FOER comments/letters
We recently submitted a letter to Chuck Bonham, the director of California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, requesting that his agency provide overdue stream flow studies and minimum flow recommendations to the State Water Resources Control Board. The State Water Board is in turn responsible for managing instream flows and rights to divert water. Maintaining … Read more
FOER worked hard to provide detailed comments on the Great Redwood Trail Agency’s (GRTA) nearly 600-page Draft Master Plan for the Great Redwood Trail. In addition to the comments linked below, we submitted location-specific comments using the GRTA’s pdf commenting application focused on locations to expand equitable river access, camping or access sites popular with … Read more
As many of you are likely now familiar, PG&E is unable to meet the flow schedule for the Potter Valley Project as outlined in their amended license from 2004. This flow schedule is unobtainable in most years due to a variety of factors including strategies employed to reduce dam safety risk, and changes in climate … Read more
Whenever a state agency begins a new development project, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires agencies to evaluate and disclose to the public the potential environmental impacts of the proposed project. This evaluation of impacts usually comes in the form of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). These reports are an important part of … Read more
Friends of the Eel River has long been pursuing more clarity from PG&E on dam safety at the Potter Valley Project. The utility company has long made the choice to classify dam safety and emergency planning documents related to the project as “Critical Energy Infrastructure Information” or CEII, thus concealing critical details about stability and … Read more
The Potter Valley Project, which blocks access to pristine, cold water spawning habitat for Eel River salmonids, is no longer a functioning hydroelectric project. PG&E has announced plans to remove both Scott and Cape Horn dams as soon as possible. Until Scott Dam is removed, management of the Potter Valley Project must focus primarily on … Read more
March 26, 2024 Dear Chair Hart and Board Members, Friends of the Eel River (FOER) and allied organizations support the Great Redwood Trail and have a deep and long- standing interest in remediating the environmental mayhem left by the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. As you may remember, federal regulators closed the rail line in 1998. FOER … Read more
PG&E PLANS TO REMOVE EEL RIVER DAMS IN 2028 Draft Surrender and Decommissioning Plan Offers Two Paths to Freeing the Eel – Soon to be California’s Longest Free-Flowing River Eureka, CA – For well over a century, Eel River dams have blocked salmon access to hundreds of miles of cold water habitat in the Upper … Read more
December 29, 2022 Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 888 First Street, NE Washington, D.C. 20426 Re: Potter Valley Project (P-77) Decommissioning Plan and Schedule Dear Secretary Bose, On behalf of the undersigned organizations, this letter conveys our concerns regarding the plan and schedule to file a surrender application for the Potter Valley … Read more
On September 29, 2022, PG&E alerted Humboldt County that it was going to spray herbicides along its easements across the region. PG&E failed to alert landowners or tenants of this new threat; instead, local news broke the story just two days before spraying was set to commence. Today, it appears that PG&E has postponed spraying … Read more