A California reservoir could disappear if PG&E gets their way

A couple of years ago the Hollywood Slicky took money meant to BUILD water storage facilities and used a portion of it to demolish four dams in Oregon—they provide us with water and hydro-electric power.  Not a dime was spent to BUILD the needed water facilities.

Now, with very little exposure, Newsom is about to close another water storage facility—without any replacement.

“Conservationists and tribal leaders say this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to restore the Eel River’s salmon runs, long blocked by dams. Farmers, ranchers and local officials warn that losing the project’s diversions could devastate water supplies, cripple fire protection and threaten a multimillion dollar agricultural industry. Some have even urged the Trump administration to intervene, arguing that PG&E’s plan to dismantle the project is reckless and puts entire communities at risk.

All the while, the battle over Northern California’s water future intensifies.”

Gavin is working hard to devastate the California agriculture industry and raise the price of water to the consumer.  Why does he hate California.  Is he going to use this to promote his race for President?

A California reservoir could disappear if PG&E gets their way

Critics say leveling the Potter Valley Project is an ‘irresponsible gamble’

By Matt LaFever ,North Coast Contributing Editor, SF Gate,  2/28/25  https://www.sfgate.com/northcoast/article/potter-valley-project-california-water-battle-20192320.php

Scott Dam holds back Lake Pillsbury, a key water source in Mendocino County, now facing an uncertain future amid removal discussions.

For more than a century, the Potter Valley Project has shaped the fate of two of Northern California’s most important rivers. The dam system reroutes water from the Eel River to the Russian River, sustaining agriculture, drinking water supplies and local economies across Mendocino, Sonoma and Lake counties. Pacific Gas & Electric went public with its draft application to walk away from the project in late January, citing financial losses and aging infrastructure and setting the stage for one of California’s most contentious water battles.

Conservationists and tribal leaders say this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to restore the Eel River’s salmon runs, long blocked by dams. Farmers, ranchers and local officials warn that losing the project’s diversions could devastate water supplies, cripple fire protection and threaten a multimillion dollar agricultural industry. Some have even urged the Trump administration to intervene, arguing that PG&E’s plan to dismantle the project is reckless and puts entire communities at risk.

All the while, the battle over Northern California’s water future intensifies.

What is the Potter Valley Project?

The Potter Valley Project is a water transfer system and hydroelectric facility that fundamentally reshaped Northern California’s water supply. It diverts water from the Eel River into the Russian River via a milelong tunnel excavated through a mountain near Potter Valley in 1908. The Potter Valley Project consists of two dams — Scott Dam, which forms Lake Pillsbury, and Cape Horn Dam about 12 miles west — along with a hydroelectric powerhouse, a fish ladder system and a diversion tunnel that transfers water from the Eel River to the East Fork Russian River. More than a century after it was built, most of the system is still running, except for the hydroelectric powerhouse, which shut down in 2021 due to equipment issues.

Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission offers a comprehensive history of the water diversion facility and its influence on the Russian River watershed. Before its construction, both rivers often ran dry in summer, leaving communities and farms without a reliable water source. To generate power, Cape Horn Dam and Van Arsdale Reservoir were built on the Eel River to divert water into the tunnel. However, the system could only function during high winter flows. To ensure year-round water availability, Scott Dam was constructed in 1922, forming Lake Pillsbury to store yet more Eel River water for later diversion. This system transformed the Russian River watershed by giving it a reliable water supply year-round, leading to booming agriculture in Mendocino and Sonoma counties.

After intense winter storms brought catastrophic flooding in 1937 and 1955, however, it became clear the region needed more water-controlling infrastructure. Congress authorized flood control projects that led to the construction of Coyote Valley Dam and Lake Mendocino in 1959. Today, these reservoirs provide irrigation, drinking water and recreation opportunities for thousands — but none of it would exist without the Potter Valley Project.

In Mendocino County, 30,000 inland residents depend on the Russian River for their water supply. A recent study found that $740 million in annual business revenue hinges on irrigation water from the Eel River, stored in Lake Mendocino. Downstream, the Russian River is the primary water source for 600,000 people in Sonoma and Marin counties, supporting some of Sonoma’s most profitable wine regions.

A UC Davis analysis found that losing the Potter Valley Project diversion would sharply reduce Lake Mendocino’s water storage reliability. While Scott Dam’s removal wouldn’t entirely cut the Potter Valley Project connection, it could shrink Russian River diversions, impacting water users downstream in Mendocino and Sonoma counties. It would also jeopardize the existence of Lake Pillsbury, which was created with the construction of Scott Dam and which is a crucial wildfire-fighting resource in remote Northern California. Two of the state’s three largest wildfires — the August Complex (2020, 1,032,648 acres) and the Mendocino Complex (2018, 459,123 acres) — were contained using water resources from Lake Pillsbury.

Why does PG&E want to remove the Potter Valley Project?

PG&E is walking away from the Potter Valley Project because the company says the facility is no longer profitable and the infrastructure is failing.

According to the Potter Valley Irrigation District, PG&E took over the project in 1930, as it was then a licensed hydroelectric facility. The utility then relicensed the project in 1983 for 40 additional years. With the project’s license set to expire in April 2022, PG&E was due to submit its application for a license renewal by April 2020. Instead, in January 2019, the utility submitted notice of its intent to withdraw from the project, thus beginning the long process of off-loading its responsibilities.

In its draft decommissioning application, made public in January 2025, PG&E made its reasoning clear: “The Project has been recognized by PG&E as uneconomic for PG&E’s customers (i.e., the cost of production exceeds the cost of alternative sources of renewable power on the open market).”

On top of financial concerns, PG&E cited the deteriorating Scott Dam, built over a century ago, as a major safety risk. Engineers found the dam was more seismically vulnerable than expected, prompting PG&E to lower Lake Pillsbury’s water levels to ease pressure on the aging structure in case of a major earthquake. The dam’s proximity to the Bartlett Springs Fault, a branch of California’s San Andreas Fault, raises concerns about earthquake risks, the report noted.

The company acknowledged the fallout of its decision, admitting in the draft application that removing Scott Dam and Lake Pillsbury “could have unavoidable effects on recreation value, community way of life, and population and housing in the Scott Dam area.”

Further downstream, PG&E conceded that dismantling the Potter Valley Project could send ripple effects through the Russian River Watershed. The draft application acknowledges the watershed “may [have] unavoidable adverse impacts to water reliability and cost, economic opportunity (particularly farming and ranching), recreation value in the Russian River Watershed, and community way of life because diversions to the East Branch Russian River would no longer occur.”

If the Potter Valley Project is removed, a new Eel-Russian facility would take its place, ensuring that some water continues flowing from the Eel to the Russian River. Led by the Eel-Russian Project Authority, the facility is planned near Cape Horn Dam, balancing water supply needs with environmental restoration. The project includes modern fish passage systems and new infrastructure to sustain regional water demand.

Those opposed to removing the Potter Valley Project are concerned about the new Eel-Russian facility’s limited water diversions. Unlike the steady transfers that have sustained the Russian River’s booming agricultural industry for nearly a century, the new plan would halt diversions between mid-spring and summer, depending on water conditions, according to a draft memo about the project prepared earlier this month.

How does the Potter Valley Project affect the Eel River? 

Though Russian River water users have benefited from the Potter Valley Project’s diversions, many on the Eel River side have argued that their watershed has suffered as a result of the transfer system.

One student-led analysis from Humboldt State University says the Potter Valley Project disrupts the Eel River ecosystem by blocking salmon from prime habitat, creating a stronghold for invasive pikeminnow. The report also states that altering the Eel River’s natural flows through diversion to the Russian River threatens the river’s other native fish populations, including lamprey eel and green sturgeon.

A separate Humboldt State University student analysis found that removing Scott Dam could unlock 58 miles of upstream habitat for Chinook salmon and steelhead. Blocked since 1922, these waters could significantly boost salmon populations, offering a rare opportunity for habitat restoration in the upper Eel River.

If the decommissioning of the Potter Valley Project goes through, the Eel River would become California’s longest free-flowing river, according to California Trout, a nonprofit organization that advocates for California’s watersheds, spanning nearly 300 miles from its headwaters in Lake County to its mouth south of Eureka in Humboldt County.

PG&E’s decommissioning plans have also paved the way for the Round Valley Indian Tribes to reclaim a central role in managing Eel River water after more than a century of exclusion. In an agreement signed earlier this month, the state pledged $18 million to modernize diversions and fund river restoration while promising a significant step toward restorative justice for Round Valley Indian Tribes.

“Today is a great day for the Round Valley Indian Tribes, our communities, the people living along the Eel River,,” said Joseph Parker, the president of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. “We’ve been left out of the loop for a long time so it’s nice now to have a seat at the head of the table.”

Nikcole Whipple, a Round Valley Indian Tribes member and longtime Eel River advocate, called the decommissioning of Scott Dam “restorative justice” for the Yuki Tribe, whose historical lands include Lake Pillsbury. She said the dam has drained the watershed for over a century, fueling wildfires and killing fish while outside interests profited.

“Dam removal for our Tribe is ultimately about our Tribe providing Environmental Justice to our underserved communities,” she said.

Whipple dismissed claims that the dam benefits fish, calling reservoirs “deoxygenating pools of warm water” that kill salmon. She pointed to the Klamath River, where salmon returned within a month of dam removal — far ahead of expert predictions.

The potential decommissioning of the Potter Valley Project has generated strong feelings across the entire region. For conservationists like Charlie Schneider, the Lost Coast project manager for California Trout, restoring the Eel River to its natural flow would be a rare bright spot in California’s fight to restore salmon. 

“We just really think the Eel is a special kind of unique river,” Schneider told SFGATE, citing the river’s vastness and remote location. “Salmon, by and large, are not doing well in the state. We really just feel like the Eel is a place where recovery can happen.”

Matt Clifford, the California director of Trout Unlimited, which advocates for waterways across the United States, called the potential removal of the Eel River dams a game-changer.

“It is a huge moment for the Eel,” he said. “With a dam there, it’s been cut off for 100 years. This is hands down some of the best habitat in the watershed, and it flows clear and cold year-round.”

“I’ve been up there during the really extreme drought years — 2020, 2021 — and even in the worst conditions, like in August, it was still flowing clear and cold,” Clifford added. “That’s the kind of place that’s perfect for spawning and rearing. We do a lot of habitat restoration in the Eel, but when you take habitat that’s already intact and just make it available — that’s one of the best things you can do to move the needle right away. We’re really excited about that.”

Because of that, Trout Unlimited has been deep in negotiations with PG&E over the Eel’s future, meeting “weekly” and “trying to work out a deal that balances restoration with water security,” Clifford said. “PG&E is taking out the dams because they’re unsafe and losing money. So the question is, how do we meet the needs of restoration and still give water users some security? We know there’s a compromise here.”

As for concerns about the Russian River running dry, as reflected in the draft memo from earlier this month, Clifford thinks they’re overblown. “Nothing we’re doing is threatening the Russian,” he said. “If we walk away and do nothing, we’ve got a couple of 100-year-old dams, crumbling, sitting on a fault line. They’re really dangerous. PG&E wants them out because they don’t want the liability if Scott Dam ruptures. That’s the reality.”

Homeowners along Lake Pillsbury disagree. Frank Lynch, a Lake Pillsbury Alliance board member, says dam removal advocates have overlooked those living on the lake’s shores and downstream users who rely on the reservoir to keep the Russian River flowing year-round. 

“The decision was made that dams are bad, period,” Lynch said. “But no one’s asking what happens to the communities left behind.”

Carol Cinquini, also a member of the Lake Pillsbury Alliance board, warned that draining Lake Pillsbury would gut the region. “This lake is the heart of Mendocino National Forest,” she said. “Take it away, and you don’t just lose water — you lose wildlife, wells and fire protection.”

Aaron Sykes, an engineer with the Lake Pillsbury Fire Protection District, emphasized the lake’s critical role in firefighting efforts.

“The lake has provided the water needed to stop two major fires: the Ranch Fire and the August Complex,” Sykes said. “It’s no coincidence that both were ended where Lake Pillsbury sits.”

While he wasn’t involved in the Ranch Fire, which in 2018 merged with the nearby River Fire to form the Mendocino Complex, Sykes was on the front lines of the August Complex fire for 20 straight days.

“The U.S. Forest Service, besides using the lake to supply water for the air assets — which is what everyone knows — also used it for the ground assets, namely the fleet of water trucks,” he explained of Lake Pillsbury’s impact. “… If the lake wasn’t available, it would have taken each water truck an additional four hours to make a round trip to Lake Mendocino. Instead, they were able to fill within 20 minutes of the fire front.”

PG&E’s draft decommissioning plan is now open for public comment, with the final version due for submission in July. Just this week, Lake County’s Board of Supervisors approved a letter urging the Trump administration to intervene in PG&E’s decommissioning of the Potter Valley Project. The board wrote that draining Lake Pillsbury — an 80,000 acre-foot reservoir — would be an “expensive and irresponsible gamble” with the region’s water supply.

The board further argued that PG&E’s plan violated President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14181, the controversial directive that led to the Army Corps of Engineers abruptly releasing water from California’s Lake Kaweah and Lake Success. The supervisors said the order’s mandate to “override existing activities that unduly burden efforts to maximize water deliveries” was being ignored, and that removing Scott Dam would jeopardize water access for farmers, communities and essential fire protection infrastructure.

Whipple, the Round Valley tribal member and Eel River advocate, called out Lake County officials for opposing the project. “The entire county is a riparian ecological community that has been historically manipulated and destroyed for economic purposes,” she said.

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“In the last 100 years that the dam has existed, it has not done any long-term good for the overall community,” she added.