SFGATE
Matt LaFever - May 29, 2025
“PG&E admits tearing down the Potter Valley Project could rattle the Russian River watershed. In its draft plan, the utility warns of “unavoidable adverse impacts” to water reliability, farming and recreation once diversions stop flowing into the east branch.”
UNWON - Keely Covello
May 16,2025
Lake County News - Elizabeth Larsen
May 19, 2025
The Lake County Chamber of Commerce will host the town hall from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 28, at the Soper Reese Theater, 275 S. Main St., Lakeport.
Everyone concerned about the future of Lake Pillsbury and the decommissioning of the dams — from residents to business owners — is encouraged to attend.
Press Democrat - Amie Windsor
April 29, 2025
“Federal government intervention is seen as a last resort for residents who oppose the proposed decommissioning and new water diversion facility to be built as Scott and Cape Horn dams are to be torn down.”
“Decommissioning of the dam would put regional agriculture, fire protection, water availability, and our tourism economy at great risk.”
Photo Credit-Walt Leonard
“We ask the Trump Administration to intervene and prevent FERC from approving PG&E’s
decommissioning plan until a long-term solution is secured. We urge the Bureau of
Reclamation to assume ownership and responsibility for the PVP.”
Photo credit-Mike Nelson
The Potter Valley Project is a 100-year old Northern California dam system that provides water for 600,000 residents from Potter Valley to Novato. In a story the media has completely overlooked, this critical water infrastructure is slated for destruction under Gavin Newsom’s administration.
As Governor Newsom fights a PR war to combat President Trump’s accusations over the state’s water mismanagement in the wake of the horrific LA fires, this story has gone ignored. There has been zero media coverage of the dam system scheduled for tear down in one of the counties most at-risk for drought impact and wildfire.
California voters designated $7.5 billion for new water infrastructure back in 2014. No major projects have been built. The Infrastructure Improvement Act specifically designated $50 billion to water infrastructure. Officials have not applied for this funding. Instead, Newsom’s administration is set to green light the destruction of existing infrastructure, spending an estimated $500 million to take down multiple dams on the Eel River.
“It’s incomprehensible to the average voter that the state of California would work against their interests,” says Chris Coulombe, a leader in the fight to protect the dams. “But how many more examples do you need?”
The Potter Valley Project diverts water from the Eel River through the Potter Valley tunnel to the Russian River. The project includes a hydroelectric plant and two dams: Scott Dam/Lake Pillsbury and Cape Horn Dam/Van Arsdale Reservoir.
Map of the Potter Valley Project. By Shannon1 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) owns and operates the Potter Valley Project. In 2019, PG&E announced they would not be renewing their license with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), claiming the project is unprofitable and requires maintenance. PG&E officially sought to decommission and destroy both dams.
For years, special interest groups have lobbied politicians to “free the river” and “restore fish habitat” by destroying these dams.
Instead of seeking funding to restore the project, officials now appear set on spending hundreds of millions of dollars to destroy the dams, ending the water supply for these fire-prone rural communities.
Coulombe says he hopes President Trump, who has put California water in the spotlight his first week in office, will step in. “The best solution I see in the immediate is for President Trump to put a moratorium on all dam and water storage removal in until these water supply issues are solved. If we we don’t stop this, if we lose these dams, it’s irreversible.”
Prior to the construction of these dams, towns in the Humboldt Bay region frequently suffered severe flooding. The dams ended this flood cycle for communities on the Eel and Russian Rivers.
The project serves agricultural communities in Marin, Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino counties. Lake Pillsbury and Lake Mendocino are beloved recreational sites for these rural, working class communities, while also serving as a critical water resource for regional firefighting efforts in an area embattled in recent years by multiple large-scale wildfires.
While community members scramble to come up with a solution for water diversion, time and time again these efforts have failed, and the march toward decommissioning continues. FERC has approved a draft of PG&E’s decommissioning plan. PG&E is expected to file its final surrender application and decommissioning plan by early to mid-2025.
According to the Save Lake Pillsbury website, “Unless an agency or entity steps up to take over the Potter Valley Project, it is very likely that both dams will be removed and a water supply resource that has served our region for over 100 years will be gone. If Scott Dam is removed, Lake Pillsbury will vanish forever.”
Instead of fighting for the water supply and quality of life of his constituents, Congressman Jared Huffman, the Democrat who represents the region and a former attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), appears complicit. In an article posted to his website, Huffman made his priorities clear: “There will be fish-friendly diversions.”
He boasted: “PG&E is trying to get out from under this project as quickly and as cheaply as possible—but it’s not going to be fast, and it’s not going to be cheap.”
Huffman seems to think this statement should be comforting for citizens. It is not. Whether through higher energy prices or their tax dollars, ultimately citizens will foot the bill for destroying their own water supply, and their community with it.
Meanwhile, Huffman continues to receive thousands of dollars from PG&E in political donations every year. Newsom receives millions.
PG&E, which is a state-regulated company, has been found liable for thousands of fires in Northern California caused by poorly-maintained equipment. The company has failed to pay fire victims, even as executives gift themselves large bonuses and maintain a steady stream of generous political donations.
“PG&E is not really a private company—the governor approves their board whether they want to admit that publicly or not,” says Coulombe, who ran against Huffman in 2024. “They play it both ways. When it comes to paying fire victims, they get to dodge liability in a way that a government agency never could. They declared bankruptcy to avoid paying victims, even though they make $2.1 billion in profit a quarter.”
MendoFever - December 17, 2024
Last month, the Mendocino County Inland Power and Water Commission held a Town Hall meeting in Potter Valley to engage and inform residents about water storage solutions in light of the impending loss of Scott Dam and Lake Pillsbury. Much of the meeting was technical talk by water engineers. During the public comment portion of the meeting, Potter Valley resident Hannah Foster stood up and voiced her frustration about the loss of Lake Pillsbury, a beloved local recreation spot. “Hi everyone, I don’t have a question. I have Save Lake Pillsbury hats for sale. Love you, Potter Valley, f—k you, PG&E!”
For Foster, whose family has lived in Potter Valley for 6 generations, the loss of Lake Pillsbury is personal. Foster’s grandfather worked for the US Forest Service at Lake Pillsbury, and her family has vacationed there for generations. The lake is a resource for firefighters. Her extended family lives in Upper Lake, Covelo, and Potter Valley. She has spent most of every summer at Lake Pillsbury. “I don’t know any other home,” said Foster.
Foster acknowledges that the Scott and Cape Horn Dams, and the Potter Valley Project, which diverts Eel River water through a tunnel into Potter Valley, would probably not be constructed today. This system of hydroelectric power generation and water delivery has been in place for more than a century and serves over half a million people. PG&E says that Scott and Cape Horn Dam are not up to today’s seismic standards and that it is not economically feasible to repair the hydroelectric power generating equipment. PG&E has petitioned the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permission to surrender the project. No buyers came forward to take the Potter Valley Project off PG&E’s hands. The Eel River water users, fisheries groups, and others, want the dams removed.
Sonoma and Mendocino County water agencies are in the process of negotiating with PG&E, and designing and funding a new seasonal diversion to be used in the rainy season once the dams are gone. There are estimates of how much water will come through the tunnel in the seasonal diversion, but nobody knows, as it hasn’t yet been built.
This means that Lake Pillsbury will be gone forever. Foster feels that PG&E is not concerned with what will happen to Potter Valley and the communities surrounding Lake Pillsbury.
Foster said, “We heard whispers of PG&E’s plan to decommission Scott Dam about 8 years ago, but PG&E did not engage with people in Potter Valley. There was closed-door decision-making happening.” In 2020 she heard more about the decommissioning plans, which over the years began to solidify. This triggered Foster to do something.
What about the Mendocino Inland Power and Water Commission and the Potter Valley Irrigation District, which have been discussing PG&E’s plans in their regular board meetings? Those meetings are open to the public, and meeting minutes are available on their websites. (Here is a link to the MCIWPC meetings web page.) Foster says people are busy. “There is no way for citizens to engage. The talks happen in back rooms, led by bureaucrats. There is no way for the average person to say, ‘Hey, please stop this!’”
The decline of local news coverage from traditional newspapers can be blamed for people’s feelings of being uninformed. News reporting is transitioning from newspapers to online media sites. The local papers that are still in business do not provide the level of in-depth reporting as in years past. Many people don’t know how to find online news, and don’t know which sites are trustworthy.
Foster explained her decision to start selling “Save Lake Pillsbury” merch. “There aren’t a lot of opportunities for the average person to do anything to try and help save the lake. I’ve commented to FERC, I’ve shared on social media, I’ve written/tagged my representatives. I decided that since the people who are really trying to wash their hands of the dam are the ones I was being asked to send comments to, I’d try and support a group doing the work to fight removal instead. I figured generating awareness was a way I could help, in a form that was funny and familiar. I started selling [hats] from my booth at Potter Valley Rodeo and it took a while, but we’ve gotten a lot more traction as more people become aware of the possible loss of Lake Pillsbury, Scott Dam, and the Potter Valley Project.”
Foster supports, but is not a member of, The Lake Pillsbury Alliance, a 501(c)(3) organization formed by homeowners’ groups at Lake Pillsbury. “LPA has a board of members who do a lot of background work like attending regulatory and workgroup meetings and staying on stop of what other groups are doing behind closed doors. They don’t necessarily have an arm for active membership and their fundraising supports their legal fees to continue fighting removal.”
Foster got the idea to sell trucker hats and other merchandise from watching TikTok videos. After recovering costs, Foster donates all profits to The Lake Pillsbury Alliance. She is not affiliated with The Lake Pillsbury Alliance, and all opinions expressed are her own.
Foster has raised almost $2500 through the sale of merch, and donates the proceeds to The Lake Pillsbury Alliance. “I reserve some from each batch to continue printing the merch with a local screen printer, which I pay for personally.” Hats are $40, including sales tax. Foster sold hats at the California Deer Association dinner in November. They are currently available at Hometown Store Kitchen & Gifts, 290 South School Street in Ukiah. Foster added, “I’m hoping to [resume] online shipping again when the Christmas retail season slows down at my shops. We will have shirts available again in the spring in a new color too.”
Foster said, “I hope that people will take a look at where the water in Lake Pillsbury actually goes, and the amount of storage captured in the Lake Pillsbury basin. Water storage is critical for our communities and there’s so much captured in Lake Pillsbury that can be utilized up and down the North Coast. Our state government isn’t recognizing its important role, and I hope the federal government will.”
Read the MendoFever.com article on the Potter Valley Town Hall meeting.
