BREAKING: Feds intervene in Potter Valley water war
The decision comes weeks after PG&E slashed Potter Valley water flows, blindsiding farmers and residents.
Federal government steps in
Weeks after sudden water cuts blindsided Potter Valley farmers and ranchers, the Department of the Interior (DOI) has filed a notice of intervention with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), inserting the federal government into a water war that could prove existential for one of rural California’s most fire-prone regions.
The filing, which applies to a future requested cut, cites the DOI’s authority to “protect and promote the public lands, fish, wildlife, tribal, and recreational interests” of the public.
“No other party or intervenor has such authority to represent these particular national public interests,” the filing states.
The 110 year-old Potter Valley Project stores water from the Eel River during the high-flow winter season and diverts it to the Russian River through a series of dams and a tunnel, supplying 600,000 users across several counties. The project is slated for removal. Battles over flows allowed from the project are longstanding, and are now overshadowed by the threat of permanent dam removals and water loss.
PG&E water cuts spark outrage
Earlier this month, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) cut water flows into Potter Valley. PG&E requested approval in February, which FERC did not grant until August. The cuts came at a critical time—at the beginning of fire season, just months before harvest—catching farmers, ranchers, and homeowners off guard.
DOI is filing to intervene in yet another water cut requested for November to accommodate repairs. Residents hope the DOI’s action is a move by the Trump admin to get involved in the fate of a water system likely doomed for destruction without federal intervention.
As an intervener, DOI will be able to participate in the November adjustment process by submitting comments, evidence, and arguments; protesting proposals; cross-examining witnesses; and appealing FERC orders.
Grassroots fight to save dams bolstered
“This appears to be a huge win for the citizens of Northern California,” says Chris Coulombe, a local leader in the grassroots fight to protect the dams. “Thankfully, the Trump administration and its agencies are paying attention and taking their institutional responsibilities to the people seriously, even if many of our local and state officials will not.”
Many residents believe the debate over dam removals has been one sided, with broad support from California politicians including Democratic Congressman Jared Huffman and Governor Gavin Newsom.
“Our once small grassroots movement has fought for years with the propaganda machine that is our local media and elected apparatchik,” Coulombe says. “This feels like a huge breakthrough for everyone that relies on water on the North Coast, from Humboldt to Marin County.”
August water cuts remain in place, expected to continue
Sources at the Potter Valley Irrigation District (PVID) say the August water cuts remain in place and are expected to continue.
“I was in the middle of a pre-irrigation harvest,” says fourth-generation pear grower Dan Thornton. “Shutting off the water prior to harvest made it a very difficult time for us. We’re being informed right now that we may not be able to have a post-harvest irrigation of pears. Within one year without water, these 100 year-old trees will no longer survive.”
Days prior, PG&E submitted its final application to FERC to decommission the Potter Valley Project. If approved, Potter Valley’s water issues will become permanent. Residents saw the August cuts as a preview of dry days to come.
The requested November cuts would further squeeze an already dwindling water supply for Potter Valley.
Download the formal filing by DOI:
⚖️ Potter Valley Dam – Fact Check & What Comes Next
❌ Claim:
“Trump people have intervened in the Potter Valley dam case, and now the towns and tribes will automatically get a new hearing.”
✅ Fact:
- The Department of the Interior (DOI) filed a Notice of Intervention with FERC on August 21, 2025.
- The filing was signed by career DOI staff (solicitors, fish biologists, environmental officers) — not Trump appointees.
- DOI’s move gives the Department party status in the FERC proceeding, meaning they can file arguments, receive filings, and represent federal interests.
- This does not automatically reopen hearings or guarantee more direct say for towns and tribes.
🔎 What It Means:
- DOI specifically cited its statutory duty to represent fish, wildlife, tribal, and public land interests.
- That gives DOI the authority to raise tribal and local concerns inside the official process.
- But unless communities and tribes themselves file interventions or press FERC for hearings, they will still be represented indirectly through DOI.
🚨 Bottom Line:
- This is not a Trump takeover.
- It’s an opportunity: DOI’s intervention opens the door, but pressure is required if communities want their own hearings and real participation.
✊ Call to Action:
- Townspeople and tribes need to push now.
- Demand FERC schedule public hearings.
- File local government or tribal interventions.
- Use DOI’s party status as leverage: hold them accountable to represent community concerns.
Without pressure, DOI’s intervention could stay technical and narrow. With pressure, it can be the wedge to get real community voices back into the process.
DOI entering the proceeding is late. Not too late (maybe) but late. Further the participants from DOI likely are lifetime bureaucrats and will move at a glacial pace hoping this all goes away. However, someone, somewhere got to the Secretary of the Interior and he moved a mountain. What the region now needs is as loud a group of dissenters intervening with FERC as well if it is already not too late. Get organized and get ready to spend BIG money. You need a TOP FERC knowledgeable lawyer prepared to play very rough with PG&E who is the regulated utility proxy for Sacramento, read that Governor Newsom. Now it gets interesting to Trump and Vance people when you can rough up Newsom. You’re in a battle royale and knowing what the Pomo Nation wants out of all this would be good to know. I would ask the tribal council of the Nation. If you had a choice between the sense of hopelessness you have today (aka status quo) and or building a small regional utility to manage the dams and run the electrical grid with your sovereign nation status and lift your nation out of the scale of booze, gambling, drugs, and abject poverty which would you chose?
Good luck, your fight is still in early days. It maybe stillborn, the powers of the State government and NGO’s are lined up against the dams and farmers. If they could send in the National Guard and ethnically cleanse the region of dissenters they would, they are watermelons, green on the outside and red on the inside. It’s never finished until they are finished and sent packing to the next big event.