
Take it down. Set the water free!
If that dam is removed and the water diversion cut of from rich people in Sonoma & Marin counties, I`ll blow a goat.
First, thank you Nadananda, founder of the Friends of the Eel River, for getting this ball rolling almost a quarter of a century ago. I remember accompanying her to our first meeting with the Sonoma County Water Board to voice our objections to the dams at Potter Valley. The all-male contingent from Sonoma County, all dressed in (I kid you not) black trench coats, sneered and snickered as we spoke. As time passed and I grew weary of the battle, Nada stayed the course, relentlessly keeping the issue in the public eye…There’s no telling how this next chapter will play out, but I remain hopeful.
~i wonder if it’s the same anti-civilization group i spoke in front of many moons ago? They had hearing aids and some were drooling – maybe ‘Depends’ didees too?
Hayduke Lives!
So Ross you think only the rich people in in Sanoma get water from the Russian your wrong. Many farmer and cattle ranchers use it just to get by. And everyone talks about the fish what about the years of steelhead conservation and population on the Russian when it’s gone. Or is it not about the fish. Just something to cry about. Why doesn’t the FOER float the eel and turn in all the illegal pumping for pot or fertilizer flowing into it. Save the dam.
The pumping of water for dairy farmers was true back when the dam was built, back in the early 1900’s.
Now urban sprawl in the area and grape farms popping up on steep hillsides, where they don’t belong, and not to mention, the swimming and recreational areas like Guernville, make a killing off a resource that, naturally, is not there’s.
Meanwhile, the communities of the lower Eel have been suffering for decades. Our fishing, municipal, and agricultural industries are in recession.
Put the water back where you found it! Take it down!
~i lived and raised my four in Sonoma County. Started, owned and operated a pump and drilling business there. Sonoma County has more private wells than other county. The river water being diverted to Sonoma County is not a ‘need’, but more than likely pushed by the same ones who pushed Lake Sonoma thru as 1) flood protection (the first year Guerneville flooded), 2) for recreation -can’t remember how many people died on the lake the first few years, and 3) water supply. No dam can provide all three.
The Russian would be bone dry in the summer above tidewater (Cassini Ranch) when the mouth is open. The remnant wild steelhead runs were pretty much destroyed when the hatchery went in. If they don’t raise Coyote dam if and when they kill the P.V.P., the russian will be fucking doomed, and everyone in the know realizes this! And THAT folks is why the Russian River interests are shitting their collective dresses. The Eel has kept the rape of the Russian secret for decades. I hope the fuckin’ thing does dry up, maybe people will start treating water like a neccessity instead of a commodity.
As a land owner on the Eel river I am sad about this development. The path forward becomes more vague. There are many people that will be affected by the outcome. All stakeholders, including the fish, the wine growers and the water agencies should weigh in. It will be painful for more people to not know what is going to happen in the long run, and that run just became longer.
If PG&E is selling then the buyer must restart the licensing process-they cannot pickup where PG&E left off-which is going to be very expensive and will take a long time. I doubt anyone will take on he new project. Remove the dam!!!!