Right now a broad-based coalition of commercial and sport-fishing groups, environmentalists and restorationists, local property owner, and the Round Valley Indian Tribes-even residents of the Russian River watershed as well-have allied against one of the main impediments to the Eel's well being: a PG&E dam/diversion facility better known as the Potter Valley Project. Since 1908 this project has taken up to 89% of the water from the Eel's source and redirected it south through hydroelectric turbines into the Russian River. Concerned citizens of that watershed say that unnaturally high flows are damaging the Russian River ecosystem; a group known as Friends of the Russian River has filed a lawsuit against the state because of this. Meanwhile, the Eel River suffers from abnormally low water levels. In both rivers, salmon and steelhead trout are on the brink of extinction.

The Potter Valley Project has its own set of problems. PG&E says the dam no longer produces profitable electricity, and water users downstream refuse to subsidize it by paying for Eel River water. Scott Dam is 71 years old and a seismic nightmare sitting right on a fault line. There is a very real danger that Scott Dam could slip and fail, with catastrophic results. Retrofitting this dam to ensure its safety, if possible, would cost millions. Thus PG&E has announced plans to sell or close down the Potter Valley Project.

You might think that closure of this hydroelectric facility means the automatic return of diverted water to the Eel. Think again. Sonoma County and other interests (mainly developers) to the south of us have proposed that Sonoma, Marin, and Mendocino counties join together to buy the Potter Valley Project in order to keep Eel River water flowing their way. They claim "dependence" on this diverted water, although an impartial analysis reveals an abundance of water in the Russian River system. Sonoma County keeps its reservoir, Lake Sonoma, nearly full at all times, preferring to draw down Lake Mendocino and rely on continued diversion of the Eel. Extra water is sold to Marin County. In fact, Sonoma County recently requested a much larger allocation from the Potter Valley Project to ensure continued out-of-scale development up to and beyond the year 2010. As long as the Eel is diverted south, subdivisions will continue tom sprawl and vineyard owners like Chevron will expand their cultivated acreage.

Friends of the Eel River wants our water back in its rightful watershed. Our lawsuit seeks to regain the diverted water on the basis that a violation of the public trust occurred when the Potter Valley Project was first constructed illegally in 1908. Concern about the safety of the dam is the second part of our lawsuit. There is a good chance this dam will have to be dismantled, like many others coming down across the country not only because they are unsafe, but because reservoirs are filled with silt. At any rate, our insistence that something be done about Scott Dam makes the Potter Valley Project less enticing to outside buyers coveting Eel River water.

The Friends of the Eel River is asking for your support in a lawsuit to be filed in January, 1997. Noted attorney and respected water rights expert Michael Jackson has agreed to represent us. He will charge us a $15,000 fee, and to cover any additional expenses he may pursue a fee award petition. We need to raise this $15,000 now for basic expenses to carry out this citizen action suit. This is a very low price, indeed, to keep the mighty Eel River and its fisheries from becoming history.

Cape Horn Dam and Van Arsdale Reservoir are constructed on the formerly free flowing Eel, together with a hydroelectric plant and tunnel that divert the Eel River into the Russian River at Potter Valley. At this time there were no regulations preventing upstream uses from taking it all, though our proposed lawsuit is based on a violation of the public trust that occurred when this project first began. The Van Arsdale Reservoir is not really much of a reservoir today because it is nearly full of silt and gravel.

Scott Dam is built upstream of the diversion, creating Lake Pillsbury as a reservoir for the Potter Valley Project's electrical turbines. At times, up to 90% of the water in Lake Pillsbury is shunted through the power plant in the tunnel and southward via the Russian River, clear on down to the Marin County water system. Today Scott Dam is considered unsafe for earthquakes, built directly on a fault line and nestled in a highly unstable, erodible soil type known as Franciscan Melange. The dam needs to be upgraded for seismic safety (a multi-million dollar undertaking), or else dismantled entirely.

The Potter Valley Project comes up for relicensing by the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee(FERC). Humboldt County, together with an organization known as Cal Trout, argue for more water to be released into the Eel River instead of diverted south. Humboldt County spends $1 million on this effort to retrieve its own water from the Potter Valley Project, but after all was said and done, PG&E increased the flow by only 0.5 cubic feet/second(cfs). Cal Trout has called for an increase of 50-55 cfs to support the needs of the fishery, but Friends of the Eel River believe even more water is needed if river temperatures are to be lowered and riparian zones successfully replanted. Final flow recommendations must be submitted to FERC by April 1997 to complete the relicensing procedure an al;low PG&E to sell the project.

January 16,1997

Department of Fish & Game officials announce the presence of a 16 pound steelhead in the Van Arsdale fish ladder. The first such occurrence of this in many years. The reason the fish was able to make the trek this far upstream was due to the heavy rains around New Year's Day. Without the diversion of the Eel's water south this would be a more common occurrence. The Eel must be restored to its natural flow for the survival of its wild steelhead and salmon populations!!!