December 29, 2022
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street, NE
Washington, D.C. 20426
Re: Potter Valley Project (P-77) Decommissioning Plan and Schedule
Dear Secretary Bose,
On behalf of the undersigned organizations, this letter conveys our concerns regarding the plan and schedule to file a surrender application for the Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project No. 77 (PVP) and requests clarification of that schedule. We understand that Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) has accepted Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (Licensee or PG&E) proposed schedule. To ensure that PG&E abides by its proposed schedule, we encourage the Commission to require clear, specific deadlines for each of the proposed actions, progress reports for the interim steps, including what FERC expects in terms of a response from the licensee, additional details on who will be consulted in each of the outreach activities and how public outreach and stakeholder engagement will be managed.
FERC’s July 29th, 2022 letter accepting PG&E’s plan and schedule to file a surrender application for the PVP recognized that “adjustments to the schedule [may be] necessary.”¹ We ask that the Commission adjust the plan and schedule to file a surrender application to provide additional clarity on the following issues:
1) Each of the activities in the plan should have specific beginning and end dates assigned to it rather than just a span of months.
2) Provide a specific date when the final draft surrender application and decommissioning plan will be provided.
3) The 30-day comment period should be defined now so tribes, agencies, and stakeholders can prepare comments.
4) Each of the activities in the plan should describe what will be reported to FERC to demonstrate completion of the activity.
5) The Commission should require PG&E to specify who will be consulted in each of the outreach, input or consultation steps, how they will be contacted, and when that contact will occur.
We acknowledge that the Federal Power Act provides limited direction to the Commission and that “the Commission will take a very flexible approach to the carrying out of this process.”². Given the increasing frequency of license surrender and decommissioning proceedings, we recommend the Commission take this opportunity to define a license surrender and decommissioning plan development process to provide economic certainty for the Project owner and its ratepayers, transparency to interested stakeholders, and timely completion of the license surrender and decommissioning process. There is significant public interest in the decommissioning of this Project arising from the substantial negative impacts to fish and other wildlife caused by the Project, and from the inequities the Project creates between the two impacted watersheds.
Reasoning for Requests
1) Each of the activities in the plan should have specific start and end dates assigned to them rather than just a span of months.
In an effort to better understand the schedule and prepare for comment periods and initial outreach from the licensee, we are requesting FERC require PG&E to provide dates for the start and end of each of the activities listed in the plan. Below we provide a suggested schedule and ask that FERC work with the licensee to approve this schedule or one similar to it. This proposed adjustment to the approved schedule should require little effort by FERC and the licensee.
| Activity |
Period Following FERC’s Approval of PG&E Plan and Schedule |
Proposed dates |
| Secure consultant support for the development of the surrender application and decommissioning plan | 1-6 | July 29, 2022 – January 29, 2023 |
| Conduct initial outreach to agencies and other stakeholders to solicit relevant information for the preparation of the surrender application and decommissioning plan | 3-8 | September 29, 2022 – March 29, 2023 |
| Prepare initial draft surrender application including decommissioning plan | 6-16 |
December 29, 2022 – November 29, 2023 |
| Obtain input from agencies and other stakeholders regarding PG&E’s initial draft surrender application and decommissioning plan | 16-19 | October 29, 2023 – February 28, 2024 |
| Address comments from agencies and other stakeholders and prepare final draft surrender application and decommissioning plan | 19-22 | January 29, 2024 – May 29, 2024 |
| Provide final draft surrender application and decommissioning plan to agencies and stakeholders for a 30-day review and comment period | 22-23 | Please provide a single date for when the final draft surrender application and decommissioning plan will be provided to stakeholders; based on the current schedule text we understand this date to be April 29, 2024 |
| Address comments from agencies and other stakeholders on final draft surrender application and decommissioning plan | 24-28 | June 29, 2024 – November 29, 2024 |
| Prepare and file final surrender application and decommissioning plan | 28-30 | October 29, 2024 – January 29, 2025 |
| TOTAL MONTHS AFTER APPROVAL | 30 | January 29, 2025 |
2) Provide a specific date when the final draft surrender application and decommissioning plan will be provided.
FERC should require the licensee to provide a date for the submission of a final draft surrender application and decommissioning plan to FERC, Tribes, agencies, and stakeholders. We strongly recommend at least 30-days between the submission of the final draft surrender application and decommissioning plan and the beginning of the 30-day comment period. The existing schedule accommodates this if the draft plan is submitted by April 29, 2024.
3) The 30-day comment period should be defined now so tribes, agencies, and stakeholders can prepare comments.
The schedule does not define when the 30-day comment period will begin and end. Clear dates will benefit all parties involved, including FERC and the licensee, as it will give clarity on the deadline for comments which will ultimately make comments more productive. The approved schedule does not provide any detail on how PG&E will address the input that is provided to them in the initial outreach and input activities. Thus, this may be the only formal opportunity for stakeholders to submit comments on the proposed decommissioning plan. We suggest the 30-day comment period run from May 29, 2024 – June 29, 2024.
4) Each of the activities in the plan should describe what will be reported to FERC upon completion of the activity.
PG&E should be required to submit responses to FERC that describe when and how the activity has been completed. Without reporting to FERC, tribes, agencies, the public and stakeholders cannot determine whether PG&E is moving through the license surrender process efficiently, or know whether activities were completed in a reasonable manner. Each response should be submitted to FERC prior to the deadline for the activity’s completion date to prevent schedule slip. Provided below is a table with recommended responses by PG&E to FERC for each approved activity:
| Activity | Proposed response reported to FERC |
| Secure consultant support for the development of the surrender application and decommissioning plan | Provide FERC and the public with consultant name and contact information. |
| Conduct initial outreach to agencies and other stakeholders to solicit relevant information for the preparation of the surrender application and decommissioning plan | Provide FERC and the public with a list of Tribes, agencies and stakeholders that will be contacted, describe how and when they will be contacted. When complete, summarize who was contacted, how they were contacted, and the information collected, subject to confidentiality requirements for tribal culturally sensitive information. |
| Prepare initial draft surrender application including decommissioning plan | Notify FERC that draft plan has been prepared and provided the public by a means calculated to achieve the widest distribution amount stakeholders, including, for example, posting on a publicly accessible website. |
| Obtain input from agencies and other stakeholders regarding PG&E’s initial draft surrender application and decommissioning plan | Provide FERC and the public with a list of Tribes, agencies, and stakeholders that will be contacted, describe how and when they will be contacted. When complete, summarize who was contacted, how they were contacted, and the information collected. |
| Address comments from agencies and other stakeholders and prepare final draft surrender application and decommissioning plan | Provide FERC and the public with PG&E’s responses to comments. |
| Provide final draft surrender application and decommissioning plan to agencies and stakeholders for a 30-day review and comment period |
Notify FERC that draft plan has been prepared and provided to Tribes, agencies, stakeholders, and the public by a means calculated to achieve the widest distribution amount stakeholders, including, for example, posting on a publicly accessible website. |
| Address comments from agencies and other stakeholders on final draft surrender application and decommissioning plan | Provide FERC and the public with PG&E’s responses to comments. |
| Prepare and file final surrender application and decommissioning plan | Submit final surrender application and decommissioning plan to FERC |
|
TOTAL MONTHS AFTER APPROVAL |
30 |
5) The Commission should require greater specificity regarding who will be consulted in each of the outreach, input or consultation steps, how they will be contacted, and when that contact will occur.
The approved schedule provides no detail on which tribes, agencies and stakeholders will be consulted as part of the surrender plan development, or how they will be contacted or permitted to provide input. There is no detail on whether the outreach will be formal or informal, if any public meetings will occur, or if any time will be allowed for formal bodies to meet and confer.
We request the Commission provide additional detail about the nature of public comment to ensure a transparent and meaningful process for considering stakeholders’ views, including those of tribal nations, conservation and fishing groups, other interests, and the public, in addition to the state and federal resource agencies. Importantly, there is no mention of input or consultation with Tribal Governments nor time provided for those Governments to convene and discuss.
Without consultation with and input from Indian tribes, the Commission will be unable to carry out its statutory duty to identify and assess potential adverse effects of the final surrender application and decommissioning plan on Indian trust resources and cultural properties. 18 CFR § 2.1c. The Licensee should include detail on how California Indian Tribes will be contacted and when and how that contact will occur.
Thank you for your consideration,
| Alicia Hamann Executive Director Friends of the Eel River |
Brian Johnson California Director Trout Unlimited |
Redgie Collins Legal and Policy Director California Trout |
| Chris Shutes FERC Projects Director California Sportfishing Protection Alliance |
Victoria Brandon Chapter Chair Sierra Club, Redwood Chapter |
Mark Sherwood Executive Director Native Fish Society |
| Regina Chichizola Executive Director Save California Salmon |
Scott Harding Stewardship Associate American Whitewater |
Meghan Quinn Associate Director of California River Restoration and Dam Removal American Rivers |
| Glen H. Spain NW Regional Director Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA) and Institute for Fisheries Resources |
¹FERC, Letter Re: Schedule for filing surrender application and designation of non-federal representative for consultation (July 29, 2022), Doc. Accession No. 20220729-3016.
²Project Decommissioning at Relicensing; FERC Policy Statement; Docket No. RM93-23-000 (December 14, 1994).