PG&E Files to Remove Eel River Dams, Community Called to Act

Pacific Gas and Electric submitted an application to relinquish its license for the Potter Valley Project and to take out two non operating dams in the Eel River headwaters. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff opened a public comment opportunity and the deadline was extended to Friday December 19 at 2 p.m. Local advocacy group Friends of the Eel is mobilizing Humboldt County residents to tell regulators they support removal without delay.

The project has not produced electricity for more than four years and generated less than one percent of PG&E’s hydropower over the past 20 years. Advocacy materials note the failed facility has cost ratepayers about a million dollars a year while continuing to cause ecological harm in the Eel watershed. For Humboldt residents that burden on utility bills raises questions of fairness and fiscal stewardship at a time when many households face economic strain.

Ecological stakes are high. Dam removal is identified as the single most important action to support recovery of the Eel River’s native fish and to allow steelhead to access more than 280 miles of prime habitat in the upper basin. Removing reservoir habitat could also reduce conditions that favor invasive pikeminnow, which thrive in the warmer waters of Lake Pillsbury. Health and community wellbeing are connected to these outcomes through water quality, food security and outdoor recreation that sustain physical and mental health.

The Potter Valley Project includes an inter basin diversion from the Eel to the Russian River. The current plan allows the Eel Russian Project Authority to use some existing infrastructure to develop a new diversion without dams, under different rules intended to be more protective of Eel River habitat, while continuing to provide water to Russian River users. Opposition has surfaced from some water users and a nationwide political movement described in advocacy materials as producing disinformation and organized resistance.

This moment presents Humboldt residents a direct avenue to influence federal review and the future of the watershed. Friends of the Eel has provided instructions, suggested talking points and a sample letter for filing comments with FERC. Community input will shape outcomes that affect local ecosystems, household finances and long term environmental justice in the region.