The Scott Dam at Lake Pillsbury, seen here in July 2025, is one of two dams on the Eel River that PG&E wants to remove due to age and expense, but Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says should be maintained.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/S.F. Chronicle
The Trump administration has offered one of its most detailed explanations of why it wants to stop dam removal on Northern California’s Eel River, citing in a letter numerous concerns that include water, power, wildfire safety and even the state’s “radical leadership.” Still, big questions remain.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins sent the three-page letter Friday in response to a Congressional inquiry about her agency’s sudden interest in a pair of relatively obscure PG&E-owned dams. The inquiry was opened in April by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael.
The dams, in Lake and Mendocino counties, are part of the Potter Valley hydroelectric project, which Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is seeking to retire because of its age and expense. Many support the project’s dismantling as a way to restore the Eel River — which would become the longest free-flowing river in California — and boost its struggling salmon runs. Last summer, however, Rollins unexpectedly took to social media to criticize the project’s retirement, suggesting the federal government might intervene to thwart it.
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In the letter obtained by the Chronicle, Rollins said her agency is actively looking for someone new to operate the project, to both continue power generation and maintain water supplies. She called such a plan not only widely beneficial but financially doable.
“Engaging with a prospective buyer for the Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project represents a prudent avenue for transferring assets that may no longer align with PG&E’s long-term objectives,” Rollins wrote. “Keeping the infrastructure in place and restarting hydroelectric generation has the potential to advance the president’s energy dominance agenda and will undoubtedly secure the water supply needs of the hundreds of thousands of citizens in rural California.”
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The letter singles out one possible buyer for the project, Southern California’s Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District, which has previously shown interest in acquiring the complex despite being hundreds of miles away. Rollins, though, stopped short of providing details on how such an acquisition might go down, including how a small agency like Elsinore Valley would come up with the potentially hundreds of millions of dollars needed to purchase and maintain the hydroelectric project.
Another unanswered question is how Elsinore Valley, which has said it’s looking to boost water supplies, would get Eel River water. The watershed isn’t linked to the State Water Project or any other aqueduct that could move supplies across the state.
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Additionally, PG&E, which initially tried to sell the Potter Valley Project but had no takers, is already well into the process of surrendering its operating license and decommissioning the project. This makes a transfer logistically difficult at this point.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is overseeing the decommissioning process, released a “scoping” document in May that indicated support for the project’s retirement. FERC said preserving Scott Dam, which impounds Lake Pillsbury and is the larger of the project’s two dams, was not practical and no longer being considered an option.
“Given the seismic stability concerns surrounding the structure, past efforts to find an operator for the project, and PG&E’s preferred alternative to remove the structure, staff dismissed this alternative as infeasible,” FERC wrote.
Rep. Huffman, who opened the inquiry on the federal government’s involvement in the project because of “environmental, legal, economic and water supply concerns,” told the Chronicle that Rollins didn’t come close to fully answering his questions.
“My strong suspicion is that this is just performance and feeding this narrative that is useful politically,” he said. But “I’m going to make sure there isn’t a bigger play to try to control and manage water rights and infrastructure on the Eel River by these southern California interests. That’s something in my part of the world you have to take seriously.”
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The congressman had requested “all of the details” of a potential project purchase and future operation, including underlying records and documents. Huffman said he’d continue to seek answers from the federal government and Elsinore Valley water district. His April 28 inquiry also was directed at Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who has not responded. The Interior Department has not publicly discussed the project.
The Potter Valley Project was built in the early 1900s to provide power for a large swath of Northern California, but its real value proved to be the water. In generating electricity, the complex moves water from the Eel River to the Russian River, which communities and farms in Mendocino, Sonoma and Marin counties have come to depend on.
Beneficiaries include the region’s sprawling vineyards as well as Sonoma County Water, which serves more than 600,000 people.
Since the hydroelectric project’s retirement would no longer necessitate the transfer of water from the Eel to the Russian River, a new agency has formed to continue at least a fraction of the water exports. The fledgling Eel-Russian Project Authority plans to build a pump system on the Eel River and deliver water through existing PG&E infrastructure to the Russian River basin. PG&E and FERC have backed the endeavor.
The creation of the new authority has helped temper widespread concern about the project’s demolition. Most water users, who stood to lose significant water supplies, as well as others supporting the dam removal, including those who wanted to untether the Russian River completely from the Eel, appear to have found mutual relief in the Eel-Russian Project Authority.
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Many of these now-allied interests have questioned why the Trump administration is getting involved — and at such a late hour. Rep. Huffman and others have worried that the new push to continue operating the hydroelectric project could unravel the fragile agreement over the region’s future.
“This deal does good things for both (basins),” said Charlie Schneider, a project manager at California Trout, which has advocated for dam removal and supported the establishment of the Eel-Russian Project Authority. “Our group is staying the course until there is something real to react to.”
Still, some farmers and residents in the Russian River basin, fearing that they’ll get less water and have to pay more for it, continue to oppose the decommissioning. Many in Lake County, meanwhile, don’t want to see the dams taken down, particularly the larger Scott Dam because it would mean draining Lake Pillsbury, a popular recreation spot.
A slew of groups has petitioned the Trump administration to help stop dam removal, and they’ve welcomed the agriculture secretary’s engagement.
Even with hurdles to overcome, Rollins made it clear in her letter Friday that she was undeterred from trying to preserve the hydroelectric operation.
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“The administration will entertain the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District and any other legitimate party expressing interest in purchasing the Potter Valley Project and operating it in a manner consistent with what agricultural producers and communities have relied upon over the last century,” she wrote.
In addition to protecting water supplies and energy production, Rollins said keeping Lake Pillsbury was critical for firefighting and safety. Also, she said PG&E ratepayers would benefit from the project’s continued operation because they wouldn’t have to underwrite the cost of dam removal, which has been estimated at more than $500 million. PG&E has maintained that making needed upgrades to the facility and continuing to operate it would cost far more.
In her letter, Rollins continued the political jabs she’d previously made on social media, accusing California’s leaders of undermining farming in support of fish. While Gov. Gavin Newsom and others in Sacramento have supported PG&E’s retirement of the Potter Valley Project, they’re not directly involved. It’s a privately owned facility regulated by the federal government.
“Unfortunately, under the radical leadership of the state of California, the needs of fish have been prioritized over the needs of the farmers and ranchers who feed our nation and the rural communities and businesses that need water access to survive,” she said. “The president’s administration is committed to good governance.”