[env-trinity] My Word: Dam removal isn’t over yet/Feb 2 Fundraiser

[Tom Stokely]

Also, please see flyer at end of message for Feb 2 Fundraiser
https://www.times-standard.com/2019/01/30/my-word-dam-removal-isnt-over-yet/

My Word: Dam removal isn’t over yet
   
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By REGINA CHICHIZOLA | January 30, 2019 at 12:00 am
After many years of hard work, North Coast dam removal efforts are now rapidly accelerating. On Friday, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. announced that it is pulling the application to relicense the Potter Valley Project, a series of two dams and a large diversion on the Upper Eel River. On Feb. 6, the California Water Resources Control Board is coming to Arcata to take comments on their final 401 (Clean Water Act) permit to remove four dams on the Klamath River.

What does this all mean? Are we really about to see the Eel and Klamath River dams come down?

The answer is it is now likely that both the Klamath dams, and at least one of the Eel River dams, will come down through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission process (FERC). These decisions, if coupled with flow restoration and pollution reduction, could be the key to saving our North Coast salmon in the age of climate change. Bringing back the salmon is also key to bringing back fishing related industries, and to helping right some of the historical wrongs that have been done to local Tribal communities.

There are several ways dams can come down through the FERC process. One of them is now likely on the Eel River. With PG&E moving to abandon the Potter Valley project, FERC will designate it as “orphaned.” FERC can order PG&E to file a surrender agreement and decommissioning plan. This is the likely outcome if no one buys the project, which only produces about 9 megawatts of power and had significant seismic and ecological problems. What will happen to the large diversion from the Eel River to the Russian River, and powerful Russian River farmers, is still in question.

Another dam removal option is playing out in the Klamath River. In this situation the project is being transferred to a dam removal entity which is applying for permits and a license to decommission the dams. This current process is different to the former (and controversial) settlement process and Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA), which included a water settlement. This new dam removal process restarted both federal and California public processes, as the FERC license application one was for relicensing.

On Feb. 6 and Feb. 7, the state of California Water Resources Control Board with be taking comments for their 401 (Clean Water Act) permit to take down the Klamath Dams. We hope to see the community out in mass to support this permit, as there is no doubt that powerful water interests will try to challenge the permit.

It is not all good news for our local rivers, though. The Trump administration has several proposals that threaten to lower needed flows in the Klamath River, and its largest tributary, the Trinity River. One is a new Biological Opinion (BO) on the Klamath River, which could lower flows during key times of year and possibly cause new fish kills. If the Klamath Project Biological Opinion sounds familiar, it is likely because the 2001 biological opinion caused the Klamath adult fish kill of 2002, and the most recent BO caused up to 95 percent of the Klamath juvenile salmon to die during the California drought.

Furthermore, at least three proposed California water projects threaten the Trinity River. Much of the Trinity River is diverted into the Sacramento River and therefore the Trump efforts to keep the Sacramento River water from reaching the ocean also impacts the Trinity. These proposals include the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) plan to maximize water deliveries to the Federal Central Valley Project (Trump Water Plan), Jerry Brown’s Twin Tunnels, and the Sites Reservoir Project. Even the efforts to raise the Shasta dam and increase flows to the Sacramento River can impact the Trinity because the Trinity is often diverted to the Sacramento when flows get too low for their salmon.

A proposed Liquified Natural Gag (LNG) pipeline also threatens the upper Klamath River, and continued unchecked water diversions threaten the Eel River and the Klamath’s tributaries.

It is time to celebrate, but also to stand strong for our rivers.

The people of the North Coast are invited to come out to the Arcata Veterans Hall for a Dam Removal and Water Update and Benefit Dinner on Feb. 2 at 6 p.m. to learn more about these threats and opportunities. We hope to see you there.
Regina Chichizola works for both Save California Salmon and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and has worked on Klamath dam removal and California water issues for 15 years.

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