PG&E backs off effort to permanently cut water for Potter Valley ranchers
Utility tells federal regulators it will revise its proposal after farmers were blindsided by summer reductions in peak fire season.
Yesterday in a sudden reversal, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) withdrew its request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to permanently impose water cuts on Potter Valley farmers and ranchers.
“Since the submission of the amendment application, further discussion with stakeholders and subsequent analysis in support of the upcoming 2026 temporary flow variance has highlighted that the amendment lacks adequate flexibility that has been included in previous annual temporary flow variances,” wrote Janet Walther, PG&E’s FERC License Management Director, in her notification.
Walther said PG&E plans to resubmit a revised proposal that provides more accommodation for agricultural users.
“PG&E’s supplemental filing for the License Amendment will include revisions to the requested flow requirements to provide a more flexible release strategy,” she wrote.
Potter Valley’s producers received national attention and support from federal officials after UNWON broke the story in August. In a series of videos, local farmers and ranchers described the impacts of losing water during peak season.
“This shuts us down,” cattle rancher Kay Eckel said when the cuts happened. “And there was no notice. It affects everything. It affects our well, it affects the grass for the cows.”
August water cuts blindsided agricultural community amid dam removal fight
PG&E owns the Potter Valley Project, a hydroelectric system in Northern California that includes Scott Dam and Lake Pillsbury, which hold back a portion of the Eel River during winter months to replenish Russian River flows during the dry summer season. Potter Valley farmers and ranchers are among over 600,000 customers who receive water from the project. This February, PG&E submitted a request to federal regulators to permanently reduce agricultural diversions to Potter Valley customers, citing environmental regulations. FERC approved the request in August.
The cuts blindsided farmers and ranchers, who pay for their water and rely on it for harvest operations and fire protection. Water deliveries dropped at a critical moment in the growing season, heightening wildfire risk in a region that has experienced two of the three largest wildfires in California history.
Many in the community believed the move was tied to PG&E’s effort to remove the dams. In July, PG&E submitted a dam surrender and decommissioning application to FERC.
“These water cuts are an end run,” a local rancher told UNWON. “Even if our efforts to save the dams are successful, with these water cuts we’d be out of business anyway.”
December 19 marked the deadline for public comment to FERC on both PG&E proposals—the dam removal application and the request to permanently reduce water deliveries. On that same day, PG&E notified FERC it would be revising its water cut proposal.
The letter from PG&E is available below.
Read More:
PG&E asks feds to make water cuts on Potter Valley farmers & ranchers permanent
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has asked the federal government to formalize agricultural water cuts in Potter Valley. Back in August, these restrictions blindsided farmers and ranchers who were in the middle of harvest and on the cusp of fire season.
“This shuts us down:" Potter Valley ranchers say PG&E cut water without warning amid dam removal fight
Water cutoff hits rural town in the middle of harvest and fire season
BREAKING: California to Spend $500 Million to DESTROY Century-Old Dam, End Water Supply for 600,000 Citizens in Fire-Prone Region
The Potter Valley Project is a 100-year old Northern California dam system that provides water for 600,000 residents from Potter Valley to Novato. In a story the media has completely overlooked, this critical water infrastructure is slated for destruction under Gavin Newsom’s administration.
Keep your foot on the gas. PG&E backed off for now, who knows why, but don’t rest with that lot until they have cried surrender and handed the keys to the dams and water rights over to community. How the two counties chose to handle it from there is up to them. But, for sure you all want that crowd of lying lawyers out of the process, and retreating to their offices in Oakland, never to be heard from again.
This is wonderful news. Maybe sanity and justice will prevail.