More than 750,000 people in Northern California depend on water from Lake Pillsbury, a century-old reservoir deep in the Mendocino National Forest. PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) has asked federal regulators to tear out the two dams that hold it.
In this episode of The Read, Keely Brazil Covello goes through her long-form investigation into the Potter Valley Project. It traces the story from the men who built the dams more than 100 years ago to PG&E’s bankruptcy and the politics of dam removal. She covers the disputed science on salmon, the replacement plan that leaves summers without storage, the rural communities fighting to keep their water, and the surprising federal intervention that could prove to be their last hope.
Read the full piece here:
Damned: The Full Story of the Fight for the Potter Valley Project
Between the San Francisco Bay Area and the dark timber country of the Pacific Northwest, for a moment California’s coastline hits nirvana. The road cuts between ancient redwoods, through hills drenched in fog, and opens into valleys brief and brilliant, divided into green pastures and vineyards and wineries and ranches.
