For Immediate Release
Contact: Alicia Hamann, alicia@eelriver.org
Northern California Summer Steelhead are an endangered species native to the Eel River. The Potter Valley Project blocks access to habitat for them and several other species. Photo by Samantha Kannry.
Eureka, CA – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins issued a message today alleging that a water district near Los Angeles is interested in purchasing the Eel River dams and the rest of the Potter Valley Project from Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E).
“Why anyone would be interested in paying money for a failed, money-losing, and risky project is beyond me, let alone a water district nearly 600 miles away from the dams,” said Alicia Hamann, Executive Director of Friends of the Eel River (FOER). “The project simply isn’t worth investing in. The existing dams are failing, face very serious seismic threats, and cannot be relicensed as a hydroelectric project under the current Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license.”
Even if a purchaser were to try to keep Scott and Cape Horn dams running just as an irrigation project, they’d still have to pass muster with the State of California’s Division of Safety of Dams, the agency that has told PG&E they have to operate Scott Dam at reduced capacity to mitigate seismic risks. Those seismic risks are only going to come into sharper focus as FERC-mandated studies continue.
Scott Dam was plagued by construction difficulties a century ago. Its Lake Pillsbury Reservoir is filling with sediment that will inevitably block the only remaining low-level outlet. When that fails, the dam won’t be able to release water during the summer, cutting off current irrigation uses entirely. The project also hasn’t generated electricity since 2021 due to a failed transformer that would cost many millions of dollars to replace. Neither water diversions or electricity from the project are “reliable” as Secretary Rollins claims.
And then there are the impacts on Eel River salmon and steelhead protected by the Endangered Species Act. Scott Dam blocks all fish passage to the rest of the watershed for steelhead and Chinook salmon that still occupy the upper mainstem Eel River. Steelhead are especially impacted by the dams because they must spend at least a year in freshwater before migrating to the ocean.
Key stakeholders have agreed to a deal which supports both dam removal and future diversions in the wet season. Regional interests are best served by supporting this deal, removing the dams and installing a modern diversion system as soon as possible. Not by selling out the safety of downstream residents and ecosystem recovery to carpet baggers who likely have no clue about the liability in which they are “interested.”