PG&E decision jeopardizes Eel River diversions that keep the Russian River flowing year-round

Some public officials have likened it to “Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown” in old “Peanuts” cartoons.

But a decision by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to reverse its position on some of its surrender plan for the Potter Valley powerhouse is no laughing matter. It threatens water supply for more than 600,000 Russian River water users.

PG&E initially said it would accommodate requests from water managers and stakeholder partners in Sonoma and Mendocino counties that would allow continued water diversions from the Eel River into the Russian River. However, it now has decided to proceed with license surrender for the Potter Valley plant without those provisions.

A company spokesman said including future diversions created unwanted liabilities and threatened to delay removal of Scott and Cape Horn dams under the plant decommissioning plan.

Members and partners of the newly created, multicounty Eel-Russian Project Authority, which held its first meeting last week, said they believe an alternate, parallel path for maintaining diversions exists. PG&E said it would support and facilitate that work where it can.

But the utility’s announcement has disrupted efforts to secure the diversions beyond the life of the power plant and ensure sufficient water for residents and others up and down the Russian River corridor, which includes hundreds of thousands of users. The multi-county joint powers authority has partial design of diversion structures underway assuming that PG&E would meet its needs.

“It’s like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown,” Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore, an Eel-Russian authority appointee, told fellow supervisors Feb. 6.

The news, delivered last week to partners who have worked for years to ensure Eel River diversions would outlive PG&E’s Potter Valley plant, came mostly as a shock, though they say the utility has let them down in the past.

Among other things, PG&E had invited the Russian River coalition to submit its diversion proposal as part of the surrender process, and water managers were thrilled when those elements were part of the utility’s draft surrender plan last fall.

When Mendocino County Supervisor Glenn McGourty informed his county board on Feb. 6 of the latest development, he described it as “a significant existential threat to us and our water supply.”

But North Coast U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat from San Rafael, said he half expected PG&E to act as it has, given the number of times the utility has indicated it would accommodate the region’s needs then “decided that their corporate interest was in a different direction.”

Simply put, Huffman said, “PG&E is trying to get out from under this project as cheaply and quickly as they can.”

Inland residents, farmers and ranchers have benefited for more than a century from Eel River water stored behind Scott Dam then sent down a mile-long tunnel at Cape Horn Dam through turbines in the Potter Valley powerhouse and into the East Fork of the Russian River.

The water that then flows into Lake Mendocino for release into the main stem Russian River started out as a byproduct of hydroelectric power generation. It has since become the lifeblood of the inland region, supporting communities and the region’s agriculture and wine industries.

So as soon as PG&E announced in 2019 it would not renew its federal license for the small, inefficient power plant, local water managers scrambled to ensure some level of Eel River diversions would continue, even though those contributions have declined over the years in order to leave more water in the Eel River for fish.

The stakes are high. Studies using 110 years of hydrologic data show Lake Mendocino would go dry in roughly two of every 10 years without continued diversions. In eight out of 10, the reservoir would be unable to meet all the demands on it.

Entities working to strike a balance that would protect fish and the Eel River’s recovery while providing enough water to support Russian River users had settled on a plan to divert water only in the wet winter months, when Eel River levels were high.

The plan depended on retention of certain PG&E infrastructure that includes the diversion tunnel and foundational elements of Cape Horn Dam to anchor new diversion structures.

PG&E spokesman Paul Moreno said the company supports the regional goals and “remains committed to continue working together.”

But proceeding through the federal agency that normally regulates power facilities was too novel and complex to accommodate at this point. It also raised the prospect of liabilities and uncertain costs Moreno said the utility would have to pass onto customers.

Then there’s the timeline. PG&E already has reduced the water level in Lake Pillsbury because of concerns about the seismic resilience of Scott Dam.

After filing its draft surrender plan last fall for the Potter Valley power facility, which includes both the Scott and Cape Horn dams, the company said it could be cleared for their removal by 2028, allowing for Lake Pillsbury in Lake County to be drained and the headwaters of the Eel River to be open to salmon and other fish.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, as part of a new salmon recovery initiative announced last week, also has pledged to support and expedite dam removal plans so they can be finalized by the end of this year.

But Grant Davis, general manager of Sonoma Water, which supplies more than 600,000 people in Sonoma and northern Marin counties, noted Newsom’s strategy also refers to development of “a fish-friendly water diversion for Russian River communities” suggesting the state will support regional efforts to secure reliable flows.

“I am confident that we’re going to come up with a successful plan,” Davis said.

Said Huffman, “I don’t think anyone is hitting the panic button just yet. We’re not going to take out dams and shut off the Russian River basin. That is never going to happen.”

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan (she/her) at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @MaryCallahanB.