Tuesday, February 18, 2014 Western Rivers Conservancy 1418 20th Street, Suite 100 Sacramento, CA 95811 On behalf of Friends of the Eel River, I write to support efforts to secure the tremendous conservation values of key parcels in the headwaters of the East Branch of the South Fork Eel River. These remarkably intact holdings … Read more
Sunday, February 2, 2014 Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 888 First Street, N.E. Washington, DC 20426 Re: Potter Valley Project (FERC No. 77) Temporary Urgent Request for Flow Variance Due to Limited Water Availability Dear Secretary Bose: Under the present extreme and extraordinary circumstances, Friends of the Eel River concurs that FERC … Read more
Learn more about our current drought, its historic and scientific context, the impact on our environment, and how state and federal policymakers are handling the situation. Drought History Graphic reprinted from the North Coast Journal California Drought: 17 Communities Could Run Out of Water Within 60 to 120 Days, State Says Paul Rogers, San Jose … Read more
Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman on Tuesday said he’s made it a top priority to crack down on illegal pot growers who steal millions of gallons of water during the growing season. Area residents may tolerate marijuana growers, but they don’t tolerate water thieves who illegally tap into streams and their neighbors’ water tanks, Allman … Read more
If you go back thousands of years, you see that droughts can go on for years if not decades, and there were some dry periods that lasted over a century, like during the Medieval period and the middle Holocene. The 20th century was unusually mild here, in the sense that the droughts weren’t as severe … Read more
New research shows that this whale [“southern resident” orcas] population — divvied up into three lively pods — loves to travel, especially in the winter. Last year scientists found that, over the course of just a few months, they cruised from Cape Flattery, at the far northwestern tip of Washington, down along the Oregon Coast … Read more
Veteran marijuana farmers say newcomers to Northern California’s pot hotbed use toxic, harmful methods to cash in “We need to (fully) legalizemarijuana and regulate it as we would any other industry,” he said. “Policymakers need to tell farmers, ‘Go ahead and grow if you comply with environmental standards and with public-health requirements.’” “No one wants to … Read more
The demand for bulk-water sales has been growing fast over the last several years. When the GSD started their bulk sales program in 2010 they sold just 628,240 gallons, but it grew to 1.68 million gallons sold in 2011 and 2.23 million gallons in 2012. The city of Fortuna’s bulk water sales program has seen … Read more
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, owners of the Pottery Valley Project have requested and been granted permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reduce flows to the main stem Eel River at Cape Horn Dam, from Lake Pillsbury at Scott Dam, and into the East Branch of the Russian River. This is a … Read more
The Humboldt Builders’ Exchange, whose associated Political Action Committee is chaired by O & M Industries co-owner Rob McBeth, submitted a letter today (via its Sacramento attorneys) to Humboldt County Board of Supervisors Chair Ryan Sundberg. The letter (pdf here) argues that the supes have made so many changes to the plan over the last … Read more