Fish Fight: Two New Developments in the Ongoing Damming of the Eel Via the Potter Valley Hydropower Project
Van Arsdale Fisheries Station in Potter Valley, California. [Credit: John Heil/USFWS]
In a separate filing, PG&E argued that it should be allowed to continue operating the project under the biological protections that were attached to the license when it was issued in 2002.
The 100-year-old project consists of two dams and two reservoirs that impound water on the Eel River; and a diversion tunnel that sends Eel River water into the East Fork of the Russian River, eventually making up the majority of Lake Mendocino. At its height, the project was capable of generating 9.4 megawatts of power, but it’s not currently producing power due to a broken transformer. The project provides water that’s key to agriculture in the Russian River and has long been a hot-button issue for environmental organizations that argue it harms endangered fish in the Eel.
On Monday, PG&E submitted a four-page proposal for a two-and-a-half-year timeline to surrender the license and decommission the project. The bulk of that time will be devoted to interacting with agencies and stakeholders as PG&E drafts more detailed documents. Environmentalists are pushing for a speedy removal of both dams. But PG&E spokeswoman Deanna Contreras said in an email, that “We expect it will take many years following PG&E’s submittal to FERC for a Decommissioning Order to be issued.” She added that PG&E still plans to replace the broken transformer, expecting it to amortize over a period of five years. Replacing the part could take up to two years.
Water-using stakeholders include the Potter Valley Irrigation District, which has contractual rights to some of the water, and the City of Ukiah, which has pre-1914 rights to water further down the East Fork, before it flows into Lake Mendocino. The Sonoma County Water Agency claims the bulk of the water in Lake Mendocino. The Russian River Flood Control and Water Conservation Improvement District also has water rights to the lake, and sells wholesale water in Mendocino County. All these interests are currently in suspense about whether or not PG&E will be allowed to drastically reduce the water flowing through the diversion tunnel. PG&E has stated that one of its reasons for asking FERC to allow it to cut down on the flows is to preserve a cold-water pool for young salmonids in the Eel River.
But it’s not just environmental advocacy organizations that are concerned about the project’s impact on wildlife and the environment. Back in 2002, the National Marine Fisheries Service, or NMFS, wrote a Biological Opinion, laying out the measures that PG&E needed to take in order to comply with the Endangered Species Act. That opinion was incorporated into the license that was issued at that time, and which expired three months ago.
In March of this year, NMFS wrote a letter to FERC, saying that the project was causing take, or killing and harming fish that are listed under the Endangered Species Act, “in a manner not anticipated in the Opinion and from activities not described in the Opinion.” The letter goes on to say that the fish passage facility at Cape Horn Dam has not undergone the proper consultations regarding endangered species, and that none of the operations at the facility are covered in the 20-year-old opinion. NMFS wants to re-open consultations about the license in order to update and strengthen the environmental protection measures. This means that the license for the project would be undergoing amendments at the same time that it is being surrendered.
Within a few weeks of the NMFS letter, environmental advocates filed a notice of intent to sue PG&E under the Endangered Species Act, citing among other things that the fishway at Cape Horn Dam made the fish easy prey for river otters.
In a 16-page letter to FERC, PG&E wrote that NMFS doesn’t have evidence to back up its claims. PG&E also protested that NMFS failed to mention “any of the voluminous monitoring record covered by over 20 years of monitoring Project operations.”
Redgie Collins is the legal and policy director for California Trout, one of the organizations arguing that PG&E is in violation of the Endangered Species Act. He believes the biological opinion expired along with the license, and that it needs to be updated. CalTrout is threatening litigation as part of a pressure campaign to speed up dam removal and install other structures that will enable a winter diversion from the Eel to the Russian. Collins is inspired by plans to remove four hydropower dams from the Klamath River, which is scheduled to start next year. “It took them about 18 years to get to the point of the surrender process,” he said. “And once it kick-started there, the writing was on the wall for the eventual solution, which was worked on by a host of stakeholders, including tribal nations. Here we have a very similar path, and so we’re hoping that they use the existing information that we’ve put forth, and the removal plan, and try to beat that 30-month window. That’s our goal. It will never be quick enough for us.”
The Round Valley Indian Tribes have weighed in on the NMFS request to amend the license, saying the tribes support all the protective measures proposed by the service. The tribes are one of the few entities PG&E notified of its intent to reduce flows coming through the project, much to the chagrin of the Russian River water users, who argued that PG&E should have assembled a full drought working group before asking FERC to sign off on the reduction, or variance.
Collins says PG&E could have cut down the flows any time, without waiting around on FERC. “If they truly wanted to save listed species, they would have implemented the variance,” he said. “That cold pool will be functionally gone in a short period of time. We think just a matter of weeks that cold pool will be drained based on the variance not being implemented.”
With ag users writing angry letters pleading for more water and environmentalists threatening lawsuits, one thing is clear: the initial outreach to stakeholders is not going well. And the decommissioning process hasn’t gotten started yet.
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Kudos to Sara Reith for a very well-written article!
Also,
“We expect it will take many years following PG&E’s submittal to FERC for a Decommissioning Order to be issued.”
It ain’t over ’til Hayduke has his say!
In related news (re: Snake River, WA)
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/white-house-salmon-dams-removed-86666032
Whiskeys for drinking and waters is for fighting. Victories in dam removal are like trying to shoot smoke. Even if they are removed larger structures will replace them in the future. We may see a 100 million people die of starvation worldwide in the next 18 months. We are in a dought our precipitation comes in the winter not the summer so if we want to survive the dry period we have to store water. We spend billions to placate the environmental fringe groups and tribes but the political pendulum can swing both ways and at some point we will make america great and that involves producing and creating things like dams and the crops they produce. Your victories today will be washed away tomorrow.
“We may see 100 million people die of starvation in the next 18 months”?! What are you talking about? Potter Valley uses most of the water they steal from the Eel to flood irrigate grass for cows and horses. The rest of the water is used for wine grapes in the Russian. That ain’t feeding anyone. This isn’t about food, it’s about rich winegrowers continuing to get free water so they can make more money per pound off their grapes. Fun fact: people also eat salmon and a bunch of blue collar fishermen are out of work on the coast because the wine industry like to pretend they’re feeding American, it’s bullshit
I live in Potter Valley and we grow food cattle fruit grapes hay for feed etc… you would be surprised how little water is being diverted. I think we have overfished the oceans and our demands are larger then the reality of what is available! I also think that 100 years of toxic build up is behind that dam and it will be a superfund site! I think California should save water for food production. I also think with all the technology we could suffice both! You would also be shocked by the percentage taken to make lake pillsbury. The solution is not easy but with fires and droughts I know that water has saved the forest. I believe we need to plan for fish, food and the climate that is changing. What did all that logging and pot growing do to the eel? How is Humboldt trying to clean and make deep cool holes for the salmon?
Actually we pay for the water! Only a tiny percentage is diverted!
I like! I agree. PGE makes green energy. Potter Valley makes pot, wine, pears. PGE is in the middle. Potter Valley Irrigation district and Sonoma county have power over pge. Look at PID’s budget. They have big money in the bank for a small district. Lots of politics, not pge.
I could see this argument if the price to the farmer were the actual cost of acquiring water. Also, I don’t feel that growing grapes is all that beneficial to preventing worldwide hunger! When you see farmers growing crops such as almonds, rice, and cotton, in basically a desert, you can not convince me that building dams to provide these folks cheap water is to my or mankind’s benefit. Call we part of the environmental fringe if you want, but I try to look at these things from a basic economic viewpoint.
Cows are food the cow calf pairs do use flood irrigation they have much lower death rates its easier for them to raise the young but steers from such cow calf pairs can be trucked to dry areas unsuitable for other agriculture. Sod irrigated by flood irrigation also build soil. Something that is lost in row cropping. I myself grew up on a flood irrigated ranch. Its environmentally sustainable and produces food for Americans by Americans. The water is provided with government funds yes but it more than repays itself from tax revenue. We can’t all be G-men living off the government tit and having a working water infrastructure to facilate private enterprise and not try to turn the entire north state into a private park is a worthwhile use of public funds. As for the fishermen I was a fisherman. I feel for them but real talk buddy the salmon ain’t coming back and even if they were 2/3 of the fishermen would be redundant from automation and newer more capital intensive boats. They are a relic of a time before global warming they can adapt or cry about the past that’s worked great for the native tribes in their insatiatiable appetite for funds to pay tribal salaries for god knows what. The grapes are being grown with the water in the future that land could produce food. It’s in production at least and you want to change that so you in my book are the environmental fringe.
BULLSHIT. Farmers should pay the same price for water that we do.
No form of beef is sutainable when it is exported around the globe.
Sustainable is spelled with an S
Brent’s got his economics sorted just fine, welfare for farmers and no one else. Be a libertarian until you need a hand out.
The Central Valley that grows almonds uses a lot of water! Oprah Winfrey’s almond farm has consumed a aquifer!
You are hilarious. Look only to Lakes Mead & Powell to get a glimpse of what the future looks like for dams. If anyone cared about starving millions we would have acted on the issue of climate catastrophe decades ago. NO ONE (who counts) CARES
Great points. In a climate like ours, with rainy winters and dry summers, we have to catch and store water in winter. This approach also generates the cleanest and safest energy: hydroelectric energy. It also helps control flooding in winter, provides drinking water for animals during summer and water recreation for people in summer.
I would prefer Eel river water not be diverted to Russian River.
It comes down to a conflict between Neolithic era type hunter gatherers vs modern agriculture. California has encouraged massive (mostly illegal) immigration so that Ca. population is now over 40 million. You don’t feed 40 million people in Ca. with hunter gatherer technology, you have to use farms and store water for those farms in winter.
This dam/diversion doesn’t feed anyone but cows and addiction. You can’t call it “clean” energy if it harms salmon and their ecosystems.
The Eel dams do almost nothing for flood control and don’t generate any electricity now that the powerhouse is broken. They’re also 100 year old so not exactly safe energy if you live downstream of them and they fail. They exist for one reason and one reason only, to send Eel River water to Russian river grape growers.
California does not produce the staggering and destructive amount of ag products that we do in order to feed Californians. You dont have a vaild point until we end the massive export of ag products.
less people south of here would be a good start.
If you cut off their water supply, they’ll just move up here. No thanks.
Nah, they would remove thier lawns and golf course and stop allowing multi-millionaires to destroy our environment by exporting ag products all over the Earth first. And many woud move to other states.
Save the Dam.. 100 years of sediment will choke the Eel for decades. The flow from the main stem above Pillsbury is minuscule to the larger Middle fork drainage of the Yolla Bolly watershed. The damage to the salmon in the Russian River Watershed and damage to Communitys and Economys built on a century of water rights should be taken into consideration. The arguments used for Scott Dam removal would apply to all Ca Dams in regard to fish population. Sometimes Populous movements in search of tribe can narrow ones vision…
This will not harm salmon in the Russian and not all water is created equal. This dam blocks miles of critical cold water habitat for ESA-listed coho, Chinook, steelhead, and lamprey.
We can deal with the sediment now, when it’s manageable and controllable, or wait till the dams fail catastrophically. Dams don’t last forever, especially ones build on top of earthquake faults by people 100 years ago. The Russian river is over allocated and people there need to stop robbing Peter to pay Paul. Russian river water users have zero “right” to take Eel River water, but they’re happy to have it as long as they don’t have to pay for it or watch their ecosystem be ruined by dams. Time for the dams to go and the Russian to better manage their own water supply.
PGE should be forced to clean up the sediment.
You should start storing water somewhere else starting now. Stop building more houses untill you figure it out.
We dont need more houses anyway, the housing shortage is manufatured by the practice of land-lording.
Actually, using a rapid removal approach, elevated suspended sediment levels throughout the watershed are estimated to last about 4 days.
There’s TONS of great information like this in the many studies that have been done over the last several years evaluating options for fish passage, dam removal, hydrology, water supply, etc. You can find these studies at pottervalleyproject.org.
4 days that study is bullcrap. In theorizes ideal conditions nothing in nature is ideal and theres no way 35-40 ft of sediment is disappearing in 4 days.
PG&E….The evil empire…….
Agree with seven arrows. 100 years of mercury laced sediment polluting downstream plus the introduction of the invasive pikeminnow would not be healthy for the rest of the river.
Anyone ever been to the headwaters above pillsbury? Nice country, but dry like the rest of california. I don’t think it will contribute much if at all to the overall flow of the river if the dam is removed.
No one likes wine growers, but the regions economy and habitability is built on our water infastructure, lake mendo would dry up without the potter valley project.
That sediment is coming downs stream one way or the other. Dams do not last forever. Other dam removals indicate that it will not be a problem and that dam removal will dramatically improve the health of the ecosystem.
Pike minnow cannot survive in the colder waters of the upper sections, that is one of the reason that opening this habitat will benefit native fish.
Any place where habitability is based on environmental destruction we should correct that. Sounds like “lake” Mendocino is actually a reservoir and should not exist anyway.
You know what really pollutes the river is everyone driving their speedboats in the lake. Someone really ought to stop letting people dump gas and oil into the lake.
The oxygenants in CA’s Summer gas formula is the primary culprit, as was noted by Tahoe residents when that formerly clear lake clouded over and they could no longer see a 50-cent coin dropped 50′ to the bottom of the lake.
Thankfully the sediment is not laced with mercury! The Coastal Commission had a study done by Geosyntec two years ago that evaluated the physical and chemical makeup of sediment in both reservoirs and found it was generally not contaminated. However, the methylated mercury that naturally develops in the anaerobic conditions in the reservoir does contaminate organic matter, like the fish for example.
Don’t ever eat fish caught in Lake Pillsbury Reservoir!
And, for what its worth, invasive pikeminnow have already moved throughout the entire watershed. But removing the reservoir would remove ideal conditions for both pikeminnow and continued accumulation of mercury.
One of the feasibility studies commissioned by the two basin partners (that’s Sonoma Water, Mendo Inland Water and Power, Round Valley Tribes, CalTrout, and Humboldt County) outlined a potential process for dam removal that would see sediment downstream through the watershed and estimated only 4 days of elevated suspended sediment levels.
You can find these studies at pottervalleyproject.org
These studies you speak of are paid for by organizations that employ consultants who must produce script that reflects the positions of those that write the checks.. I could find Consultants willing to espouse my views for a paycheck.. It is a reach to believe 100 years of sediment will flush to the ocean in 4 days..
Residing in Mendo for 70 years I cut my teeth exploring these watersheds from Mt Linn to Snow Mtn. The flow of the main stem entering Pillsbury is marginal. The largest contributor of Cold Pool water melts off the slopes of Black Butte,(7000′),Hammerhorn, Leach Mtn, Sugarloaf, Solomon, and Anthony Peaks into the powerful Middle Fork. The amount of water gained by Dam removal is overstated. We should invest in retrofitting the Dam, Fish ladders, and expanding the Hydroelectric.. moving away from fossil fuels. Those who simply blame grape growers are living in the folly of youth. Communitys and Economys have been built over the past 100 yrs along the Russian river, and most are not growing grapes.
Remember when the Eel dried up by Fortuna and everyone tried to blame the pot growers. But at the same time there was a 25 cubic feet per second diversion heading into the PGE power plant?
The amount of habitat to be gained by dam removal is tremendous. And if the total amount of diversion is not significant, then you southerners can live without it.
100 years is NOTHING. Only a fool would base an argument on tradition.
You can always offer to pay for the water, we haven’t heard an offer? We have water and Mendo has money.
If there is no water above the dams why are they worth keeping?
It’s not so much the water to be gained, it is the spawning grounds…
PG&E needs to be held accountable for being in violation of the Endangered Species Act. Let’s speak up for and protect our threatened native fish!
PG&E doesn’t want this project anymore, with its 2 dams, reservoirs and diversion and hydro plant anymore. They’re done with it, having had it since ~1928. And, since it is a money-losing hydro project, they’ve had it with the PVP.
The dams are 100 years old (Scott Dam) and 114 years old. Neither one meets modern dam safety and operational requirements. Both impair and block fish passage upstream.
Scott Dam is currently undergoing a multi-year safety investigation by the California Division of Safety of Dams. Scott Dam was built on a still-moving deep landslide, squeezing the dam and likely pushing up the middle of the dam. It’s very close to the the Bartlett Springs Fault, capable of producing a 7.0 earthquake. You wanna buy this dam?
No one – repeat, NO ONE – is willing to pony up the several hundred million dollars to attempt to correct the safety and operational problems for the dams. Not PG&E. Not Russian River water recipients. Not Lake County or L. Pillsbury homeowners. Not Mendocino County water agencies. Not Potter Valley Irrigation District. Not Sonoma County Water Agency. Not PG&E ratepayers.
That’s why the PVP will be decommissioned and removed, including Lake Pillsbury.
So – Lake County, it’s time to come up with a new, modern and forward-looking recreational and economic plan for the region. It’s ripe for planning the next 50 years of recreation – fishing, hunting, swimming, retreats, hiking, camping and other activities that will invite people to enjoy this amazing headwaters of the Eel River treasures.
We have enough parks we need land and water exactly what your talking about taking away. Safety concerns sound bogus theres not that much water behind it or populated areas below it PGE exists under federal and state oversight it has zero issues managing the dam it worries about lawsuits from the environmental fringe elements.
It comes down to a conflict between Neolithic era type hunter gatherers vs modern agriculture. California has encouraged massive (mostly illegal) immigration so that Ca. population is now over 40 million. You don’t feed 40 million people in Ca. with hunter gatherer technology, you have to use farms and store water for those farms in winter.
We agree on one thing. The environment would be much healthier not supporting a huge illegal population in California.
Those who care about salmon and EelRiver should not allow this to go the way of the Klamath Dams. If we had staye3d in the FERC process those Klamath dams would have been out a decade ago. If Cal Trout and FOE are smart, they will stay in the FERC process and pressure FERC to meet staturary deadlines for making a decision on the license surrender and decommissioning. Anything else will just delay the dam removal and the salmon will become more endangered in the meantime.
NO SPECIAL DEALS FOR AG OR ANYONE ELSE.