photo credit: Kyle Schwartz
Scott Dam holds back the Eel River to form
Lake Pillsbury in Lake County.

The time has come for the next phase for the Potter Valley Project, the infrastructure which funnels water from the Eel River into the Russian River.

Stakeholders and the general public have until December 22nd to submit comments to utility Pacific Gas and Electric for input on the company's initial surrender plan for the Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project.

This first draft of the surrender and decommission plan for the two-dam project, while important, isn’t hiding any new revelations, said California Trout’s Charlie Schneider.

"PG&E didn't do any additional studies from what were done as part of the Two Basin Partnership's, phase two studies," Schneider said. "And so it's really relying on work that has already been completed."

PG&E has put forward two alternative options to remove Scott Dam, which forms Lake Pillsbury.

One option is a rapid removal, the other option is phased, Schneider said.

"You know, there will be a, a sediment release from the dam with removal and with the rapid removal, that sediment release comes all at once, and so the impacts are limited to one event," Schneider said. "The phased removal, you know, the impacts happen four times. And so I think the takeaway from that is, is really that the rapid removal is probably the more likely of the two options."

The draft surrender plan includes considerations for the New Eel-Russian Facility.

Schneider said CalTrout has signed onto that proposal, put forward by groups like Sonoma Water and the Round Valley Indian Tribes. The goal is improving fish habitat and continuing water diversions into the Russian River.

"A lot of the studies are ongoing, but there's, you know, a lot of big questions in terms of how we're gonna pay for all this stuff," Schneider said. "On the Eel [River] side, you know, how much water we can divert and when to protect the ecological integrity of the Eel River."

Like Schneider, Lewis "Bill" Whipple, president of the Round Valley Indian Tribes Tribal Council, supports PG&E’s draft plan, saying it, “marks a historic first step in restoring this important cultural and natural resource to health.”

Schneider said he is happy to see the dam removal plans moving forward without delay.

"So we really have a, a lot of work to do between now and really March of next year to figure out the best path forward here," Schneider said.

The celebration certainly hasn't been unanimous.

Lake Pillsbury would be drained during the decommissioning process, and some in the agricultural community, as well as Lake Pillsbury residents, are concerned about the consequences of dam removal on property values and water supplies.

On top of impacts to the ecosystem that has formed around the reservoir over the past 100 years.

PG&E plans to file final surrender plans for the project by January, 2025.