MENDOCINO CO., 12/24/25 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced it is stepping into a federal review of the proposed removal of the Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project in Mendocino and Lake counties.
According to the USDA, PG&E’s plans to remove the Scott and Cape Horn dams could cut off water used by farmers, residents and firefighters in Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt and Sonoma counties.
To intervene, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins filed paperwork Friday to take part in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s review of the proposed removal. FERC oversees hydroelectric projects across the country.
The move comes days after Rollins wrote a letter to the editor to The Mendocino Voice, outlining the Trump administration’s reasons for opposing the removal.
The review centers on a request by PG&E to give up its federal license for the Potter Valley Project, a move that could lead to the removal of the dams. The project sends water into Potter Valley in unincorporated Mendocino County and supports communities surrounding Lake Pillsbury and Van Arsdale Reservoir, which were created by the dams.
Rollins said the proposal, as written, would cause serious harm to family farms and rural communities that have depended on the water for more than a century. She said losing the water would threaten crops, local businesses and federal investments tied to agriculture and land management.
Water from the system is used for irrigation, household supplies and firefighting in parts of Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma and Humboldt counties.
U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, also opposes the removal of the dams. In a letter he sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in mid-December, he expressed concern that the removal could have “profound, far-reaching, and irreparable adverse consequences for the towns, farms, and natural environment.”
According to LaMalfa, removing the dams could cause wells to dry up, destabilize properties near the reservoirs due to changes in water pressure, and devastate farms that rely on the water for irrigation.
LaMalfa also raised concerns about firefighters losing access to two reservoirs used to collect water during wildfires in Mendocino and Lake counties and the Mendocino National Forest. Without those sources, he said, firefighting crews would need to travel farther to access water. He also warned that a rapid release of water could threaten animal species living in the Russian and Eel rivers.
LaMalfa said shutting down the project without a replacement plan in place would worsen drought conditions and make wildfires harder to fight.
Federal regulators have not yet made a final decision on PG&E’s request. If approved, the removal process would begin in 2028.
This won’t change the outcome. If anything, it could make it worse.
I sincerely hope these actions of Secretary Brooke Rollins and Congressman Doug Lamalfa are successful. He was well respected as a U.S. congressman from Butte county when I lived in Tehama county.
LaMalfa well-respected? You’re killing me. He is a barely literate anti-science corporate welfare queen who has received hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to NOT grow crops -a sweetheart deal he negotiated that he is the lone recipient of. He is, and long has been, a laughingstock/ punchline in his home county.
So do you think these two dams can last for the rest of eternity?
Eventually they will have to come down. Now is better than later. Get it over with before eve more people depend on what is without doubt a TEMPORARY WATER SOURCE.
I will take Congressman Lamalfa over Jared Huffman any day.
So the Trump Administration now wants to direct the owner of a 100 year old dam that it must do as it directs it to. Any private property rights? Is Don the Con an expert on dam safety now?
Let ignorant people who love trump rejoice
It is a stupid idea to remove existing bodies of water from an area known to have frequent wildfire.
Fuck the farmers…
Don’t tear it down, rebuild it and get the power house going again…
You must have lost your Ballzhoff Ballzhoff.
The USDA lies and exaggerates to cause alarm and fear, just as much of the rest of Trump administration does. The current plan to decommission and eventually remove the dams actually includes a very reasonable and generous diversion of Eel River water through Potter Valley to Lake Mendocino when water is abundant, i.e. during the rainy season when flows of the Eel River can sustain diversion without harming the anadromous fish in the Eel. If the USDA director and Republican alarmist congresspersons truly cared about Potter Valley farming families, they would mobilize their vast financial, human and scientific resources to help Potter Valley residents conserve the water that will be available and learn to prevent the considerable evaporation that occurs from all the open ponds in Potter Valley along with other conservation strategies..
The current plan to decommission the two dams and drain Lake Pillsbury is a hard fought collaboration between all the stakeholders on both sides of the watershed divide between the Eel and Russian Rivers. To see the USDA step in at the last possible moment to try to stop the plan is shameful but sadly typical of the current Federal way of thinking. I still remember when Trump “saved” LA by sending millions of gallons of Northern California water south long after the LA fires had been extinguished–water that Central Valley farmers actually depended on later in the year.
Please don’t be stupid & remove the Dams. There won’t be much if any,water in the RIVERS in the Summer& Fall!!! I’ve been living at Lake Pillsbury most of my life& seen many of years lacking water!!!
You mean the river flows will be exactly the way they were for hundreds of thousands of years until humans built those dams?
Oh my god how awful that would be… the ecosystems might eventually regain the natural function they once had…
HOW ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIC THAT WOULD BE.
Lady, think more about the big picture & less about yourself & other people just like you.
PG&E doesn’t want to maintain the dams anymore. If PG&E is forced to pay for upgrades on the dams, they’ll just recoup the money from the skin off the customers backs like they do everything else.
If PG&E doesn’t want to maintain the damns,why can’t a publicly owned utilities district be formed ? Trinity County hAs their own public utilities called PUD in Weaverville.
LaMalfa means may cause damage to the UN-NATURAL ENVIRONMENT.
Because that is what we have now.
Dam removal will restore the natural environment.
Besides, do people think two old, poorly built dams can last for eternity? They will have to go eventually. May as well get it over with.
SAVE SCOTT DAM SAVE LAKE PILLSBURY SAVE THE WATER NEEDED TO FIGHT WILDFIRES IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND FOR THE 600,000 PEOPLE THAT RELY ON THIS SAME WATER.
Read your history the dam was created to provide water all year round to both the Eel and the Russian. Without the dam there is no flow available. Oh yes plenty in the winter season only to add to flooding. That idea is a dumb a relying on electricity to power your automobile and household. If ya want to support the fish install a Hatchery. If ya want to support EV’s install hydroelectric generators. Save the dam save the water get a life