PG&E Orphaned the Potter Valley Project: What’s Happened & What Comes Next?

Scott Dam which is part of the Potter Valley Project.

Scott Dam which is part of the Potter Valley Project. [Photo cropped from PG&E image]

A slow moving, hard to follow, high stakes, real life drama is unfolding in Northern California, and the next installment takes place in Eureka at the Board of Supervisors Chambers when the Eel Russian River Commission, whose sole focus is PG&E’s Potter Valley Project, meets Friday, March 28th. The pre-meeting buzz at this point sees proponents of dam removal in the Eel River watershed feeling guardedly optimistic that the “inevitable outcome” for the Potter Valley Project will be removing the 130 foot tall Scott Dam.

The outlook for dam removal on the Eel River has shifted significantly in the last year.  PG&E and stakeholders on the Russian River side of the “regional asset” have compiled compelling data over a few decades of study indicating the Eel River isn’t being hurt by a water transfer that takes a minimal percentage of flow now that it operates under new rules from the National Marine Fisheries Service. However, in the last year emerging science has favored dam removal arguments.

In 2017, genetic researcher,Dr Mike Miller of UC Davis, presented his published study suggesting “premature migrators” (spring and summer run) Steelhead are a separate species from the “mature” fall run variety, and quite likely endangered.  Because they are in perilously low numbers in most watersheds, premature run Steelhead could likely be listed as Endangered  under the Endangered Species Act. And studies looked at the tributaries in the headwater tributaries of the Eel River and found them to be prime spawning grounds for the endangered salmonids.  These two conclusions combined put even more pressure on Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Potter Valley Project license holder to make investments in fish passage over Scott Dam.

Fish passage was already one of two principle areas of concern for Huffman’s ad hoc committee on the Potter Valley Project, which he formed in 2017, just as PG&E’s re-licensing exercise began. Congressman Jared Huffman, a long-time wildlife advocate with legal and water management experience, invited regional stakeholders to hold an “ad hoc working group” to lay the groundwork for the potential need of a negotiated settlement, because PG&E had told him in some fashion that they would likely pull away from Potter Valley Project before the license application was finished. Congressman Huffman told the stakeholders he sought a two-basin solution to give the Eel River the restoration it needed, and the Russian River the water security it needed.

And then came the surprise news, at the last ERRC meeting down in Santa Rosa last November, when the SCWA engineer who specializes in stream flow models told the Commissioners that the ad hoc group’s agreed upon flow model might be showing that the water needs in the Russian River could be met with a winter-only diversion from the Eel River.

However, not everyone in the Russian River feels comfortable with a winter-only diversion, because a winter only diversion leaves farming communities in Northern Mendocino without a secure water supply for their high value agriculture, and residents in the lower Russian near Guerneville worry they will live with a higher level of flood risk.

The US Bureau of Reclamation, with the Army Corp and the SCWA, has begun studying the use of flood management strategies in which they use satellite data to predict when high volumes of precipitation, known as atmospheric rivers, will occur and with enough warning that the Bureau has time to ensure the reservoir at Lake Mendocino where Eel River water is first held in the Russian River watershed, is empty enough that the lake’s outflow during storms doesn’t cause flooding downriver. The goal of this precipitation prediction flood control strategy is to also reliably retain enough water in storage for downriver use during the six months’ dry season.

A Long & Winding Year

Amidst all of this, on January 25th, while in the middle of both a license re-application and an auction to sell the license, PG&E publicly abandoned its license for the Potter Valley Project (PVP) altogether. And on March 1st, FERC dutifully issued its Notice Soliciting Applications for its Orphaned Potter Valley Project.

FERC now controls the power generation license and is actively seeking interested parties to apply for it. Meanwhile, PG&E remains responsible for the operation and maintenance of the PVP until the license has been reassigned or the project has been decommissioned. And no one knows what will happen next.

The last time the Eel Russian River Commission (ERRC) was in Eureka, in February of 2018, David Moller, PG&E’s now retired Director of Power Generation, addressed ERRC for the first time.  Moller gave his presentation in a shroud of vague sentences. He said PG&E probably intended to divest itself from the Potter Valley Project (PVP), and although it might continue to operate the PVP, it was considering auctioning the project to another operator, abandoning the project and orphaning the license, and he almost seemed to hum over an offer of the Project to a governmental body that might want to operate the water transfer.

For Humboldt County that was new information when it was presented. But Congressman Huffman had already known it for a year or more. He began the ad hoc working group to develop a two-basin solution in the first part of 2017.  In March of 2018, Mr. Huffman talked about his hopes for the Eel River ad hoc working group and explained,

It doesn’t come as a surprise to me and the reason is I’ve familiarized myself quite a bit with the project. I’ve had lots of conversations with stakeholders.

And I’m aware that the economics of these small one-off hydro projects, like Potter Valley, are not what they used to be.

Humboldt County is more isolated from the action with regard to the PVP both geographically and politically by the FERC process in which Humboldt County residents are not provided a public input session in the license process. And while it is perfectly reasonable that a water agency would have a longstanding relationship with the public utility that controls the flow of the water supply, it still felt like back door communication from the Eel River dam removal proponents’ perspective.I

In May, Friends of the Eel River filed a Public Records Act Request and wrote:

“Supervisors Fennell, Brown, and Gore all denied having these meetings. We now know that they did in fact meet. They even went to the trouble of preparing explanations in case they got caught,” said FOER Conservation Director Scott Greacen. “And now we know why they kept their plans secret: they are trying to keep the Potter Valley Project in place, even if it leads to extinction of the Eel River’s salmon and steelhead”

Later, they posted notes from conversations among parties at PG&E and the Sonoma County staff and Supervisors looking at various ways to keep the water transfer live if PG&E weren’t there.  It should be noted that Sonoma County Supervisors are also the Sonoma County Water Agency’s governing body.  Speaking with a water agency Board Member is speaking to a Supervisor.

At the June ERRC meeting, Moller returned to tell the Commission, PG&E had decided to auction the PVP and he was significantly more direct in his presentation of an offer of the project to a regional entity such as themselves who could prove their ability to manage the project.

As Moller described and clarified the auction process to the Commission, he consistently told the Commissioners that the primary criteria for the winning bid would not be the price it offered to PG&E for its assets, but rather that the most compelling attribute to a bid would be the interested party’s financial ability to pay for the project’s several operation sectors: dam safety and maintenance operations on two separate dams; the diversion includes the Van Arsdale Cape Horn Dam that impounds Van Arsdale Reservoir, it’s fish ladder, and the tunnels and penstocks of the diversion; the power generation station; and the monitoring and reporting of the dam operations on a 24 hour a day basis to comply with multiple regulatory obligations because the PVP impacts endangered species and the ecosystems of two major rivers. And, according to Friends of the Eel River as well as Humboldt County Supervisor Estelle Fennell, it is a fair certainty the Scott Dam will have to be either redesigned or rebuilt to obtain the California State Water Board’s (SWRCB) Clean Water Act certification either before or after litigation.

The Commission’s examination of their Joint Powers Agreement in February had shown that it is empowered to own property but unable to collect taxes to raise revenue.  The ERRC budget is collected from the budgets of the four member Counties. For that reason and a host of others, the Commission was realistically unable to explore an application.

Mystery and confusion continued even after PG&E made a decision to auction the Project, because the auction process PG&E uses kept all applicants confidential, no one knew who might be applying. All Moller said was that PG&E received a significant response in a buyer’s market as recently as November.  So it came somewhat as a surprise on January 25th when PG&E filed with FERC that it would abandon its application for re-licensing the Potter Valley Project in light of its bankruptcy.

Currently, all that is known is there are “a lot of known unknowns and now [with PG&E’s bankruptcy at play in the middle of it] there are new unknown unknowns,” Craig Tucker, Humboldt County’s Natural Resources Consultant said in a phone interview on March 6th. The day of the interview, his task was researching and reading memos on bankruptcy law to learn what he didn’t know yet.

Two Venues

Currently, there are two venues for communication on the issues being raised in light of PG&E’s decision to no longer operate the PVP. One is Congressman Huffman’s ad hoc working group on the issue. The other is the Eel Russian River Commission (ERRC.)

In an interview in March of 2018, Mr. Huffman explained,

[The ad hoc group meetings] will continue as long as folks want them to continue. I cannot compel them. But so far we’ve got…a lot of the essential stakeholders around the table they are engaging in a constructive dialogue about a possible two basin solution that everyone could live with and I think that’s an important conversation. If anything its become more important with PG&E hinting a little more directly that it may be interested in walking away from the project.

The ad hoc group provides stakeholders the opportunity to let their guard down and have a mediated conversation about their vital interests in the outcome of the Potter Valley Project.  Invited stakeholders include the federal and state regulatory agencies, the tribes, the counties, Sonoma County Water Agency, Potter Valley Irrigation District, and Friends of the Eel River. While fishing industry interests do have representation through the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, neither the wine or the cannabis industry has a seat at the table nor does the public.

Craig Tucker, who is still riding out the Klamath dam removal, and its many negotiated settlement agreements, mused that “the art of politics is deciding how big to make the table without making it too big to function.” Currently he is a consultant working under Hank Seemann the Deputy Director of Humboldt County’s Environmental Services.  Tucker and Seemann, along with Supervisor Fennell, are the faces of Humboldt County at the ad hoc working group.

The venue for public discussion and decisions of local control regarding the Potter Valley Project is the Eel Russian River Commission.

In the year since PG&E announced its intention to either auction or abandon the license, the ERRC has contemplated forming a Joint Powers Authority to operate the Project as a regional body, has briefly thought of disbanding, but has ultimately recognized itself as the proper venue for a democratic process in which all four of the counties vested in this regional water project, licensed as a power project, can come together in public view during noticed meetings and have an open discussion.

In an interview on Friday, March 1, Second District Supervisor, Estelle Fennell, talked about Humboldt County’s evolving relationship with the Eel Russian River Commission and with PG&E’s Potter Valley Project.

Fennell became an ERRC Commissioner upon joining the Board of Supervisors in 2012. She has been the Chair of the Eel Russian River Commission this past year as PG&E’s decision has slowly evolved. In that time, Humboldt County has become the “administrative county” for the Commission. It is now Humboldt County’s staff that coordinates the presentations, sends out the announcements and updates the ERRC web page now housed on the Humboldtgov.org website.

The Eel Russian River Commission operates under a Joint Powers Agreement and is populated by one Supervisor from each of the four member counties: Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, and Sonoma.

In June, just after the Commissioners examined their framework in February, Commissioner Fennell presented the Commission with Humboldt County Board of Supervisors Resolution 18-56 communicating Humboldt County’s perspective of this “regional asset.”

The County’s first position statement in Resolution 18-56 reads “the County…believes that decommissioning and full or partial removal of the [PVP] is inevitable due to the aging infrastructure, low power production, and high cost of …complying with current dam safety and environmental regulation.”

However, Resolution 18-56 also posits, “The County…supports Congressman Huffman’s call for a two-basin solution with co-equal goals and believes that consideration of Russian River water users’ interests will be essential to achieving a comprehensive solution.”

Deep breathes were taken that day. Much discussion ensued, and Commissioner Steele of Lake County referenced the potential for “water wars” to develop and rallied the Commissioners around “the life-cycle of salmonids” as the best possible framework for moving forward.

As of the November meeting, all four Counties of the ERRC have adopted resolutions outlining their respective interests and positions in the Potter Valley Project, laying the groundwork for the upcoming year [2019]. The Commissioners each now have the guidance of these documents as the joint Commission attends to its business through the next months while FERC solicits qualified applicants to take over the project.

And just as it has dawned, PG&E has now abandoned FERC License #77 altogether causing it to be orphaned.

On Friday, March 1, FERC released a Notice Soliciting Applications in which it states “On January 25,2019, PG&E filed Notice…it is no longer seeking a new license for the project.”

If no applicants are approved by FERC before April of 2020, PG&E will have 90 days to file a “schedule for the filing of a surrender application for the project.”  But it is impossible to know when anyone will actually be compelled to act.

Moving Forward

While the Congressman’s ad hoc committe has taken a direction toward further restriciton of access in case of the need of a Negotiated Settlement, it has begun posting its agenda and a few notes and task assignments. With PG&E no longer contributing to the funding of the Committee, one if Huffman’s tasks was to seek that out.

Simultaneously for 2019, the ERRC has four quarterly meetings scheduled and posted. The next one will be March 29th in Eureka at the Board of Supervisors Chambers.

Supervisor Fennel explains that in addition to the County’s work administering the Commission, it is also focusing on the County’s individual interest in the Eel River and therefore the outcome of the FERC license. Fennell is mindful that one of two possible outcomes from this license having been abandoned is the partial or full decommissioning of the PVP infrastructure.

Fennel indicates Humboldt County residents are best served by a return to natural flows in the Eel River. She says Humboldt County has hired Craig Tucker as a consultant, and he is working with Hank Seemann at the Environmental Services Division of Public Works and an attorney on the County’s interests.

Fennell also mentioned that at the last meeting, in Sonoma County, the ERRC heard from Huffman’s ad hoc working group on the group’s understanding of river flow modeling for a variety of rain year types. The presentation indicated that the Russian River’s interests, especially its ecology, may best be served by a winter water diversion that can be accomplished through the smaller dam at Van Arsdale.

Van Arsdale Dam, South Fork of Eel River,

Cape Horn Dam downstream of Scott Dam [Photo by a National Park Service employee]

A winter-only diversion could negate the need for the larger reservoir, Lake Pillsury, held by Scott Dam which has no fish passage and is on arguably unstable ground as it sits neartthe Bartlett Springs fault complex.

During 2018, David Keller consistently commented to the ERRC about his concerns for dam safety at Scott Dam.

In light of restrictions, imposed by the Patriot Act against potential terrorism, making it impossible to look at PG&E’s filings to FERC on its safety and maintenance, Friends of the Eel River hired Miller Pacific Engineering Group to assess the potential for failure at Scott Dam. Their technical report, published in September of 2018, concluded that,

It is our professional opinion that the large landslide complex adjacent to, and possibly below, the left abutment presents a significant geological hazard to the dam that requires further investigation. Since the dam acts as a strut across the Eel River, the landslide mass may be applying a significant soil pressure to the dam. In addition, the preliminary calculated seismic displacements are enough to cause concern about uplift or damage to the dam from landslide movement during a strong seismic event

Craig Tucker, Humboldt County’s Natural Resources Consultant says its the flow data developed in the ad hoc working group that gives him the most optimism that Congressman Huffman’s goal for a “two-basin solution” can be successful without undue litigation.

For such a proposal to work, changes in the Federal Bureau of Reclamation’s operations for flood control are needed which the Bureau is currently studying.

It also requires that Potter Valley and other communities uphill from Lake Mendocino be “made whole” according to Tucker.  He said the Potter Valley Irrigation District estimates they need 19,000 acre feet of summer water.

Infrastructure may be built to pump water uphill from Lake Mendocino to communities like Potter Valley and Redwood Valley which currently capture water as it is diverted; a smaller dam may replace Scott Dam to impound water storage for Mendocino County dry season needs, or storage may be designed in situ for the sites where it is needed.

Craig Tucker also said, “There is a whole industry geared toward figuring the cost of dam removal.” And he says they rely on reams of studies fully analyzing project components such as sediment loads, flow dynamics, and potential for pollution from things like mercury so that there are few “known unknowns” in what the outcome will be ten years after a decommissioning.

As a result, he estimates we are several years away from decisions, but he does feel optimistic that in the course of time Scott Dam will either be removed or replaced with a much smaller impoundment.

What Happens Next?

If no applicants are approved by FERC before April of 2020, PG&E will have 90 days to file a “schedule for the filing of a surrender application for the project.”  And no one really knows how all this will unfold.

If the Potter Valley Project’s energy generation license is not re-assigned, Tucker says the water rights will need to be addressed. As it stands, the people downstream of the Potter Valley Project are allowed to claim the Eel River water that PG&E abandons after it runs through their turbines.

Humboldt County is looking to make certain PG&E cannot divest itself from its financial responsibility for the Potter Valley Project during its bankruptcy process because none of what is coming will be cheap. In the meantime, any new applicants to this license will now at least be visible to the public. Under PGE’s auction process all parties were in Non-Disclosure Agreements whereas with FERC applicants will be on public record.

Tuesday Craig Tucker will be updating the Board of Supervisors on where the County’s work lies next with regard to the Potter Valley Project, and on March 29, the Eel Russian River Commission will meet in Humboldt’s Board of Supervisor’s Chambers  from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Note: This has been updated to reflect correct salmonid, to note that fish passage is already a principle issue of attention, and that several Agencies interact in Lake Mendocino’s management.

Earlier Chapters and Related Information:

Facebooktwitterpinterestmail

Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules

Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

70 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
J.A. Savage
Guest
J.A. Savage
5 years ago

As long as PG&E is surrendering worrisome assets, the next will be the radioactive waste at Humboldt Bay.

Dan
Guest
Dan
5 years ago
Reply to  J.A. Savage

what waste?

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
5 years ago
Reply to  Dan

Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Bay_Nuclear_Power_Plant

The decommissioning of this plant has been ongoing.

I like stars
Guest
I like stars
5 years ago

Wow! Well done Kelley. Thanks to you and RHBB.

This is an important issue. I appreciate having information about it. There is strong evidence of secret, backroom dealings that have already taken place. We need as much light as possible shown on every aspect of this process. There are huge sums of money at stake. Shady things will almost certainly occur unless the public is vigilant.

I support dam removal at PG&E’s expense. If the state of California and it’s citizens really want to be environmentalists, this is a chance to prove it.

Btw, where are CEQA and CDFW?

Joe Dirt
Guest
Joe Dirt
5 years ago
Reply to  I like stars

Scott’s dam was built almost a hundred years ago in 1922, with the structural Integrity on its own in question? And two fault lines close by, and potential for a slide the possibilities of its failure during a high water event, like happened twice this year already can be devastating, to a lot of Downriver areas including Scotia, Fortuna, Ferndale, and Lolita, Highway 101, and much more. Major impacts on human life and Cattle and anything else. I encourage everyone to look at what could happen and who would be responsible.

kelley
Guest
kelley
5 years ago
Reply to  I like stars

I.L.Stars: cdfw is in the room. They count fish at the fish ladder. Ceqa is a California process of evaluating environmental consquences of projects. Its overridden by the nepa process bcuz this is a federal dam. Nepa is being taken care of in the ferc licensing studies, but it was being very tightly limited by ferc. Some people say thats why huffman started the parallel working group, so a wider array of options could be studied.

B.
Guest
B.
5 years ago
Reply to  kelley

The fish ladder has been shut down for more than a week because of debris and other high water damage. It will be back working soon (I hope).

kelley
Guest
kelley
5 years ago
Reply to  B.

This is accurate. Yes, hopefully it’s fixed fast since the run is happening now.

Wine country
Guest
Wine country
5 years ago
Reply to  I like stars

Sonoma county has numerous times drained lake Mendocino to the point all the boat ramps are closed but they left Lake Sonoma full. Force them to use that water first.

kelley
Guest
kelley
5 years ago
Reply to  Wine country

Nothing is a or b. But generally its the Bureau who lowers Lake Mendocino in the Spring for flood control reasons. If it’s done too late in the spring then there isn’t enough water in storage for summer water use and recreation.

Wine country
Guest
Wine country
5 years ago
Reply to  kelley

My point is, Sonoma County is saying lots of people depend on the water from the diversion, and they need the water to help the fish. But they leave Lake Sonoma full for recreational purposes. When was the last time they closed the boat ramps at Lake Sonoma because the water is too low?

kelley
Guest
kelley
5 years ago
Reply to  Wine country

Yea, i don’tknow enough about the russian river side of the water system.
I do know that mr pinches talked about this very issue in the past.
It will probably be an element in what comes next.

Jeff Muskrat
Guest
Jeff Muskrat
5 years ago

We all know Estelle Fennel sold out her community. Put her in a hole instead of in your photos. Yup…

Dan F
Guest
Dan F
5 years ago
Reply to  Jeff Muskrat

Do you mean Estelle “Show Me the Money” Getty???

Dave Kirby
Guest
Dave Kirby
5 years ago
Reply to  Jeff Muskrat

I don’t know if thats true. Estelle is a good friend of mine. She has been dealing with a no win dilemma that has no obvious solution. Just pissing and moaning about the hassle of doing business in the current environment isn’t enough . Sit down and think about what needs to happen to make it better.

Willie Caso-Mayhem
Guest
5 years ago

🕯Good read and very informative Kelley, great job!!👍🏾

Down with Gavin
Guest
Down with Gavin
5 years ago

Jarod Huffman is a seething theif as well.when are you people gonna have enough of being ripped off, extorted,fined feed and taxed into poverty by this state and stop voting for the same theives who are stealing from all of us over and over again! !!! Wake up California

hmm
Guest
hmm
5 years ago

Fantastic journalism!

bozo
Guest
bozo
5 years ago

Yup. >>> ‘public is not represented’.

Perspective
Guest
Perspective
5 years ago

Please do not hold your breath if you think for one second that the damn will get removed or less water will get diverted. You will end up blue in the face and dead.

How about the farmers of the “high value agriculture” store water in the winter and follow a “forbearance period” in the spring and summer, just like cannabis farmers?!

How about he state follow a forbearance period and not divert Eel river water in the spring and summer?!

Mike
Guest
Mike
5 years ago
Reply to  Perspective

Because if farmers had to comply with all the bs of water storage like pot farmers lettuce would have to sell for 3,000 a pound. The states water requirements and regulations for pot are stupid but the only thing dumber than that would be wanting other areas to have to follow in suit. It physically impossible because you would need to build a dam, like scotts dam, for example to store the water. And then a couple of “environmentalists ” with a lawyer AKA friends of the eel would insist you tear it down because it fits their agenda. We are living off the investment and sweat of the WW2 generation with out investing or working for a better future for our own children. “But think of the fish” ok, then invest a fraction of the time and money in the development of a proper fish ladder.

Flintstone
Guest
Flintstone
5 years ago
Reply to  Mike

Just imagine if every farmer out there had to build their own dam to hold water. Or even just a very large pond. Many might even be on a hill. How many would actually be designed well enough to last half as long as any federal or state dam? Then what would happen to any other farmer or anyone else below those ponds or dams? Not that I’m all for dams, but, I’m not too sure about every Joe out there half-assing water storage because their supply got cut off.

shak
Guest
shak
5 years ago
Reply to  Flintstone

Hillsides would have green areas that don’t match all the brown areas?

Perspective
Guest
Perspective
5 years ago
Reply to  Mike

Point being, if I want to farm tomatoes, I have very little restrictions. For some reason, cannabis makes people crazy and impose bullshit rules that only apply to one plant species.

tm
Guest
tm
5 years ago
Reply to  Perspective

It’s not true that if you want to farm tomatoes you would have very little restrictions. The bigger picture for all industrial ag is that the days of limitless water are over, and it’s time to move on and use farming techniques suited for the Mediterranean climate that we live in. Grapes have been dry farmed in Europe for centuries. There are many drought tolerant vegetables such as kales and chards that make way more sense to grow then lettuce. Time to utilize native drought tolerant acorns instead of thirsty almonds. Grow vegetables in warehouses in inter-cities using aquaponics.

?
Guest
?
5 years ago
Reply to  Mike

Your guys are funny, making excuses for why the state of California should not have to follow their own rules.

Jeffersonian
Guest
Jeffersonian
5 years ago
Reply to  Mike

Diverting any water to another watershed is wrong.But the law has stated its a vested right. But now we are talking about endangered species so there is hope.At a minimum, all the flow should go down the Eel in the dry season when it is needed most. Stan Dixon fought for this with little success when he was supervisor. The lake behind the dam is full of trash fish. Thats another problem.in fact thats how the Eel got infested with squawfish that eat the juvenile salmonids. The existing fish ladder at Cape Horn works poorly and there isnt one at Scott dam. And I cant understand why Warm Spings gets a fish hatchery for the Russian but the Eel doesnt. No decent representation of northern interests. I dont trust Huffman or McGuire because i know where they are from and they know where the votes are. If the dams remain they should have outlets installed that allows cold water from the bottom to be released, like Ruth dam. This all takes a lot of money, other than no summer diversions. So thats our best hope at least for starters. The agricultural interests of the south are not as important as saving the Eels fish. There are other ways to conserve ,store and supply water to the Russian watershed adequate for existing use.

Spewydog
Guest
Spewydog
5 years ago
Reply to  Perspective

Damn dam.

loves the river
Guest
loves the river
5 years ago

Great reporting, Kelley! And thanks to Kym for supporting excellent, detailed journalism.
I encourage everyone who cares to come to both the Hum Supes’ meeting to hear Craig Tucker’s report, and to attend the ERRC meeting later this month.
We shouldn’t waste time lambasting Sup. Fennell or any other individual — we should address the ISSUE; tell the Supes and the ERRC what we want and why. Many people from the Eel watershed have pointed out how little opportunity for input we have in the process — it started out that way in 1908, when the impact to the Eel River watershed wasn’t even considered — and the ERRC, our only official channel of input in the process, was not formed until PG&E entered its first 50-year recertification in 1978. It’s a weak body, with no legislative or administrative authority, and is obviously dominated by Russian River interests, but let’s make as much of every opportunity as we can.

Bushytails
Guest
Bushytails
5 years ago

I’m not a climate change denier, and thus I support hydroelectric power. Regardless of water rights issues, this damn is doing its part, however small, to reduce CO2 production, reduce how much foreign oil we need to import, and generally help the planet. Far more fish will die when the water temperatures rise everywhere. Rather than trying to figure out how to remove it, we need to try to figure out where we have enough flow and head combined to build more hydroelectric power capacity.

I like stars
Guest
I like stars
5 years ago
Reply to  Bushytails

We need more head.

Bozo
Guest
Bozo
5 years ago

>” … then invest a fraction of the time and money in the development of a proper fish ladder.”

The fish ladder is probably not important.
Diversion of flows from the Eel is important… especially during low-rainfall years.

If we go back to er… ‘normal rainfall’ years… likely there is plenty of water.
If not, there is trouble.

>”How about he state follow a forbearance period and not divert Eel river water in the spring and summer?”

That is kind of a good idea. Only divert water when the rainfall/snowfall
is abundant to maintain the Eel River flow… but you know that
money & political power will go the other way.

Humboldt and Del Norte counties don’t count politically at all.

Down with Gavin
Guest
Down with Gavin
5 years ago

Huffman is a seething theif this isn’t evan the dam that diverts the water it’s 5 miles downstream past the bridge.him and McGuire arnt giving up there water deversion to the grapes.McGuire was put in office by the Napa vineyards (his family ) for the sole purpose to protect there water.big money will always crush the majority kind of like with prop 64.our representation will crush us (the voters ) if they see and smell money. That’s why it’s time to see some new faces in northern California politics.but people like being robbed I think that’s why they’ll run down and vote these clowns in again.

Just look at them wanting to turn a branch of the military loose on American citizens on American soil cuz of there lust&greed.community’s are failing but they want it all every last dime

kelley
Guest
kelley
5 years ago

Yes, The lower dam is the diversion point. Its the second dam pictured. You’ll see its much smaller. Its the upsream dam that has no fish passage and puts the eel river valley in jeopardy if it were to fail.

B.
Guest
B.
5 years ago
Reply to  kelley

The “lake” behind the lower dam (Van Arsdale) is nearly filled with silt and is very warm. Its holes are filled with pike minnow who eat tons of salmonid and other native fish. Though it is small it is quite significant in its impact.

TQM
Guest
TQM
5 years ago

Great article! It helps me to better understand this cluster-fuck. In a nutshell – here is the outcome I hope for: Remove the dam/s and allow in-situ storage where it is needed.

shak
Guest
shak
5 years ago
Reply to  TQM

Allow?
Permission for a person to contain water?
Please, officer, I just want enough for my teapot, honest.

B.
Guest
B.
5 years ago
Reply to  shak

Shak,
I’m not sure what I think about the idea, but are you claiming a human right to construct large engineering projects with heavy equipment that impound large amounts of free flowing water? Do they have to be engineered or we just do our best, and face “strict legal liability” if they fail?
Can we the people exercise this right on our public lands or just on private land?

shak
Guest
shak
5 years ago
Reply to  B.

When I responded to the post above, the post mentioned we should allow water to be contained where needed.
I have a problem with the concept of ‘allowing water where needed’.
Why don’t you?

B.
Guest
B.
5 years ago
Reply to  shak

You are misreading my questions. They are questions. I tend to like much of what you say and want to know what you think about your argument at a little deeper level.

Scale, context and process matter and have consequences. I’m seriously asking how you read those factors when it comes to a right to water containment. I tend to favor civil and criminal liability and courts where everyone can sue, and prosecute for crimes, without needing a lawyer, as the backstop for allowing us all “our freedom.” To be a level playing field we’d need to end the special rights of Limited Liability Corporate fictional persons.

TQM’s use of the word allow presupposes the current state of affairs in which we handle the questions of public impact of private acts by “regulation.” I don’t like the word allow or the current mechanisms. But I’m asking for your thoughts on the limits of our rights to create large pieces of technology that impact public well being.

As my father in law, an NRA member, sometimes says: “The Second Amendment as written includes thermonuclear weapons.” Neither he nor I wants to press that issue. Neither of us, therefore, sees ourselves as “strict constructionists” when it comes to the US Constitution.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
5 years ago
Reply to  B.

“Whiskey’s for drinkin’; water’s for fightin'”

Ponds, lakes, catchment and any other earthen constructed water storage systems should be encouraged if not impeding the watershed directly, e.g. in-stream or in-river dams (Class I and II). They should not need permitting from any of the various alphabet agencies when built on private property. Those that build them are liable for downstream damage to state or private property caused by engineering failures through civil court.

Commercial enterprises carried out by an LLC or any other contracted legal fiction need permitting.

Riparian water can be used for long term storage. All other water rights can be used as prescribed or deeded.

shak
Guest
shak
5 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

Thank you Ullr Rover, great info!

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
5 years ago
Reply to  B.

There is a middle ground… called water tanks. For instance, a riparian water right doesn’t “allow” a right holder to store water for more than a month. This makes no sense.

shak
Guest
shak
5 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

Exactly.

B.
Guest
B.
5 years ago
Reply to  shak

Yes, that regulation should be changed.

However water rights law in California tries to preserve downstream legally recognized water rights when they predate your legal assertion of your water right. So they assume the need to protect the water for a downstream dam or other use. Your riparian right is as restricted as the law can make it and still allow for your human rights.

I disagree with the restriction but it is based on the idea that commerce is the highest use of any resource (sometimes after a nod to survival rights).

kelley
Guest
kelley
5 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

Division of water rights has added Small AgricultureRegistrations which does allow for seasonal storage.
Its not perfect because it has been added in the past couple of years.
And small domestic registration has been available for a long while. This is what people would use for seasonal storage not intended for commercial cannabis cultivation.

Its all complex and def part of a regulatory framework so its a bit off topic but i thought id throw it out nonetheless.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
5 years ago
Reply to  kelley

Adding a permit to a right often means abdication of that right. Layers and layers of bureacracies, not to make things work better, rather to entrench their existence.

Brian
Guest
Brian
5 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

ULLR, water.

I need a place to research your claim and understand the why’s of it if it’s true.

Do you have a link? A state that applies to? A law, ordinance or statute that I can google?

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
5 years ago
Reply to  Brian

With regards to riparian rights?

Or the construction of earthen dams? The former is part of water board regs, and the latter is my opinion.

“Water can only be diverted under a riparian right when that water is used on land that drains back to the lake, river, stream, or creek from which the water was taken. Only the natural flow of water can be diverted under a riparian right. Water that is imported into a watershed from another river, stream, or creek cannot be used under a riparian right. Water cannot be stored during a wet time for use during a drier time under a riparian right. Neither can water released from an upstream storage reservoir be used by a downstream user under a riparian right. Because a riparian right only allows the use of natural flow, it is possible to have water available under a riparian right during wetter years or months and not during drier years or months.”

https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/board_info/faqs.html#foreignintime

Brian
Guest
Brian
5 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

Ullr,

I was asking about the 1 month time frame you described for water storage in tanks.

Doesn’t seem like that’s the case, as the only timeframe description in your citation is “wet times” to “dry times”.

But realistically anyone who has springs on their own property in Trinity, who stores the water for living purposes only, will never see any official come by for their 500-1500 gallon tank to ask, “when did you get that water”.

Alternatively if someone buys Trinity River property, and starts to bring in dredging, excavating and 2 D11s to fill his “teapot”, while cancelling out and polluting what used to be downstream river and propertu, well, you can understand why that person should be regulated, right?

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
5 years ago
Reply to  Brian

Look into it. It’s one month of storage. The water board site is very difficult to get detailed information from… intentionally I’m sure.

As for an official coming by to check your storage, they certainly will do it if they can the find the funds for the manpower… they are working on it. It is why they are mandating water meters on ALL water sources.

As for your example, there is already recourse without bureaucratic oversight for such a situation. That is why we have civil courts. If we rely on ourselves to govern ourselves, we will govern ourselves. If we rely on bureacracies to govern us, we abdicate our self-governance.

Brian
Guest
Brian
5 years ago
Reply to  Brian

I like the concept of self-governance, I can handle it.

I think you must know that most can’t.

I could give you examples of why that concept should not be an end-all to find solutions to real problems.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
5 years ago
Reply to  Brian

Brian- most of us in Trinity self-govern just fine.

To use your comment on the Hyampom road as an example:
If a private individual took it upon themselves to fix the road and failed to secure the site from potential run-off (silt fences, waddles, etc.) that person would be fined by CDFW whether there was any damage to streams or not. Not to mention fines from various bureacracies for failing to secure permits.

Brian
Guest
Brian
5 years ago
Reply to  Brian

Self-governing would mean not worrying that the road is out and fixing it when it must be, however bad or good the fix.

As we can see, many, even in outreaches of Trinity like Hyampom, are worried.

Further, the examples of egregious growsite planning in Trinity by insiders and outsiders alike, while “recycling oil” in their “landfills” that are really just mini-ex mini holes, is the tip of the iceberg as to why I welcome a smart and effective permitting process.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
5 years ago
Reply to  Brian

“Self-governing would mean not worrying that the road is out and fixing it when it must be, however bad or good the fix.” I’m a bit confused by this comment. Isn’t that the response by the county currently?

If there wasn’t a county roads department that we pay for private citizens would have already fixed this.

Your last comment has no reference so I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Brian
Guest
Brian
5 years ago
Reply to  Brian

Ullr,

Well, a county government response is not a self-governed response.

The example of how weed grows in Trinity is a prime reason why there should be regulating bodies. Not that Trinity gov. is a good example of anything.

TQM
Guest
TQM
5 years ago
Reply to  shak

Shak: It’s a resource that is part of the public commons – YES …ALLOW! Collective allowance. It’s not all yours to do what your greedy little mind wants to do with it. And to the rest of you proud anti-regulation people who think they know how the world works – get your heads out of the clouds. Regulation is a must – too many greedy little bastards out there who will ruin everything for everybody – as evidenced by several examples that we all have to deal with in 2019.

shak
Guest
shak
5 years ago
Reply to  TQM

As far as I know, tqm, we don’t need a permit or regulations to fill a teapot, and I do aim to help the living keep it that way. It’s sad that you feel we need one, but that’s your choice to feel the way you feel, just like it’s mine to feel the way I feel. That’s what makes America great. Have a nice day.

J Stote
Guest
J Stote
5 years ago

This article is journalism at it’s best. It’s well written, in depth and balanced. And informed citizenry is the foundation of democracy and articles like this help make that possible.

Central HumCo
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  J Stote

~demon-ocracy is suicidal. The united States of America is a REPUBLIC. Sheesh!

Eel River Valley Res
Guest
Eel River Valley Res
5 years ago

I commend Kym and Kelley for this piece and the continuing coverage. Good job!

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

kelley
Guest
kelley
5 years ago

Thank you, we are glad to be able to do this.
This piece does not address Tribal interests.
Hopefully in the next year we can get a piece out that looks at water rights and Tribal interests rooted in a priori water rights.

Big Bang
Guest
5 years ago

Eel Russian River, are you fucking kidding me? They are two separate watercourses, with the Russian being horribly mismanaged and the only thing holding the Sonoma Marin Water “Agency” together is, was, and will be, the RAPE of The Mighty Eel! Fuck those dam’s! Anybody that says they don’t have a significant impact on a watershed, I say this, ” We have tried it your way for the last 100 years or so, and it has failed miserably, lets try it my way for the next 100!” Don’t ever listen to any politician’s words, turn off the volume, and watch what they do…
The people that are responsible for fucking up both rivers are shitting their dress right now, and I love it!

Kath
Guest
5 years ago

Howdy
Thank you for all the leg work in putting this article together- it’s a long running complicated mess.

Further downhill from the dam is Lake County…I have no clue as to how this will affect the ongoing excess nutrients into Clear Lake.

Glad someone brought up the issue of Sonoma Co. draining Mendo Lake. CA is still in a drought cycle/ drier period (50-100 yrs periods) and a few wet years here and there aren’t going to change that. Increasingly hotter summers and milder winters are here to stay.

Also wondering if SoCal $$$ is gonna game this into another water grab (buying the contract from PG&E)?!

Keeping track of post fire related info and insight at https://www.facebook.com/norcalrecovery707/
Also posting this article there for reference. There’s articles on chaparral management, forest management, TEK (Traditional Environmental Knowlege), changes in firefighting methods, fire hardening your property, WATERSHEDs, etc.
You can see my current pages on FB – kathologist

kelley
Guest
kelley
5 years ago
Reply to  Kath

The Potter Valley Project will have no impact on Clear Lake. They are quite far apart.

Robyn
Guest
Robyn
5 years ago

And what’s to happen to the residents of Pillsbury? There are a couple that really depend on the the business the lake brings to survive. Do the residents not matter? Does the life long business built not matter?

J
Guest
J
5 years ago

What caused the fall of the Eel River

To understand why the river is in the shape it is now you can’t just look at recent happenings but you have to go back through history to get a glimpse of what it was like before the dams and diversion to realize what has happened.
On September of 1888 Jeremiah Curtin writings give a glimpse into the past of the river before the dam construction began.
“ While traveling south from Blocksburg we passed through a fire in progress: “Leaving the fire region early in the morning, we reached Eel river at midday. It was hot in the ravine, and the water covered with green slime looked so unwholesome that We decided to climb the mountain straight ahead of us.” This paints a picture of a river that may not have been as deep and flowing as one might think it would have been.
Now Let’s fast forward a little to Early 1900’s.
The RR construction had a largely unknown but very significant impact on the river,as Ray Mathison shared in “The History of Alderpoint”.
This is his words, “As they started building the railway along the Eel River in 1906, all the rocks and ruble were pushed over the bank. This was the beginning of the destruction of the river. This also was the beginning of the end of the Big Salmon Runs on the Eel.” As the railroad was being built along the Eel River canyon there where many, very large landslides that started happening. The debris from these were also shoved into the river.

An article from the Humboldt Times 1910, report an immense blast that was part of the construction of the RR line to the east of Holmes with the subtitle “Hundreds of Tons of Earth Thrown into Eel River”.
Then they blew out the falls near Kikawaka slide for the railroad, this, over a period of years let a lot of mountain slide into the river.
Most of this material was put into the Eel River in the wintertime when the river was high and It then was carried down river where it was then deposited into the Eel River. The ruble and debris began to slowly choke the flow of water. It was not to many years after the ships could no longer run up river as far as Scotia. By the time the railroad was completed in 1914 a tremendous amount of material had been pushed into the Eel River.

In 1921 when Scott damn was completed, it was found the dam was able to help mitigate the flow of water helping to regulate the flow of an already stressed river.

After all of this, then there was a few dry years in the early thirties. This caused the big salmon to congregate in the lower part of the Eel River. There were so many of them and with the water being so low, they quickly ran out of oxygen and died by the thousands.
Mr. Mathieson describes how when he moved back to Alderpoint in 1940, the largest salmon were gone. Fall runs still brought a salmon run but no more of the six-footers he remembered.
By the 1940’s fall rains began coming later and later, and now the railroad had bulldozers shoving material over the banks even faster. They where filling in a lot of the big waterholes, particularly in the lowest part of the river.
Despite warnings about the RR being placed below the historic flood levels of 1885, 1909, and 1935, RR equipment was left on the tracks. Then the floods of 1955 and 1964 came and did a tremendous amount of damage.Mr. Mathierson recounts , “After the 1964 flood when they rebuilt the RR they blew up most of the big rocks that where in the river (I’ll never understand why) completely ruining most of the fishing holes.

The holes that are left have been filled to where they are only about 1/3 of the original size. (as of 1998) I have a picture of one of these holes taken in 1913; it had three big rocks. Now it has no big rocks and is completely in ruins. This was a hole where salmon and steelhead used to school up and rest before going on up the river”.
He goes on to report casual use of bulldozers by unsupervised RR workers and a look the other way attitude by Fish and Game. Mr. Mathierson ” I asked the Fish and Game men in 1975 why they allowed this river to be destroyed, they claimed to know nothing about it, and I told them they surely did know. That ended the conversation.”

Quote from JS-“I travel the river all the time and live just above Scott dam.
Above the dam by June the river and creeks are already drying up (as they do every year). Without Scott dam that would equal zero habitat for the fish and a dry river by the end of August.
It feels as if everyone over looks the point and It seems that none of the people are actually informed or know what has happened and is happening to the river.

Please don’t just take people at their word, do the research and educate yourself seek the truth before making decisions on topics that you’ve only heard one side of the story.”

shak
Guest
shak
5 years ago
Reply to  J

Thanks for the history on this! Rockefeller was quite active wasn’t he. I think there’s even a grove named after him. I’ll have to cruise the net for the info on that, now that I’m reinspired to learn more. (I have Squirrel! syndrome). Most importantly, I hope we can get the river dredged and back to par and stop blaming our lovely neighbors who just want to be left alone to grow their own veggies and animals.
If there was a notification bell to alert me for new posts by you, I’d subscribe for sure. I hope you’ll share more in the future.

Walt
Guest
Walt
5 years ago

What about flood control ?

Wouldn’t the Eel run dry with our current climate in most summers ? How Will that work out for the fish and wildlife ?

What about the wildlife that currently depend on lake Pillsbury ?

What about all of the people that depend on that water ?

beel
Guest
beel
5 years ago

Hey Kelley, great journalism. Would you please link to the reports that you mention in the third paragraph, especially the ones about habitat quality above Lake Pillsbury. If one tenth of the entire Eel River Basin lies above the dam and contains relatively high quality habitat, then restoring fish access seems like an important part of any kind of “solution”.