During an online meeting open to the public Thursday, the Pacific Gas & Electric Company plans to provide an update on the process to dismantle its hydroelectric plant in Mendocino County known as the Potter Valley Project.
Built more than 100 years ago to provide electricity to the Ukiah Valley, the hydroelectric plant is no longer deemed a vitally useful facility, and over the past several years PG&E has been slowly completing the process of surrendering the project and removing the dams that provide it with water: Scott Dam, which created Lake Pillsbury, and Cape Horn Dam.
In order to generate electricity through the Potter Valley Project, water was diverted from the Eel River into the hydroelectric plant and released through a tunnel that delivered the water into the Russian River and eventually into Lake Mendocino. And over the dozen or so decades that this water was diverted through Potter Valley, hundreds of thousands of residents in the Russian River watershed became dependent on this regular delivery of water.
In order to maintain these diversions, a coalition that PG&E describes as “consisting of Sonoma County Water Agency, Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, Humboldt County, Round Valley Indian Tribes, California Trout, Trout Unlimited, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife (is seeking to construct and operate a) New Eel-Russian Facility using some of the PVP’s existing facilities.
In its Final Draft Surrender Application, PG&E notes that its submittal “reflects the agreement among PG&E and the Proponents that aligns PG&E’s Project license surrender and decommissioning with the interests of the proponents to construct and operate the NERF with the equal goals of (1) improving fish migration and habitat on the Eel River with the objective of achieving naturally reproducing, self-sustaining, and harvestable native anadromous fish populations and (2) maintaining material and continued water diversion from the Eel River through the existing tunnel to the Russian River to support water supply reliability, fisheries, and water quality in the Russian River basin. As such, this submittal includes (1) PG&E’s Surrender Application and decommissioning plan for its Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project and (2) an application for NonProject Use of Project Lands for FERC to authorize the Eel-Russian Project Authority2 (ERPA) to construct the NERF while the license remains in effect.
The PG&E submittal also includes:
Decommissioning and removal of Scott Dam and associated facilities and features; Removal and restoration of certain Project recreational facilities (e.g., campgrounds; dayuse facilities; recreation access roads and trails; kiosk; and boat ramps) located on U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and PG&E lands; Decommissioning and removal of Cape Horn Dam and associated facilities and features, except for limited components that will be needed for the NERF; Removal of NERF facilities and lands from the existing FERC License; and Restoration of the remnant inundation zone of Lake Pillsbury and Van Arsdale Reservoir.PG&E officials note in their press release “included in the final draft surrender application is a request of ‘Non-Project Use of Project Lands,’ which would allow the Eel-Russian Project Authority to build a new water diversion facility that utilizes some existing PG&E facilities, (though) PG&E is not responsible for either the construction or the operation of this new facility, nor will its construction delay the decommissioning of the project.”
On Feb. 6 from 10 to 11:30 a.m., PG&E will host an online meeting to share information on the final draft, discuss the regulatory process and note opportunities to participate. The meeting is meant for resource agencies, tribes, non-government organizations and the general public. (Link to the press release and Thursday meeting here)
Also this month, PG&E is collecting public comments on the final draft, which “must be in writing and are due to PG&E by March 3. PG&E will review comments received and expects to file its final surrender application and decommissioning plan with FERC in July 2025.”
View the plan here: www.pottervalleysurrenderproceeding.com/
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