Four rural California Farm Bureaus ask Trump to stop dam removal
Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma, and Marin counties appeal to Trump to save the Potter Valley Project: "It seems our future hangs in the balance."
The Farm Bureaus for Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma, and Marin counties in Northern California have asked the Trump administration to intervene in the planned removal of the Potter Valley Project dams in a joint letter.
This follows a February request by the Lake County Board of Supervisors, appealing to the Trump administration to save the two hydroelectric dams. President Trump has frequently criticized California for failed water policies that allow water to flush into the ocean while the state government further restricts water usage for farms and residents.
The Potter Valley Project is a 100 year-old dam system serving agricultural communities on the North Coast as well as 600,000 individual water users. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has surrendered the project and is pursuing decommissioning after years of lawsuits by environmental groups forced the company to reduce flows, rendering the power project unprofitable.
The farm bureaus—non-governmental, voluntary membership agriculture advocacy groups—ask President Trump and his administration to intervene and save the Eel River dams, writing, “It seems our future hangs in the balance.”
In part, the letter reads:
Preserving the Potter Valley Project is the desired outcome to maintain our water supply, allowing Mendocino, Sonoma, and Marin Counties to continue receiving this water, serving over 600,000 people. Communities were built based on this water supply, and communities will be ruined should it go away. Moreover, the restoration and modernization of the PVP could result in the return of sufficient hydroelectric power generation that could supply our region with sustainable electricity once more.
Together the two dams divert less than 2% of the flow of the Eel River to the Russian River during the high-flow winter season, providing a reliable summer water supply as well as replenishing the Eel during the dry months. In addition to providing a consistent water supply, Scott Dam forms Lake Pillsbury, which serves as key water storage infrastructure for a rural, fire-prone landscape. Locals say the community will be vulnerable to fire and drought when the dams are removed and the lake is dried up.
Last month, Dayna Ghirardelli, president of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, released an economic impact report on dam removal, which reveals Sonoma County alone faces an enormous loss in jobs and revenue.
“The total amount of income lost at only 10% water reduction is $65 million, with 297 jobs lost, with a tax revenue loss of $2.24 million,” Ghirardelli said at a Cloverdale Town Hall event on dam removal. “Now these numbers are not linear, so as water amounts decrease, the annual economic loss is compounded.”
In a report conducted by Sonoma County Water, keeping the dams was found to be the only option that could ensure a reliable water supply. This option was scrapped, however, after allegedly failing the “objectives” of so-called stakeholders, including government agencies and NGOs. These objectives, which apparently take precedence over water for citizens, were not specified.
I've read the letter the Farm Bureaus sent to Trump. It is very good. If the dams are removed, it proves beyond doubt, that the government of California is insane and run by lunatics.
The changes being sought and wrought in the Trump Administration are the only hope to save the dams. The fix is in and beyond hope for sure with the state, and it is likely beyond fix with the current overwhelming anti-dam mindset within federal agencies. The Trump outfit could pull victory out of the jaws of defeat, though. Before I worked for Siskiyou County, the decommissioning train for 4 Klamath River dans was already well on the tracks with the irrigation shutdown in the Upper Klamath Basin begun under the Clinton Administration. George Bush bought the farmers temporary respite until Obama came in. By then, I was working for Siskiyou County, and had an active role in trying to save the dans, and the campaign to take them out was in high gear. The fix that was in was re-empowered, and there was nothing that could be done to stop it with a complicit federal administration in place. They were eased in their goal because our 4 dams had no agricultural or flood control value. Electrical generation was almost the sole role of the dams. Just the few lakeside resident communities and lake recreationalists were the primary long term victims. The campaign to take out the two remaining dams which are the lifeblood of the agricultural community in the Upper Basin is now building. With Trump in office, it’s going to be a tough slog for the decommissioning lobby. But an administration change will likely supercharge the demise of those dams. If people are successful in getting relief on the Potter Valley dams thanks to the Trump administration, I STRONGLY urge striving for a permanent solution and not to get complacent with something that can be undone with a change in US Presidents!!!