MENDOCINO CO., 5/25/26 — The Potter Valley powerhouse that is the engine of the Potter Valley Project has not made electricity since 2021. The dams are still standing. The water still moves. It falls 470 feet from Cape Horn Dam on the upper Eel River through a century-old tunnel and out into the East Branch of the Russian River an hour later — past three generators that no longer turn.
There is no reservoir below the powerhouse. The water drops. It is not pumped back up. There is nowhere to pump it from.
That detail — on every map of the basin since 1908 — is what PG&E’s Tony Gigliotti was trying to put in plain English in an interview with the Voice the morning of May 22.
Gigliotti runs the team that operates the Potter Valley dams for PG&E. And he runs the team that has filed, on PG&E’s behalf, to take them down. Two of the company’s spokespeople were on the conference line with him.
The question on the table was the one this series has been asking since April: could anyone turn the Potter Valley project into a pumped-storage plant?
Gigliotti said, “We would not view that as necessarily a viable option.” Because there’s nowhere below the powerhouse to store the water to pump it back up.
It was the first time the company that owns the dams had said so in public.
The bid that doesn’t pencil
Another water district 600 miles south wants to buy the Potter Valley project anyway.
The Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District sits in Riverside County. It has never run a hydroelectric dam. Two members of President Trump’s cabinet, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, have publicly backed the district’s interest. Rep. Jared Huffman, whose district covers the Eel River, has been demanding to know why.
The Northern California parties at the table — Sonoma Water, the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, the Round Valley Indian Tribes, Humboldt County, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, CalTrout and Trout Unlimited — spent six years negotiating a federally approved plan to take the dams out and keep a smaller, seasonal diversion in place to protect the farms and towns that depend on the Russian River.
The Elsinore Valley district is the first outsider to walk through PG&E’s door since the company started looking for a buyer. By Gigliotti’s account, the bid does not make sense. By Dave Steindorf — the hydropower lead at American Whitewater, a national river-conservation group that has worked the Potter Valley file for years — the bid doesn’t make sense either.
“Not one pumped-storage project has been constructed in the States for decades,” Steindorf said in an interview last week. “They just don’t pencil. Meanwhile, the amount of conventional battery storage that has been brought online is staggering.”
So why is Elsinore making the bid?
Three relationships in writing
The records released by the Elsinore Valley district on the evening of May 21 — 61 documents, 158 pages, in response to a Public Records Act request The Voice filed April 28 — do not identify a plan, but they do name the people in the room.
Bluewater is in the room
On Oct. 6, 2022 — the year Bluewater Renewable Energy Storage Inc. bought a denied California pumped-storage application from Nevada Hydro Co. — Bluewater’s vice president of sustainability sent three emails to Elsinore Valley directors. The emails went out between 2:50 and 3:02 a.m. One to board president Andy Morris. One to director Darcy Burke. One to then-director Harvey Ryan. Each invited its recipient to an open house on what Bluewater called the Bluewater Renewable Energy Storage Project.
Morris and Burke are now driving the Potter Valley bid
Bluewater is what’s left of Nevada Hydro Co. Nevada Hydro spent more than 20 years trying to build the Lake Elsinore Advanced Pumped Storage project, LEAPS. Federal regulators denied LEAPS four times. Nevada Hydro walked away from the federal application in 2020, but the application was not pulled and stayed open. Bluewater bought Nevada Hydro in 2022 and renewed the application. The fourth denial came in May 2023. The docket is still open today.
In 2018, the Elsinore Valley district settled a lawsuit with Nevada Hydro — Bluewater’s predecessor. The settlement itself has not been released. But its content was characterized on the record on April 27 by the district’s community affairs supervisor, Sylvia Ornelas: the settlement, she wrote to The Voice, contains “limited provisions should a successor entity pursue a separate FERC application.”
Bluewater is the successor entity, and Bluewater has been pursuing a separate FERC application. The 2018 settlement, on Ornelas’s own description, anticipated this.
A coalition is being recruited
A letter of interest from the San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency to PG&E, surfaced in mid-May. The letter asks to join a coalition to buy the Potter Valley Project. But the letter to PG&E is in the Elsinore Valley files because Elsinore Valley wrote it. The draft is on what looks like Elsinore Valley letterhead adapted for a different agency. At the point where the agency is supposed to introduce itself, the template still carries the placeholder: “You can talk about yourself here.”
San Gorgonio Pass is a State Water Project contractor based in Beaumont, 35 minutes east of Lake Elsinore, with a 17,300 acre-foot annual entitlement.
A State Water Project contractor has standing to trade water and water rights with other agencies across California, while the Elsinore Valley district does not.
The coalition the Elsinore Valley district is recruiting adds the one capability the district itself lacks.
Two possible plans fit what’s in the records
- A water-rights play. Acquire Potter Valley’s federal license and the senior water rights that come with it. Use San Gorgonio’s State Water Project standing to trade those rights into Southern California’s water market. The water never moves 600 miles. The rights do — on paper, through the SWP. Elsinore Valley ratepayers eventually receive more delivered water, paid for by acquiring senior Northern California rights they would never physically receive.
- A LEAPS revival. Use the Potter Valley federal license to keep Bluewater’s still-open Lake Elsinore docket alive with FERC. The federal license is the asset; the Eel River water itself is not the point. Bluewater holds an open application for a denied California pumped-storage project. A federal hydropower foothold at Potter Valley — even one whose engineering doesn’t pencil there — gives Bluewater’s docket a procedural reason to stay open.
Both plans fit. The records do not identify either. They name the relationships that would support both: lobbying access from Bluewater since 2022, a 2018 settlement that anticipated a successor FERC application, and a coalition partner with the SWP-trading standing the Elsinore Valley district itself does not have.
The federal review of PG&E’s surrender filing opened this summer. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, on May 22, eliminated two of the scenarios the Elsinore Valley bid would need: keeping Scott Dam standing, and a federal takeover of the project. Neither pathway will be studied. The Elsinore Valley district has not filed any comment in that proceeding.
The district’s next regular board meeting is June 11, in Lake Elsinore. It is the next scheduled occasion for the people in the room to say which plan they are pursuing — or whether they are pursuing some plan the records do not yet describe.
Part 1 of this series, “The Potter Valley dams are coming down,” ran in The Mendocino Voice on May 1. Part 2, “The downstate bid for Mendocino’s Potter Valley Project,” ran on May 13.
Since my first comment disappeared I’ll try again. If we get two then you’re welcome.
This is a scam to rob this area of water rights in order to sell them in SoCal. It’s like trading carbon credits. A lesser polluter sells their credits to a larger polluter to bring down the larger polluter’s pollution score. The pollution is the same it’s just sold to give a better score to the worse actor. Southern California’s increasing dependence on water that is more and more scarce makes water rights super valuable. Water rights can be transferred from up here to down there and then water that would be unavailable as an allocation is suddenly available! Just move paper around and the water is magically accessible.
Darcy Burke talked about trading water rights on Keeley Covello’s podcast but she didn’t get any questions about what that means for potter valley. Burke is smart enough to know that she wouldn’t get any questions either. “The water rights are very complex, young Keeley and we won’t get into those on this podcast.” But what it means really is that Elsinore has no interest in building anything up here, they’re just interested in grabbing the rights and heading out of town. It’s big money for them and nothing for us. A switcharoo of epic proportions.
It’s a Trump model to perfection- lie about your intentions while also saying exactly what you’ll do. the only thing they’re interested in is the paper rights to the water up here that they can sell for real dollars down there, while over burdening their own scarce resources.
These SoCal people and the Secretary of ag are preying on desperate farmers in Potter Valley that can’t see the writing on the wall and dimwit wanna be supervisors like Todd Lands and Shelina Moreda. Of course this is just another Trump admin grift to help friends of the administration get richer while the rest of pay more for water. SoCal go home!
Jared Huffman and Co is giving ALL water rights (upper eel) to the Round Valley Tribes.
RVT are going to charge $2M annually just for the right of delivery for water to the Russian river.
The environmental extremists rub thier hands in maniacal glee as they destroy critical infrastructure
The entitlement is just staggering. Why should people on the Eel River continue to let their river be destroyed and water stolen? And for what, to drive speed boats around and grow shitty Pinot? I, for one, am looking forward to the dumbest 10 year legal battle over this water that will end in Russian welfare farmers not getting a drop because they weren’t smart enough to listen to their lawyers.
Does it get any worse. Put more salt on the wound pour more gas on the fire.
Why in the world is Pacific Graft and Extortion allowed to transfer water rights to Round Valley tribes ?
Why are Mendo supes backing the two basin plan ? These are the same people backing the rediculous Redwood trail boondoggle
While Lake county supes are trying to preserve Lake Pillsbury.
Why can’t our elected officials unite to
Preserve this valuable resource?
Save lake pillsbury. Save the potter valley project. The water cannot be moved. Dont believe the lies.
Squecky Huffman and his pal governor brylcream are the worst politicians this area has ever seen. This scam to destroy the Potter Valley Project and disrupt the lives of so many hard working taxpayers is horrible.
I don’t understand. Doesn’t PG&E own the dam?
“Squecky”? “Gov. Brylcream?” Ronald Reagan was “Governor Brylcreem.” Learn to spell & someone besides a z MAGA fascist might take you seriously. Geotechnical studies show that a very likely, medium-intensity earthquake in the area will cause catastrophic overflow or bursting of Scott Dam. The Democrats are trying to save lives & money by removing that hazardous hulk along the Eel River.
Thank you for covering this very important subject. I have one correction. The next Elsinore Valley water district regular board meeting is May 28.
All these comments are mute points in my opinion. Without a resevior, there will be no water, for both rivers, or any to divert. PG&E does and will not care. They save money “surrendering” which, seems really bad that politicians let that happen, in the first place. Round Valley, which isn’t, at the headwaters of Eel, nor does it have the right, to own entire Eel River water shed, because it was asigned by ambiguous, non existent, assumption, by one politician. So they will get some money, by extortion, of current farmers, provided, by their buddy, pal, Mr Jared Huffman. The question is, if the SoCal company, had come before, all the rest, would PG&E have sold to them? The answer is probably “Yes”. But, they want to “SAVE” LAKE PILSBURY. They want to save a water resevior, so there will actually be water, all year around. The land around that lake is owned by PG&E also. No one has mentioned the leases and property around the lake? That’s what PVP frame of reference is. A possible future, of water reservoir, saved. No politicians, no corporation, wants to save the amount of water, that Lake Pilsbury holds when it holds rain and snow, run off. So what are people really fighting about? The people of Potter Valley, are fighting for their generations of farmers livelyhoods, generations, of food production and generations of wildlife support and sports recreation. And home. How can anyone, with any common sense, destroy a huge water resevior, in these times, with all the fires and climate change. When there is no common sense, money & greed is always behind a politicians grab for attention small group to control a natural resource. PVP takes only a very small percentage of water, the Eel gets most of the reseviors consistent flow. With out a dam, nothing will be left to fight over.
Yes the water in Pillsbury is of utmost importance. It provides beauty and security for so many people and wildlife. To hear proposals to destroy this resource is very disturbing.
I spent many happy years in that area from 1949 to 1970 when the ranch was sold.
Wow Whoever investigated this and went on PGE word is misunderstanding power banking..
The article in the Mendocino Voice is wrong about what Southern California really wants from the Potter Valley Project. They keep talking about the drop to the Potter Valley powerhouse like that’s the main thing. It is not.
The real value Southern California interests see is the big elevation drop between Lake Pillsbury (high up at about 1,818 feet) and Van Arsdale Reservoir / Cape Horn Dam (around 1,493 feet). That 325 to 400+ foot natural drop between those two reservoirs is what matters for pumped storage “power banking.”
Facts:
Lake Pillsbury is the big upper reservoir with lots of storage.
Van Arsdale is the lower one on the Eel River.
Water already flows downhill from Pillsbury to Van Arsdale.
This existing setup with two reservoirs at different heights is perfect for pumped storage. You pump water uphill from Van Arsdale to Pillsbury when power is cheap, then let it drop back down through turbines when you need power.
It is stupid to think they want the old PG&E power station in Potter Valley as the main prize. That station is way downstream. There is no reservoir below it to pump from, and it has not even made power since 2021. The article correctly points that out, but then misses the point.
The Southern California groups (tied to Lake Elsinore and pumped storage plans like LEAPS) are interested in the high-head difference between the two Eel River dams and reservoirs up above. That gives them a ready-made site for grid-scale energy storage without building everything from scratch. They are not mainly chasing the broken powerhouse at the bottom in Potter Valley.
Thinking the bid is about wanting that old Potter Valley station shows a lack of understanding of how pumped storage actually works. The elevation difference higher up between Lake Pillsbury and Van Arsdale is the valuable part for turning the system into a big battery.
There is plenty of elevation drop between Lake Pillsbury and Van Arsdale Reservoir for pumped storage power banking. Here are the real facts and numbers:
Lake Pillsbury (upper reservoir behind Scott Dam): Normal full surface elevation is 1,818 feet. Spill crest is 1,900 feet. Maximum gate height reaches about 1,910 feet.
Van Arsdale Reservoir (lower reservoir behind Cape Horn Dam): Normal surface elevation is 1,493 feet. Dam crest is about 1,519 feet.
This gives a real vertical drop of 325 feet at normal operating levels (1,818 ft minus 1,493 ft). When Lake Pillsbury is at spill crest (1,900 ft), the difference grows to over 400 feet. Sources describe the natural river drop in the 12 miles between the two reservoirs as about 350 feet.
This is more than enough head for pumped storage. Pumped storage works by pumping water uphill from the lower reservoir (Van Arsdale) to the upper one (Pillsbury) using cheap surplus electricity, then releasing it downhill through turbines to generate power on demand. A head of 300+ feet is solid for this — many successful projects operate with similar or less.
The total system from Lake Pillsbury down to the old Potter Valley powerhouse has around 800 feet of overall head, but the key part Southern California interests want for “power banking” is the reliable difference right between the two existing reservoirs higher up. They get a ready-made upper and lower reservoir pair connected by natural river channel, with big storage capacity in Lake Pillsbury.
It is stupid to keep claiming the bid is mainly about wanting the old broken PG&E powerhouse way downstream in Potter Valley. That plant has a separate 450-foot drop through its own tunnel and penstock, but it sits at the bottom with no good lower reservoir for pumping cycles. The valuable asset is the big elevation difference between Pillsbury and Van Arsdale for turning the upper system into a giant battery. The data clearly shows there is plenty of drop to make this work.
Here are 5 real pumped storage projects that use similar elevation drops (heads) of roughly 280–470 feet, just like the 325–400+ foot drop between Lake Pillsbury (1,818 ft) and Van Arsdale Reservoir (1,493 ft). These prove that this amount of drop is plenty for “power banking” — pumping water uphill with cheap power and generating on demand.
Yards Creek Pumped Storage (New Jersey): Uses about 330 feet of head. It has been operating since 1965 with good results for daily energy storage using two reservoirs at different heights.
Seneca Pumped Storage (Pennsylvania): Operates with around 380 feet of head. Built in 1969, it reliably pumps water uphill and generates power during peak times, showing this drop level works well for grid balancing.
Cabin Creek Pumped Storage (Colorado): Has a head in the 280–350 foot range. Running since the late 1960s, it demonstrates that even at the lower end of 300 feet, pumped storage is practical and effective with existing reservoirs.
Thousand Springs Pumped Storage (proposed Nevada): Designed for about 470 feet of head. This project highlights how 400+ foot differences are attractive for new pumped storage, similar to the Pillsbury-Van Arsdale setup.
Hoppie Canyon or Loomis Creek (Nevada proposals): Planned for 370–380 feet of head. These use natural elevation differences between reservoirs, just like Lake Pillsbury to Van Arsdale, to create battery-like storage without massive new construction.
These examples match the Pillsbury-Van Arsdale elevation facts closely. A 300–400 foot drop is solid for pumped storage — it provides enough power per gallon of water cycled between upper and lower reservoirs. It is stupid to ignore this and keep saying the bid is only about the old Potter Valley powerhouse far downstream. The real prize is the proven, ready-to-use drop higher up between the two Eel River reservoirs for turning the site into a giant energy bank.
Dear Elsinore Rumor Mill,
You’re probably a stakeholder in that LEAPS failure. Please don’t try to fool us up here. You want the water rights and won’t build anything. I think the article gets right to the heart of it. The paper chase will keep the federal application open and the water rights will be the prize.
Before the dams life in the area long existed. For millenia.
Sliding the winter gravel flushes destroyed doors pools filling them with sediment.
If we could look beyond what we see in the now possibilities could be explored.
If we ain’t changing we’re dying.
Looking to more efficient solutions. Being aware of longer term impacts us a must. Certainly when they conceived the dam project initially they did not ponder if Southern California was going to bid on water or predict the influence of climate change and population.
Evolution.
In this day & age when everything is going electric why don’t we fix the dam to generate electricity funnel water to the Russian river and preserve lake Pillsbury and the habitat as is. I love lake pillsbury! I have been taking my kid there for 30 years
PRESERVE LAKE PILLSBURY !!!
In this day & age when everything is going electric why don’t we fix the dam to generate electricity funnel water to the Russian river and preserve lake Pillsbury and the habitat as is. I love lake pillsbury! I have been taking my kid there for 30 years
PRESERVE LAKE PILLSBURY !!!
This plan is hope for the people of Potter Valley. The ranches and farms use ‘summer’ water released from the lake. No one needs water in the winter. The two basin plan only sounds good to people who don’t understand the dynamics. Round Valley folks have already publicly said that they will stop providing water as soon as they’re in control. Lake Pillsbury is a crucial reservoir for fighting wildfires. Summer releases support Lake Mendocino and the Russian River Salmonids downstream. Thousands of people rely on this water source. It is a reservoir for times of drought. The real question is ‘Why is Huffman not representing his local constituents and instead supporting NGOs and PGE?