Humboldt Approves Agreement as End of Potter Valley Project Nears

Cape Horn Dam [Photo from waterboards.ca.gov]

After decades of contention, PG&E’s Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project is being decommissioned and removal of Eel River dams will be done in accord with an agreement that Humboldt County supervisors – in some cases reluctantly – have approved.

The end phase of the Potter Valley Project is proceeding and Humboldt’s Board of Supervisors signed on to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between involved agencies, counties, tribes and environmental non-profits at the Feb. 11 Board of Supervisors meeting.

Also part of the pact is a new joint powers authority, the Eel-Russian Project Authority (ERPA), which will build, operate and maintain a new facility diverting Eel River water to Mendocino and Sonoma Counties.

Hank Seemann. Humboldt’s deputy director of public works, summarized what’s happening.

He said PG&E is decommissioning the Potter Valley project and released a draft plan for public comment on it earlier this month.

A “final surrender application” will be submitted along with a decommissioning plan to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in July.

The plan’s most notable elements will take time to complete.

“There’s still significant engineering consultation and permitting before dam removal will start,” Seemann said. “So that’s still a few years out.”

It’s a historic change but some contentious aspects – like water diversion – will continue.

“This hydroelectric project has diverted water from the Eel River to the Russian River for over 100 years,” said Seemann. “And water diversions are an important component of the water supply in the Russian River basin.”
The Sonoma County Water Agency and the Mendocino Inland Water and Power Commission are proposing to “continue water diversions through the tunnel of the project” but it will be done “in a way that is compatible with protection of the river and recovery of fisheries,” Seemann told supervisors.

Over the last year-and-a-half, involved parties have been in negotiations on how diversion will be managed, leading to the MOU.

Signing onto the pact are Humboldt County, the ERPA, Sonoma and Mendocino water agencies, the Round Valley tribes, CalTrout, Trout Unlimited and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

During a public comment period, representatives of environmental groups, tribes, Congressman Jared Huffman and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations voiced support for the agreement.

“In large part, thanks to your effort, the conversation shifted from negotiating for a deal that would do no harm to the Eel, to one that seeks to generate real benefits for the river and secures long-term investment in restoration,” said Alicia Hamann, executive director of Friends of the Eel River. “We appreciate that this deal disarms opponents of dam removal and commits critical stakeholders to supporting dam removal in a timely fashion.”

She also emphasized “the significant step forward toward restorative justice that this deal presents,” with its assurance that the Round Valley Tribes will have “controlling interest in the future of the river.”

Under the MOU, the tribes will be paid $1 million a year for water rights and up to $1 million annually for river restoration.

The water diversion has numerous conditions, including reduction or forbearance during spring and summer months in dry years.

The public comment period also included some skepticism and outright opposition to the plan. There are fears that political tides will turn and the scale of water diversion will increase.

Supervisors share the doubts to some degree.

“The ecologically-informed diversion that we’ve been hearing about that is informed by the hydrologic study and modeling could be trumped by other possible outcomes and I’m really fundamentally concerned about that,” said Supervisor Natalie Arroyo.

But she added the MOU is “our best shot at having a say in steering the restoration funding” and is “a way of mitigating some of the harms.”

Arroyo wants to see “an intent expressed very clearly to work towards self-sufficiency within each watershed.”

Supervisor Mike Wilson agreed and emphasized that Humboldt’s position is and always has been that the Eel River dams should be removed and there should be no water diversion.

Before the Board’s unanimous approval of the MOU, Board Chair Michelle Bushnell agreed with those who have concerns but described the planned river restoration as “a starting point.”