What's going on with the Potter Valley Project?

I find this hugely interesting. Hope you take the time to read it over.
https://kymkemp.com/2018/06/14/hot-p...er-commission/

Commissioner Jim Gore of Sonoma County asked for guidance from the County Council staff from Mendocino County that was present, saying he had to understand how to conduct himself as the Commission faced “a litany of frivolous and petty accusations. I say that very directly to a couple of people who haven’t even contacted me…” Addressing Moller, Gore continued, “The real thing that I would say is … we don’t know what we are going to do with this. I don’t know what we are going to do with this. I don’t think anybody on this board knows what we are going to do with this.”

For background Friends of the Eel has accused Commissioner Fennell of abandoning Humboldt County’s interests in the Eel River to the interests on the Russian River, and all the Commissioners of violating the Brown Act by having discussions outside of the public sphere. The Commission has received a PRA (Public Records Act) request made by Friends of the Eel River last month.

Gore didn’t understand how an organization operating under the Brown Act could negotiate a contract under an NDA. Moller explained that the entity would explain in broad terms to its constituency that it is negotiating to acquire the project, but would not disclose PG&E’s proprietary information. And Commissioner Fennel reminded him that Closed Door Sessions are rather routine in government.

During Public Comment Friends of the Eel River’s new Executive Director, Stephanie Tidwell said that while the accusations may be in error they are not frivolous.

Here's another particularly interesting excerpt from the article -

Resolution 18-56 from the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors which begins “Whereas, the County of Humboldt believes that decommissioning a full or partial removal of the Potter Valley Project is inevitable due to the aging infrastructure, low power production, and high cost of upgrading the facility to comply with current dam safety and environmental regulation….’

Humboldt County’s Resolution 18-56 defines Humboldt County’s interest in the water saying, “The County of Humboldt will advocate strongly on behalf of the water users and natural resources within the County for water supply reliability, fish population that supports sustainable harvest opportunities, and full restoration of beneficial uses within the Eel River.” And, “The County of Humboldt will advocate for elimination of summer and fall water diversions and restoration of the Eel River’s natural flow regime to restore and enhance fisheries, water quality, water supply and recreational opportunities.”

More interesting discussion -

https://eelriver.org/2018/05/14/secr...es-water-grab/

Last week, PG&E finally publicly announced its intent to auction the Eel River dams/Potter Valley Project off this fall. (letter attached) Also last week, FOER learned through a series of Public Records Act requests that Humboldt County Supervisor Estelle Fennell and her fellow Eel Russian River Commissioners (including county supervisors James Gore of Sonoma and Carre Brown of Mendocino) held a series of at least five secret meetings with PG&E and various Russian River interests over the last year to put together a plan to keep the Eel River dams in place.


This scheme would move the dams out of federal licensing so as to avoid having to provide additional protection for fisheries, especially fish passage. Under what’s called a “non power license,” they’d operate the project primarily as a water transfer project, but they’d keep the hydropower running as well. They think they’d even get state Renewable Power credit for running fish-killing dams!


Supervisor Fennell is asking the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors to move tomorrow to appoint her and Supervisor Bohn to an ad hoc committee that would continue meeting in secret to push this secret plan to avoid protecting Eel River salmon and steelhead. (Agenda item attached) Nowhere does Supervisor Fennell explain the non power license plan she is clearly seeking to advance. That idea has never been presented to the public and stakeholders in any forum by its proponents.

“It is outrageous that our public representatives have been meeting in secret to undermine the public process seeking a reasonable compromise that would protect Eel River fish and Russian River water interests,” Friends of the Eel River Executive Director Stephanie Tidwell said. “We find it particularly galling that Supervisor Fennell is willing to negotiate the Eel River future’s away, knowing full well her constituency would oppose her if they knew what she was up to.”

As a policy minimum, Humboldt County should be pushing for a solution that would remove Scott Dam and restore fish access to the Eel River headwaters. But at the most fundamental level, we deserve the opportunity to discuss and debate the positions our elected representatives are taking on our behalf.

Democracy cannot function when leaders make policy in secret.