On October 5, 2023 Lake County Supervisors and the Lake Pillsbury Alliance gave concurrent presentations to Russian River Water Forum discussing the regional benefits of Lake Pillsbury and potential impacts if Scott Dam is decommissioned.
Click here to watch Lake County’s Scott Dam/Lake Pillsbury video.
Photo by Mike Nelson
Monica Huettl - September 8, 2023
Continuing our coverage of the Russian River Water Forum efforts to find solutions for Russian River water security and restoration of Eel River fisheries, we are taking a look at Lake Pillsbury. The Eel River groups have wanted to remove Scott Dam and Lake Pillsbury for years. The Russian River groups are mainly concerned with keeping some form of diversion tunnel facilities operational and have not taken a stand on the Lake Pillsbury issue.
The Lake Pillsbury Alliance was formed in 2019, around the time that PG&E was working through the FERC relicensing process. When PG&E decided not to renew the hydroelectric license, the company became unresponsive to hearing from Lake Pillsbury residents.
Frank Lynch and Carol Cinquini, second and third-generation cabin owners and lifetime recreational users of the Lake Pillsbury area, contacted four homeowners’ associations around the lake and formed a 501(c)(3) organization so that Lake Pillsbury’s interests could be part of the discussions. They tried to get a seat on Congressman Jared Huffman’s ad hoc committee but were denied. The County of Lake tried to join the Two Basin Partnership but was also denied. Lynch says Lake County’s interests have been marginalized for years.
Lynch said the Ad Hoc, Two Basin Partnership and the RRWF were “stacked with interests against Lake Pillsbury.” All of the Eel River groups are actively advocating for dam removal. The Russian River groups are concerned with maintaining the diversion. Cinquini’s take is that anything concerning Scott Dam and the Lake Pillsbury basin area is considered PG&E’s problem.
One of the many Bald Eagles found at Lake Pillsbury [Photo and permission to use by Walt Leonard]
Lynch said RRWF Planning Group member Eddie Crandall, Lake County Supervisor, was “helpful in getting us a seat on the RRWF Planning Group. Lake County wrote a letter in support of our membership.” Cinquini and Lynch then lobbied for a seat at the table, explaining how their stakeholders deserved consideration because they would be the most directly impacted if Scott Dam was removed. Cinquini added, “We wanted to be part of the process, we respect the process. We know we are a minority voice.”
The studies done by the Two Basin Solution focused on water supply and fisheries, but Lynch and Cinquini assert that none were done to assess the impacts to the Lake Pillsbury basin communities and ecosystems if Scott Dam was removed. The Two Basin Partnership’s Phase II Feasibility Studies are located on Huffman’s Ad Hoc website and earlier Feasibility Studies are located on the Two Basin Partnership website.
Cinquini pointed to the various studies and discussions that analyzed capital costs of dam removal and water storage, including possibly raising Coyote Dam at Lake Mendocino, removing Cape Horn and Scott Dams, and building new infrastructure and water storage facilities. The less expensive solution of remodeling and renovating the existing dams was not considered. Cinquini said “None of the studies take a holistic approach to problem solving, looking for win-win solutions for everybody.”
While Lake Pillsbury has few permanent residents, the area is heavily used by the four homeowner communities and other recreational users year-round. The beauty of Lake Pillsbury is its remoteness. It’s off-the-grid, off-the-beaten track, and attracts people who want to be immersed in nature. In the summer, there are thousands of people camping on the weekends, and many families spend weeks in homes and cabins on both private and federal lands. Cinquini said, “Lake Pillsbury is well-used and well-loved.”
Without the lake, would there be continuing resort/camping opportunities in the same location along the Eel River? Perhaps a deep river with big swimming holes, and opportunities to kayak and fish? Lynch says without Scott Dam, the river would probably dry up in the late summer, leaving unconnected pools of water. When Cape Horn Dam and Van Arsdale Reservoir were built in 1907, there wasn’t enough water in Van Arsdale to send through the diversion tunnel, so Scott Dam was created in 1922 to store more water.
There has been talk for years of decommissioning Scott Dam. With the changes that would bring, Lynch said PG&E has not offered any compensation or assistance to business owners and residents if Lake Pillsbury is removed, “PG&E offered zero help. They referred us to FERC.”
Congressman Mike Thompson, representing Lake County, “has shown interests in our position, but no tangible help has been forthcoming,” according to Lynch. Jared Huffman doesn’t represent Lake County, and he hasn’t included any assistance for the Lake Pillsbury community in his statements.
Some in the RRWF are saying Lake Pillsbury isn’t needed for fire protection. Lynch said, “Without Lake Pillsbury as a resource, the community around the lake would be 100% vulnerable. Water from Lake Pillsbury has been used to fight fires in five counties. It is used to fill fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and tanker trucks. Without Scott Dam, the river would not be deep enough in fire season for them to dip into. Suggestions that water from Lake Mendocino, Blue Lakes and Clear Lake be used are not feasible. They are too far away from the National Forest.”
The environmental groups have shown concern about pike minnow, an invasive species found in Lake Pillsbury. Lynch said, “The pike minnow is a non-native fish that was introduced years ago. It’s a dominant species that is already found in the Eel River. People blame Lake Pillsbury, but we would like to see the pike minnow gone. Lake Pillsbury is not to blame for the pike minnow’s existence.”
Another expensive problem connected with dam removal is what to do with the sediment. Some estimates claim that half of the 21 million cubic yards of sediment could wash away and clog up downstream habitat if Lake Pillsbury is removed. Lynch said “The costs for removal of sediment are going to be exorbitant.”
The two sides on the Russian River Water Forum are focused on a diversion that represents less than 2% of the Eel River water supply. Once Scott Dam is gone, they are now talking about building a new reservoir in Potter Valley for water storage. Lynch says it would be so much cheaper to modify the existing dams to improve the fish passage. Cinquini asks us to think about the cumulative capital cost of all of the plans.
Lake Pillsbury is the recreational anchor of the Mendocino National Forest. Lynch has talked to Forest Service representatives, who expressed concern about fire protection and loss of habitat if Scott Dam is removed. Lynch said, “It will change the dynamic of the National Forest and would be a tragic loss.”
Inquiries to the offices of Congressman Mike Thompson, Lake County Supervisor Eddie Crandall and PG&E’s media center, asking for comment about the impact of dam decommissioning on the Lake Pillsbury Community have not received a response.
MENDO FEVER - July 18, 2023 by Sarah Reith
![Fly fishing on the Russian River south of Frog Woman Rock [Picture by Matt LaFever]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cc36435fd67935bb61a2214/309bd191-15c9-419c-a4aa-c6e947c330ea/6C2E5C0A-EC26-4408-9620-4964ECDFA31C_1_201_a.jpeg+copy.jpg)
Fly fishing on the Russian River south of Frog Woman Rock [Picture by Matt LaFever]
The Potter Valley Project has two deadlines for public comment coming up next month. One is a proposal for a flow variance, which takes into account recent developments with the embattled water diversion facility.
The other is garnering statewide interest in PG&E’s request to transfer its non-nuclear generating assets to a subsidiary called Pacific Generation. That includes all its hydropower projects, some of which, like the one in Potter Valley, are running under expired licenses and are slated for decommissioning. Potter Valley has not been able to generate electricity since December of 2021, due to a broken piece of equipment in the powerhouse.
Agencies and members of the public have until August fourth to comment on PG&E’s request to reduce flows into the East Fork of the Russian River from 75 cubic feet per second to 25, with flexibility to reduce the flows to 5 if water temperatures below Scott Dam exceed 60 degrees Fahrenheit or 16 degrees Celsius. This is a mitigation measure to protect salmon, which require cold water. PG&E says its request includes provisions for water temperature monitoring, which the National Marine Fisheries Service as well as the Round Valley Indian Tribes have requested.
Five cfs is what the Russian River has gotten in severe drought years. But PG&E is reducing the storage capacity of Lake Pillsbury, in response to a recent revelation that Scott Dam is more susceptible to seismic risk than was previously known. To that end, the spillway gates on top of the dam remain open, though typically they would have been closed in April. Water is only being released through the needle valve at the bottom of the dam.
According to Sonoma Water, Lake Pillsbury currently holds 51,965 acre-feet, which is a little higher than it was this time last year, in spite of a dramatically wet winter.
Water is released from the reservoir for three different uses: The East Fork, which serves fisheries and human water users in the Russian River watershed; the Potter Valley Irrigation District, which has a contract with PG&E for up to 50 cfs; and the fisheries in the Eel River. The current request does not address the amount of water that would be released for the Potter Valley Irrigation District. According to Janet Pauli, a longtime Potter Valley advocate, the district is currently using about 20 cfs on an on-demand basis, though its contract has not been curtailed.
PG&E has requested flow variances every year since 2006, when its license was finalized with custom mitigation measures designed by regulatory agencies. Its most recent request states that it is developing a proposal for a long-term flow regime that will comply with environmental requirements in both watersheds as the spillway gates remain open.
PG&E has stated publicly that it intends to remove both Scott Dam and Cape Horn Dam, unless it can find a buyer that can operate the project. Sonoma Water Agency, which gets the lion’s share of water from Lake Mendocino, is trying to figure out how to continue the diversion without the dams. Removal of the two dams is estimated to cost between $118-236 million. The cost would be borne by ratepayers.
But the project could be in place for years. The license for the Kilarc-Cow Creek hydro project in Shasta County expired in 2007. PG&E filed an application to surrender the license in 2009. That project consists of two powerhouses, three dams, and an assortment of penstocks and spillways in two watersheds, each about 80 square miles. Now, ranchers and irrigators, who have water rights tied up in the project, have filed a motion to intervene in PG&E’s request to transfer the expired license to a newly-formed subsidiary. According to an article in an industry publication last year, “PG&E seeks to transfer its non-nuclear generation assets into the subsidiary company and then sell a minority stake in Pacific Generation.” The company believes that “would provide an efficient source of equity financing to help PG&E fund wildfire risk mitigation and clean energy investments.” PG&E would maintain majority ownership and its employees would continue to operate its assets.
But the Cow Creek water users told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that “the Commission should not approve transfer of the now-long expired license unless and until Pacific Generation has demonstrated its capacity to safety and effectively accomplish license surrender and project decommissioning, without adverse impacts on landowner interests or the environment. In deciding whether to approve the transfer, the Commission should also consider whether the proposed transfer of the license would further delay or otherwise interfere with the license surrender and project decommissioning.”
The California Hydropower Reform Coalition also weighed in, noting that the proposed transfer would be “the single largest transfer of FERC-issued licenses in California history.” Eight of the 22 projects are undergoing relicensing, and three are in the process of surrendering their licenses. The Coalition requested and was granted a thirty-day extension of the public comment period.
The Coalition’s 87-page filing includes testimony by Chris Shutes, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, a member organization. He doesn’t think PG&E has done a good job taking care of its assets, and argued that allowing it to transfer the licenses would give it further excuse to slow-walk long-deferred maintenance and decommissioning on a number of projects.
He listed PG&E’s bankruptcies, inadequate insurance, and “patterns of delay, short-term fixes over long-term reliability, and inadequate consideration of public safety” as reasons to be leery of the utility’s assurances.
His supporting examples included PG&E’s costly forty-year delay in rebuilding or decommissioning a powerhouse on the Feather River; a 24-year delay in restoring the Battle Creek Restoration Project; and Scott Dam’s seismic liabilities.
Earlier this year, the Division of Safety of Dams downgraded Scott Dam’s safety assessment from satisfactory to fair, based on the Gannett Fleming engineering firm’s findings of seismic deficiencies.
After establishing similarities among three small hydro projects that are deteriorating, costly to maintain, and, in the case of Scott Dam, potentially dangerous, Shutes urged the Commission not to transfer the Potter Valley Project’s license to Pacific Generation, writing that “the Potter Valley Project is itself a set of both short-term and long-term liabilities.”
The deadline to file comments about PG&E’s proposal to transfer the licenses to its subsidiary Pacific Generation is August 12th.
Potter Valley Project docket No. 77-313
The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file comments, motions to intervene, and protests using the Commission’s eFiling system at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp. Commenters can submit brief comments up to 6,000 characters, without prior registration, using the eComment system at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ecomment.asp. You must include your name and contact information at the end of your comments. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, (866) 208-3676 (toll free), or (202) 502-8659 (TTY). In lieu of electronic filing, you may submit a paper copy. Submissions sent via the U.S. Postal Service must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426. Submissions sent via any other carrier must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20852. The first page of any filing should include the docket number P-77-313. Comments emailed to Commission staff are not considered part of the Commission record.
This filing may be viewed on the Commission's website at http://www.ferc.gov using the "eLibrary" link. Enter the docket number excluding the last three digits in the docket number field to access the document. You may also register online at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp to be notified via email of new filings and issuances related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, call 1-866-208-3676 or e-mail FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, for TTY, call (202) 502-8659. Agencies may obtain copies of the application directly from the applicant.POTTER VALLEY, CA, 5/17/23 — The coalition of fishing and conservation groups that sued the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last summer has now filed a lawsuit against Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), which operates the Potter Valley Project, claiming that the project fosters illegal “take” of threatened salmon and steelhead populations.
The groups hope the lawsuit will lead to operations changes ahead of imminent decommissioning of the project, for which PG&E will submit its final surrender application to FERC in 2025. The suit says PG&E maintains water temperatures below the dams that are too high for salmonids, operates Cape Horn Dam and its fish passages facilities in a manner that injures and kills species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), blocks access to high-quality habitat above the dams, and makes it difficult for juvenile fish to migrate out to sea.
Two lawsuits in play
Following the expiration of the Potter Valley Project’s 50-year license, PG&E has been operating the 100-year-old water diversion project (which no longer produces hydroelectric power) under annual licensure. Last year, when a 20-year Biological Opinion saying that project operations were safe for fish species under the ESA expired, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) wrote to PG&E saying that its activities were no longer covered by the prior Biological Opinion.
“Cape Horn Dam, the associated infrastructure, fishway maintenance, and flow operations to achieve fish passage at the passage facility are neither described within the Description of the Proposed Action, nor are their effects to listed species assessed within the Opinion,” Assistant Regional Administrator of the California Coastal Office Alecia Van Atta wrote to FERC. “Consequently, we did not authorize incidental take resulting from these effects (e.g., delayed or blocked migration and predation of ESA-listed salmonids caused by the configuration and full operation of the Cape Horn Dam fish passage facility).”
This led California Trout, Friends of the Eel River, Trout Unlimited, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, and the Institute for Fisheries Resources to sue FERC when the regulatory entity opted not to put NMFS’ suggested conditions on PG&E’s interim annual licenses. The suit under the ESA says that FERC caused illegal take of threatened California Coastal Chinook salmon and Northern California steelhead trout in the Eel River.
The groups have now filed a similar suit against PG&E. To sue FERC, they had to file within 60 days to dispute a licensing decision, Matt Clifford of Trout Unlimited explained; to sue PG&E, they had to declare intent and give the utility 60 days to respond.
“We’re really hopeful now that dam removal is going to happen,” Charlie Schneider of CalTrout told The Voice. “We’re years and years ahead of where they were on the Klamath initially. … That’s really encouraging, but what we really want to make sure of is that we’re not harming fish in the interim.”
Decommissioning doesn’t necessarily mean dam removal
These groups also advocate for removal of both Scott and Cape Horn dams in the decommissioning process, as the dams diverting water from the Eel River to the Russian River for primarily agricultural water rights block fish passage along the river’s full length and to its headwaters. The Eel River was recently named one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers in 2023, in part because of the potential for dam removal.
“The river above the dams is really amazing habitat that’s been cut off for 100 years,” Clifford told The Mendocino Voice.
PG&E Spokesperson Paul Moreno told The Voice that PG&E’s initial draft application to FERC in November of this year will include “removal of all in-water facilities (dams and features in rivers), unless an entity steps forward with a proposal of which PG&E will consider.” That entity would need to demonstrate financial and technical ability to operate portions of the project by July, Moreno explained.
ussian River water users who currently rely on the diversions for their livelihoods have advocated forming a body to possibly take over the project and continue discussions that happened most recently in Congressman Jared Huffman’s now-dissolved Two Basin Partnership. The new Russian River Water Forum (RRWF) held its first meeting on Wednesday.
Members of RRWF’s Planning Group include supervisors and county staff from Mendocino, Humboldt, Sonoma, and Lake counties, as well as representatives from both basins and from the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians, Pinoleville Pomo Nation, Potter Valley Tribe, Yokayo Tribe of Indians, Round Valley Indian Tribes, and the Wiyot Tribe. Most of the groups currently suing PG&E are represented as well. The RRWF’s most important mandate is to identify water supply resiliency solutions, per the meeting.
The issue also becomes more pressing as PG&E has determined that heightened forecasts for seismic activity create risks for communities downstream of the dam. Spillway gates that would normally be closed in the spring, preserving water upstream, now remain open, lessening the risk. This means that less water will be stored at adjoining Lake Pillsbury, such that flows to the Russian River will likely mimic a year of drought despite 2023’s abundant rainfall.
Further, years of low flows combined with dam diversions can have impacts that are felt down the line, even if dramatic changes were made this year.
“Salmon season is closed this year for the second time,” said Vivian Helliwell, Watershed Conservation Director for the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “West Coast salmon and steelhead populations are really struggling right now, and along with them our coastal and inland communities that rely on these fish for food and jobs.”
The Russian River had its lowest steelhead numbers on record this year, Schneider said.
“There’s not a lot of projects that rise to this level of importance if we want to have salmon in the future,” he said. “This is a place where I think we can make a big difference.”
PG&E maintains that the project does not engage in unlawful take of fish.
“We have just received the complaint and are reviewing it,” Moreno wrote to The Voice on Tuesday afternoon. “We are confident that our Potter Valley Project’s operations are in compliance with all environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act.”
Read the full lawsuit here.
POTTER VALLEY, CA, 3/29/23 — Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)’s decision to leave the spillway gates open at Scott Dam this spring and in the future due to increased risk of seismic activity in the area may put the utility out of compliance with its license to operate the Potter Valley Project, according to a letter from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to PG&E’s president on Tuesday. In the letter, FERC Director of Hydropower Administration and Compliance CarLisa Linton notified PG&E that the utility could violate its mandates to protect federally endangered species by reducing water storage in Lake Pillsbury so significantly (around 10 feet).
She said the utility must complete an amendment application detailing any environmental impacts of the decision, outlining planned mitigation or avoidance measures, and demonstrating consultation with relevant agencies and tribes. FERC specifically asked to see correspondence with federal and state resource agencies including the National Marine Fisheries Service, as well as “interested” non-governmental organizations and tribes — plus responses received from said entities, and PG&E’s response to that input.
“Pending approval of an amendment application, you are required to maintain compliance with your existing license, as amended,” Linton wrote.
Scott Dam spillway gates normally close as early as April, and FERC’s letter could impact PG&E’s approach to managing the water resource this year. Linton indicated that FERC plans to thoroughly review the amendment’s potential impacts.
“We anticipate that, before acting on any such amendment request, the Commission would have to prepare an analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act and complete ESA consultation,” she wrote. If formal ESA consultation is necessary, that process can be lengthy.
Should it be approved, PG&E’s plan to keep the spillway gates open in spring indefinitely would carry a big impact for the Russian River watershed, relied on by many in inland Mendocino County. When the news broke in mid-March, it accelerated existing concerns around water access as PG&E moves forward with developing a license surrender and decommissioning plan for the Potter Valley Project.
“What’s being created is perpetual drought circumstances,” 3rd District Supervisor John Haschak said of the open gates in supervisors’ reports at Tuesday’s meetings. 1st District Supervisor and Board Chair Glenn McGourty pointed out that the decision makes it exponentially more necessary for Russian River water users to find alternatives for the Eel River diversions they rely on, including raising Coyote Valley Dam and pursuing water storage infrastructure in Potter Valley.
In a message to The Mendocino Voice prior to Tuesday’s letter, PG&E spokesperson Paul Moreno said that the utility has hired a consultant as part of its early decommissioning and license surrender planning schedule.
“We do intend to reach out to stakeholders,” he wrote.
Learn more about the Potter Valley Project’s current phase here, and read the letter from FERC below. The Voice will continue to update on the operation of Scott Dam as more information is known.
By Kate Fishman
MENDOCINO Co, CA, 3/26/23 — Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) is about eight months into a 30-month planning timeline for the license surrender of the Potter Valley Project, a system of dams and hydroelectric power that has diverted water from the Eel River to the Russian River since 1908 and made a lasting mark on the region’s productivity, environment, and lifeways. But the way forward is uncertain. In 2025, PG&E could decide that one or both of the project’s dams will be removed, the project could continue to run under a new license operator, or one of myriad options in between.
Further, a variety of factors complicating the already controversial project have emerged — and last week, PG&E announced that the spillway gates at Scott Dam will remain open this spring and in future years due to the potential for seismic activity in the area. This will mean less water storage in Lake Pillsbury, complicating the usual systems of water flow ahead of any infrastructure changes at the dams.
Also last week, a new working group under the name of the Russian River Water Forum has been formed by local water leaders to explore ways forward for the project and to negotiate with PG&E. This new group could be viewed as a second coming of the Two-Basin Partnership, a now-dissolved initiative to form a regional entity to take over the license from PG&E that was led by Representative Jared Huffman.
The summer’s news also remains a factor in the project’s future. After PG&E announced its decision not to renew its 50-year license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), taking up an interim annual license for the duration of the project decommissioning, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) wrote to FERC saying that project operations were negatively impacting salmon and steelhead survival to an extent not permitted under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In response, multiple local fish and fisheries advocacy groups sued FERC over unauthorized “take” of (or harm to) endangered fish.
Whole landscapes and communities of Northern California have been defined and changed by the Potter Valley Project. As rancher Frost Pauli told The Mendocino Voice, his family moved to Potter Valley in the 1920s “as a direct result of water being available there for agriculture — and we’ve been farming there ever since.”
“It’s much bigger than a single project or a single piece of infrastructure,” Frost Pauli reflected. “It’s a regional issue that affects six different counties, hundreds of thousands of people, thousands of acres of land, and of course, two huge river systems and the environment in those river systems. … [Resolution] is going to be a marathon, not a sprint.”
New analyses have forecast that Scott Dam, the project’s diversion mechanism at Lake Pillsbury, is threatened by possible seismic activity, the impacts of which could be exacerbated by greater water storage. Keeping the spillway gates open is a decision made “in the interest of community safety,” due to new information as the capacity to study earthquake potential continues to advance.
“While risks to the dam remain very low, by reducing water levels in the reservoir we can mitigate against risk,” said Jan Nimick, vice president of Power Generation at PG&E. “Storing less water in the reservoir (a 26% reduction compared to a full reservoir) lowers the water load on the dam, thereby significantly reducing the risk during or after a seismic event.”
More water will likely flow in the Eel River this spring, but less water will be stored in Lake Pillsbury for summer and fall water releases that support cold water fisheries below Scott Dam, Russian River agricultural interests, and recreation on the lake. According to PG&E’s release, the flow to the Russian River — which the utility plans to apply for a variance from FERC to decrease — will probably mimic drought-stricken summers such as 2020 and 2021, despite our dramatic rain and snowfall this year.
“Today’s announcement from PG&E makes it clear that maintaining the status quo for the Potter Valley Project is no longer an option,” fisheries advocacy nonprofit California Trout said in a statement. “We continue to encourage Russian River water users that have benefited from Eel River water diversions for the past century to plan for a future without those diversions, or to explore options for an ecologically sound, dam-free diversion facility.”
Janet Pauli, who has served on the Potter Valley Irrigation District Board of Directors since 1988 and represented the district at the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission (IWPC) since 1996, said the IWPC will likely be involved in the variance request proceedings as well as looking to longer-term solutions to compensate for water storage at Lake Pillsbury.
“It’s a very serious concern, and something that we actually hadn’t anticipated at this point in time,” she said.
Elizabeth Salomone, general manager of the Russian River Flood Control & Water Conservation District (RRFC) is charged with maintenance of 86 diversions along the Russian River (primarily for agriculture customers). Because this water is not necessarily the only supply for many of those customers, she feels that this year could go okay; they have greater reserves to draw from than after recent dry seasons. But that’s not a long-term solution.
“If we don’t get significant rainfall in this next winter, we could be looking at some very dire circumstances,” she said. “We really can’t afford to miss another wet winter. We’re going to need above-average rainfall pretty much every winter to keep us afloat.”
Further, Salomone says that our drier, hotter summers increase the need for irrigation and further burden the water supply. This pendulum of extremes — with a torrent of atmospheric rivers moving through California this winter — is not very conducive to stable water supply.
“We don’t have the capacity to benefit from that as far as storage,” she said. “Our reservoirs fill up, the ground fills up, the natural waterways fill up. There’s only so many buckets and barrels you can put out. We just don’t have any more room.”
Between months three and eight of its schedule for establishing a decommissioning plan, PG&E had planned to “conduct initial outreach to agencies and other stakeholders to solicit relevant information for the preparation of the surrender application and decommissioning plan.” Multiple sources interviewed for this article told The Voice that PG&E had not formally engaged their organizations in discussion around the project during recent months.
“PG&E is probably not interested in dealing with a lot of different individual entities,” Janet Pauli explained. “They want a formed, functioning regional group that represents everyone but can speak almost independently, and is capable of taking on a project that won’t be cheap to operate.”
After PG&E announced plans not to renew its 50-year license expiration, Huffman tried to answer this call with the Two-Basin Partnership. The partnership brought together California Trout, Humboldt County, IWPC, the Round Valley Indian Tribes, and Sonoma County Water Agency. It initiated discussions across a variety of different interests, and commissioned studies on solutions that would balance water supply needs; thriving ecosystems; and public health.
But the partnership failed to meet FERC’s Apr. 14, 2022 license application deadline.
“We prepared quite a lot of information,” Janet Pauli said. “It wasn’t as if we didn’t have anything done, but we didn’t get enough done by the end to be able to prepare a license application by the date it was required by FERC. We ran out of time and money.”
Almost a year later, enter the Russian River Water Forum. The project’s website launched last week, created by Sonoma County Water Agency and other regional partners, with funding from the California Department of Water Resources.
“The Water Forum will seek to identify water-supply resiliency solutions that respond to PG&E’s planned decommissioning of the Potter Valley Project while protecting Tribal interests and supporting the stewardship of fisheries, water quality, and recreation in the Russian River and Eel River basins,” the website details. “More broadly, the Water Forum will support ongoing regional collaboration on water supply and watershed restoration issues in the Russian River and Eel River basins.”
Once its charter is finalized, the forum’s Planning Group will include 30 members from Lake, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Humboldt counties, and will hold public meetings and workshops throughout 2023.
“How do we maintain some amount of diversion from the Eel to the Russian that is fair and equitable?” Salomone said, outlining the Forum’s guiding questions. “All the stakeholders can have a voice in that and raise concerns, and develop a local solution to that continued diversion, however it may look. Another focus will be general water resiliency in the watershed, [in addition to] water reliability and availability. When we do have these really difficult times, how do we sustain ourselves through them?”
An eventual goal would be for the Forum to build capacity to carry the project forward into the next stage of its life — and as Janet Pauli points out, “speed is of the essence.”
“We hope that a regional entity will form from the feedback and advice of this group, and then that entity will become a legal one that can begin those formal discussions with PG&E and FERC,” Salomone confirmed. “Because someone’s going to have to take over the project, the diversion in the water, and then deliver that water to the Russian River.”
In the midst of these significant new developments around the Potter Valley Project’s uncertain future, a new study was published by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute forecasting the economic impact that removal of both Scott and Cape Horn dams could have on the project’s five immediate surrounding counties.
The study’s introduction argues that removal of both dams is a likely outcome because of the “reasonable initial capital outlay for PG&E and the minimal long-term operation and maintenance costs associated with dam removal relative to long-term operations and maintenance costs coupled with ongoing state and federal liabilities surrounding fish passage, environmental compliance, and dam safety without a continued revenue source.”
According to its look at the immediate impacts of removal, the projects would support 1,037 to 1,332 full-time equivalent job years in the five-county region, and around $203 million to $278 million of economic output for that region alone.
“There’s this paradigm of fish versus people or nature versus people that’s something that we always battle in the environmental space, because it’s just not true,” Charlie Schneider of California Trout told The Voice. “Studies like this are really helpful in showing that the removal is essentially a big construction and restoration project, and there are economic benefits to the community that come from doing that kind of work.”
Schneider said that promoting fisheries interests can feel like an uphill battle, especially when protected fish in the Eel River system have been depleted to the tune of less than 10% of their historic populations.
“Are we going to right this?” he asked. “Salmon populations are in dire shape up and down the state as evidenced by the closure of this year’s salmon season. Its important to realize the impact of that is lost jobs, lost livelihoods on the coast and a loss of part of their culture for Eel River and other tribes. There are solutions that can benefit fish and people. I think decision makers are starting to lose sight of that because that story isn’t being told anymore, because there are so few salmon fishermen. … It’s been so many bad years in a row, in part because of decisions around how we steward our rivers and whose interests get prioritized.”
For farmers in the Russian River watershed, water from the diversions is essential for agricultural supply, meaning that removal is not necessarily the obvious solution. Frost Pauli, of Pauli Ranch and the Mendocino County Farm Bureau, explained that from the bureau perspective, the status quo has been working well. But in advocating for these solutions, the volunteer-governed farm bureau favors outcomes that make sense across a variety of different interests in the century-old project.
“We are not opposed to dam removal,” Frost Pauli said. “If it makes sense for the environment, and if it makes sense for the economy, and if it makes sense for the safe operation of this infrastructure to the benefit of both basins. … If all of those concerns can be met, then dam removal makes sense.”
Janet Pauli has been involved in feasibility studies for different solutions projects, including raising Coyote Valley Dam by 30 feet, or engineering a dam at the north end of Potter Valley to augment existing storage at Lake Mendocino.
“There’s a lot of work that still has to be done to ensure that is possible,” she explained. “And that’s what we’ve been working on.”
Salomone believes that the formation of the Russian River Water Forum is an “important and significant step,” but also notes that these opportunities for engagement in the future of both basins are only as good as who shows up.
“I attend a lot of public meetings of those who are managing water, and I rarely see the public there,” she said. “And I get it … but it’s time for folks to figure out where they’re getting their water [and] what condition their water supplier is in. Is it really stable — they have a lot of revenue and a lot of reserve, they have resiliency projects, and they have a diverse portfolio of the water sources — or are they a sole-source water supplier, and that source is threatened? I’ll tell you, in the greater Ukiah area, we have both extremes. … It’s really important for people to understand where they are on the spectrum of water reliability.”
Janet Pauli agrees, saying “our project has never been easy in terms of discussions, because this has always been controversial.” But from her perspective, representing a diversity of interests is critical to find a viable solution.
“It requires our diligence in moving forward,” she said. “The more voices we have at the table [the better], so we can understand the concerns of all groups, including folks on the Eel River side, Lake County, tribal members on both watersheds, environmentalists, agencies who are charged with protecting the fishery in both watersheds, water suppliers, or local government. … I’m hopeful that we will get to a place where we can continue the diversion, which is what we agreed upon in the [Two-Basin Partnership], and at the same time, be more protective of rivering conditions on the Eel, and not forget the conditions on the Russian River that are important for listed fish here as well.”
As Salomone put it: “When people don’t get involved, they’re just abdicating their power.”
Note: Kate Fishman covers the environment & natural resources for The Mendocino Voice in partnership with a Report For America. Her position is funded by the Community Foundation of Mendocino, Report for America, & our readers. You can support Fishman’s work with a tax-deductible donation here or by emailing publisher@mendovoice.com. Contact her at KFishman@mendovoice.com or at (707) 234-7735. The Voice maintains editorial control and independence.
PG&E Press Release
Despite 2023 starting off as a normal or above-normal water year, the spillway gates atop Scott Dam at Lake Pillsbury in Lake County will not be closed this spring or in future years. In years past, PG&E has closed the gates at the dam on or around the beginning of April, allowing lake levels to increase by as much as 10 feet above the spillway crest during the spring runoff, storing up to about 20,000-acre feet of additional water to support recreation and releases during the dry season.
For the Eel River, this means more water will potentially flow in the spring as PG&E is not storing as much water with the gates open. It also means less water will be stored in Lake Pillsbury for summer and fall water releases that support cold water fishery resources in the Eel River below Scott Dam and Russian River agricultural interests, as well as for recreation, specifically boat ramp access.
PG&E has made the decision out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of community safety. Keeping the spillway gates open at Scott Dam from this point forward allows us to reduce potential risk around seismic performance.
As part of PG&E’s commitment to safety, the company’s team of geoscience and engineering experts regularly performs updated seismic analyses and modeling of its dams based on regional and site-specific data. PG&E also retains independent consultants to review its seismic analyses for consistency with current industry standards and practices. New information and updated analyses suggest the level of risk around seismic performance at Scott Dam is greater than the previous evaluation. This is not an unusual circumstance as the practice of seismic engineering and geoscience understanding of earthquake potential are continually advancing and periodic due diligence assessments on potential impacts to dams are part of PG&E’s Dam Safety Program.
Even so, the probability of a seismic event causing severe damage to the dam remains relatively low on an annual basis (estimated to be on the order of a 1-in-900-year event). The most effective means of reducing risk in the near term is to store less water in the reservoir and the most feasible way to store less water is achieved by leaving the spill gates open – which in years past have been closed from April through October. Mitigating risk to seismic performance by reducing the reservoir storage is an action to meet PG&E’s safety standards and those of our dam safety regulators.
“While risks to the dam remain very low, by reducing water levels in the reservoir we can mitigate against risk,” said Jan Nimick, vice president of Power Generation at PG&E. “Storing less water in the reservoir (a 26% reduction compared to a full reservoir) lowers the water load on the dam, thereby significantly reducing the risk during or after a seismic event.”
With the dam gates remaining open, water availability will be similar to dry year conditions experienced in 2020 and 2021, when Lake Pillsbury’s spring top-off did not reach the spillway crest elevation and the project operated under FERC-approved flow variances.
The lower water levels in Lake Pillsbury will affect water customers, water availability for fishery resources protected under the ESA, and recreationists.
“We recognize the impacts that reduced water storage in Lake Pillsbury will have. We’re committed to public and environmental safety and are committed to working closely with resource agencies and water districts to make best use of available water, as we do in dry years,” said Nimick.
Water releases into the Eel River and East Branch of the Russian River will continue as required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license for the Potter Valley Project, or by a FERC-approved flow variance. PG&E will submit a variance request to ensure Lake Pillsbury water levels are appropriately managed this year and intends to request a license amendment to modify long-term operations pending surrender of the project. These requests will involve Section 7 consultation with resource agencies to determine Eel River flows to minimize impacts to fishery resources listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and PG&E anticipates a minimum flow of 5-25 cubic feet per second to the East Branch Russian River. However, the lower lake elevation will mean less water will be available this year and in the future for water users.
PG&E is developing a FERC license surrender application for the Potter Valley Project, which will address the eventual disposition of Scott Dam and Lake Pillsbury. The Surrender regulatory process allows FERC to assess all impacts of the surrender and decommissioning. The company plans to continue to develop long-term mitigation measures which could include expedited partial or full removal of Scott Dam. PG&E will continue to study and model the seismic performance of Scott Dam to better understand and manage potential risks through the surrender and decommissioning process.
