California Farmers are Being Left Out to Dry

Originally published by the California Globe

California’s water wars have always been contentious, but what is happening in Potter Valley right now is an assault on common sense and a direct threat to rural families, food security, and wildfire protection.

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), the state’s largest utility, has filed plans with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to decommission the Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project. That project includes Scott Dam, which forms Lake Pillsbury, and Cape Horn Dam, waterways that divert water through a tunnel into Potter Valley. If those dams are removed, the lake will disappear and more than 600,000 northern California residents, including hundreds of family farms, will lose a century-old water supply.

State policymakers support these efforts. The Governor has openly boasted about removing dams across California to please environmental activists. Similarly, the Governor-appointed board of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which regulates PG&E, is eager to comply. Their justification is salmon and steelhead restoration. The effect they are not acknowledging is the devastation for the farmers and ranchers who provide food and jobs in Mendocino, Sonoma, and Lake counties.

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