Update 3/12/2024

The Eel Russian Project Authority (ERPA) will be holding their next meeting in Ukiah on March 19 from 3-5 pm.  They will be meeting in the Mendocino County Supervisors chambers and be on zoom as a webinar.

Here is the link to see the details and agenda:  https://www.eelrussianauthority.org/events

Update 2/14/2024

PG&E recently made an announcement regarding the PVP decommissioning, that shocked some people as they assumed it was the end for the new Eel/Russian diversion and fisheries plan.  But that is totally incorrect…everything is moving forward, just in a slightly different way.

As we had reported previously, Mendocino County Inland Water & Power Commission (IWPC) has been working on a way for PG&E to transfer certain PVP assets and the water rights to the Eel Russian Project Authority (ERPA).  A Joint proposal was sent from IWPC, Sonoma Water Agency, Round Valley Tribes, CA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, Trout Unlimited, Cal Trout and Humboldt County to PG&E.  Basically, it stated that we would take over certain physical assets from PG&E and find a way to divert water in such a way as to allow water to flow to the Russian River and yet maintain flows and improve fisheries in the Eel River.

To do that, we formed the Eel Russian Project Authority (ERPA) consisting of Sonoma County Water, Sonoma County, and IWPC, with the Round Valley Indian Tribe also having a vote on the Board.  ERPA met for the first time on January 31, 2024.  You can watch the video of the meeting at this link: https://www.eelrussianauthority.org/events.

ERPA would request a non-power license from FERC as part of the regulatory process. Once FERC and state permitting were complete, we would work in concert with PG&E as they removed their facilities and at the same time, we would be building our facilities.  PG&E accepted the proposal for further evaluation in November 2023.

However, later in February, PG&E told the group that there were aspects of our proposal that did not align with their timelines for dam removal.  The main concern was the time it might take to obtain a FERC non-power license and therefore they were not going to include our ‘complete’ proposal in their decommissioning plan to FERC.  However, they were still willing to include parts of it and work with us in many ways that will support the efforts of ERPA.

So instead, PG&E will work independently on FERC permitting, but we will work in parallel with PG&E to accomplish the various state permitting requirements.  Once all permitting is complete, as PG&E removes their facilities, we will be building our facilities at the same time.

So, long story short, this is just another stage in our continued and ‘parallel’ progress forward…it’s just a little different path but the work will definitely continue, and the goals are the same.   We are now in a period where we are trying to evaluate the best permitting strategy to make sure there is no daylight between PG&E’s removal of the dam and our construction of the new facility and diversion.  There are a lot of things we can work with PG&E on, so we will continue to meet and work with them.

More news coming soon….

Update 12/8/2023

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, who also serve as the Board of Directors for the Sonoma County Water Agency, voted today to approve a Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement with Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission to form the Eel-Russian Project Authority.

The new entity will have the power to negotiate with the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) as the utility moves ahead with plans to surrender operations of the Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project and to decommission the Scott and Cape Horn dams on the Eel River. The new authority will also have the legal capacity to own, construct and operate a new water diversion facility near the Cape Horn dam.

“This is another important step in the process to find a truly regional solution to the challenges facing the Eel and Russian River watersheds,” said Sonoma County Supervisor and Sonoma Water Director David Rabbitt. “We’re grateful to all of the partners who are working diligently to achieve our co-equal goals of continued diversions into the Russian River and improving fisheries in the Eel River.”

The Potter Valley Project, currently owned and operated by PG&E, has been diverting water from the Eel River into the Russian River watershed for more than a century, playing a critical role in supplying water for agriculture, homes, and instream flows to benefit aquatic ecosystems and threatened salmonids in Mendocino and Sonoma counties.

The Potter Valley Project is licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In 2019, PG&E announced that it would not proceed with relicensing the project and would instead enter into a license surrender and decommissioning process. PG&E stated that its application would propose to remove Scott and Cape Horn dams and end any operations, including water diversions to the Russian River, unless it received a complete and credible proposal by July 2023.

To meet this deadline, in July, the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, the Round Valley Indian Tribes and Sonoma Water submitted a proposal to PG&E to preserve water diversions into the Russian River, while also prioritizing upstream and downstream fish migration in the Eel River. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, County of Humboldt, California Trout and Trout Unlimited subsequently signed on to a revised proposal in November.

PG&E released an initial draft surrender application on Nov. 17, 2023 which includes several of the measures proposed by the coalition. PG&E is set to release a final draft surrender application in June 2024. The final application is expected to be submitted by Jan. 29, 2025.

The New Eel-Russian Facility proposal submitted to PG&E also called for the creation of a regional entity, which today’s board action will move forward, with the capacity to develop a yet-to-be designed facility that would allow for ongoing water diversions through the Potter Valley Project’s tunnel between the Eel River and Russian River, while providing for fish migration to support naturally reproducing and self-sustaining native fish populations.

The Eel-Russian Project Authority’s five-member board of directors will initially consist of two representatives from the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, one from Sonoma Water, one from the County of Sonoma and one from the Round Valley Indian Tribes.

For more information, visit https://sonomawater.org/pvp.

Dec. 5, 2023   Sonoma Water press release

Update 11/17/2023

PG&E has released its Initial Draft Surrender Application and Conceptual Decommissioning Plan for the Potter Valley Project and it is available for review and comment.  The document can be downloaded from the “Documents” tab at PG&E’s Potter Valley Surrender Proceeding website. When prompted for a password, enter “PV_Surrender”.  Instructions for providing comments on the document to PG&E are on page number 1-3.   You can obtain access to the application by reaching out to the PG&E Project Manager at  T1GF@pge.com.  The public comment period will be open until December 22, 2023. Formal comments must be submitted in writing via email to PVSurrender@pge.com or by mail to:

Tony Gigliotti
Senior Licensing Project Manager
Power Generation
12840 Bill Clark Way
Auburn, CA 95602

 PG&E will address comments as appropriate before distribution of the Final Draft Surrender Application in June 2024.  The initial draft includes PG&E’s conceptual decommissioning plan and a third-party proposal for modifications of the former Cape Horn Dam site and Van Arsdale Diversion, as necessary, to construct a New Eel-Russian Facility.  PG&E has not accepted the proposal at this time, but is including it as an option for Cape Horn Dam.  Proponents of the proposal include California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) California Trout, Humboldt County, Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, the Round Valley Indian Tribes, Sonoma County Water Agency, and Trout Unlimited.  A copy of the Proponent’s Proposal is available at: https://www.sonomawater.org/pvp

PVP PGE Proposal  PVP PGE Proposal (2023-08-03)(final)

Update 10/17/2023

New Trans Basin Diversion Proposal

Sonoma County Water Agency, Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission and the Round Valley Indian Tribes submitted a proposal for Cape Horn Dam and Van Arsdale Diversion to PG&E.  PG&E would include the proposal in the final license surrender application under certain conditions as outlined in the attached Proposal for Pacific Gas & Electric Company Draft License Surrender Application, Potter Valley Project.  This proposal may be revised, based on comments received.

PVP-Proposal-2023-08-03

On October 3, 2023, PG&E released the following statement on Sonoma/Mendocino/Round Valley Indian Tribes Proposal for Potter Valley Project’s Draft Surrender Application and Decommissioning Plan:

 PG&E has made a non-binding acceptance in concept of the Sonoma County Water Agency, Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission and the Round Valley Indian Tribes proposal and agrees to include it in our November 15th 2023 initial draft Surrender Application and Decommissioning Plan (SA). The acceptance of this proposal is non-binding and allows for continued discussion and public
Comment.  The initial Draft SA will be available for public review in November 2023 and will also include PG&E’s proposal to remove Cape Horn Dam.

• This proposal states that it has co-equal objectives of fish migration and water diversions.
• PG&E will include both the third-party proposal as well as our decommissioning plan in our initial Draft Surrender Application and Decommissioning Plan.

Update 8/22/2023

Update 8/7/2023

Update 7/14/2023

Flow Variance
On May 22, 2023, PG&E filed a flow variance request with FERC for 2023. The flow changes that are requested are similar to last year, with the East Fork Russian River releases being reduced from the current 75 CFS to a release between 5-25 CFS based on PG&E and agency determinations of daily temperature evaluation of water released from Lake Pillsbury. FERC has opened up the variance request for public comments until August 4th.  It is anticipated that the variance will not go into effect until sometime in August.

The variance request can be seen HERE.

Update 6/2/2023

PG&E’s license surrender timelines

PG&E reported that, now that they have been directed by FERC to surrender and decommission the Project, they intend to remove all of the Project infrastructure including both Scott Dam at Lake Pillsbury and Cape Horn Dam at Van Arsdale reservoir.  PG&E will, however, review any plans that a qualified owner might submit in order to acquire part of the existing Project infrastructure.  PG&E wishes to receive notice of such a proposal as soon as possible.

Tony Gigliotti, PG&E’s Senior Project License Surrender Manager, laid out the timeline for the license surrender plan. There will be an initial draft surrender plan for public review released November 2023. A final draft surrender plan will be filed with FERC, and also available for public review, in May 2024. The final license surrender plan will be filed with FERC in January 2025.

Update 5/20/2023

Cape Horn Dam

As part of the RRWF’s DWR grant, one of the objectives was to assess the PVP facilities for possible acquisition.  One of the issues is that the current diversion facilities will require modification to improve fish passage.   The existing fish ladder is inadequate, so three alternatives are being considered. These include modifying Cape Horn Dam and installing a state of the art fish ladder.  The second alternative includes designing a gradual roughened channel allowing fish passage while maintaining the elevation needed for the diversion. The third concept is a facility that would pump water from an infiltration gallery downstream of the existing dam back up to the diversion tunnel. The DWR grant funding will result in a 20-30% design for these three alternatives.  Sonoma Water is applying for a grant from the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) to determine the most feasible of the three alternatives and take that alternative to a 60% design.  IWPC is sending a letter of support for the BOR grant.

Update 4/27/2023

Scott Dam

PG&E held a town hall meeting on April 27 to talk about changes in operations they have made at Lake Pillsbury’s Scott Dam.  After a Safety Study that included a seismic analysis, they concluded that the 100 year old dam had an increase in seismic risk due to the Bartlett Springs fault that runs directly under Lake Pillsbury.  PG&E is opening the gates at the dam to reduce the lake level by ten feet which will reduce the pressure and risk of dam failure.

Lake Pillsbury has provided a reliable source of water to the Eel and Russian Rivers during the summer months when natural flows can be extremely low. On average, per annum, the Project diverts 1.8% of the flow in the Eel River through a diversion into the Russian River. However, maintenance of the aging dam is one of the reasons that the Potter Valley hydroplant is running at an economic loss for PG&E.   The costs of finding a solution for fish passage and building a suitable alternative plus correcting the identified seismic issues, make maintaining this dam even more expensive.

PG&E also reported that, now that they have been directed by FERC to surrender and decommission the Project, they intend to remove all of the Project infrastructure including both Scott Dam at Lake Pillsbury and Cape Horn Dam at Van Arsdale reservoir. PG&E will, however, review any plans that a qualified owner might submit in order to acquire part of the existing Project infrastructure. PG&E wishes to receive notice of such a proposal as soon as possible.

Tony Gigliotti, PG&E’s Senior Project License Surrender Manager, laid out the timeline for the license surrender plan. There will be an initial draft surrender plan for public review released November 2023. A final draft surrender plan will be filed with FERC, and also available for public review, in May 2024. The final license surrender plan will be filed with FERC in January 2025.

Sonoma Water is applying for a grant from the Bureau of Reclamation to bring one of the three Eel River diversion plan alternatives, that will allow volitional fish migration passage and continued diversions into the Russian River watershed (currently being studied with grant funding from DWR), to a 60% design level.

Challenges

What are the biggest challenges to maintain the transfer of Potter Valley Project water into the Russian River?

 Water Supply Challenges

• Without PVP water transfers to the Russian River:
  • In 8 out of 10 years there will not be enough water supply in Lake Mendocino to meet all the needs of businesses, cities, residents, and wildlife that depend on the Russian
  • In 2 out of these 8 water-short years, there is predicted to be a 30,000-acre foot shortage of water in the Russian River, and Lake Mendocino is predicted to go dry
• Water users that rely on Lake Mendocino for their water supply will be impacted to varying degrees depending on their location and water use.
• Farther reaching economic and environmental impacts are also anticipated in Mendocino and Sonoma counties with the loss of PVP

Current Infrastructure Challenges

Since the transformer unit at the PVP is not being repaired, PG&E is not able to run water through the powerhouse to make power and has only been bypassing the minimum amount of water as required by their license for the East Fork Russian River and the Potter Valley Irrigation District.

• The reduced diversion has impacted, and will continue to impact, the water storage levels in Lake Mendocino.
• 4/2023: PG&E has delayed the decision regarding the transformer replacement at the PVP until April 2023.  At that time they announced that there would be no replacement of the transformer.  See letter from PG&E:  PG&E Transformer Replacement Update 12.22
• 10/2022: PG&E revealed in late October 2021 that an electric transformer necessary for the operation of the powerhouse had degraded to a point that it was at risk of failing. Preliminary estimates indicate an expected timeline of 18 to 24 months to design, manufacturer, and install, with a cost in the $5 to $10 million range.  And in February 2022, it was announced that PG&E has, “concluded it is beneficial to PG&E’s electric generation customers to proceed with the work necessary to return the powerhouse to full operational status.” No specific timelines for the repairs were presented, but overall, this is positive news.

Future Funding Challenges

• A broad-based funding program will be needed to support the ongoing operation of the PVP to preserve the benefits that PVP water provides to the economies and environment of the Russian River
• “Bridge Fund” estimates are being researched to determine the level of funding needed to support IWPC’s efforts to engage in the FERC license surrender process, negotiations with PG&E and the feasibility study to raise Coyote Valley Dam.

Licensing Challenges

• On April 21, 2022, FERC provided a notice stating that PG&E has been authorized to continue to operate the Project under a year-to-year license or until the issuance of a new license for the project or other disposition under the Federal Power Act, whichever comes first.
• On May 11, 2022, FERC submitted a response to PG&E requesting a license surrender plan to be submitted within 60 days.
• The timeline for the year-to-year operation is currently unknown as are the details of the license surrender plan. The Mendocino County Inland Water & Power Commission will continue to engage with PG&E and other stakeholders as the process moves forward.