{"id":414517,"date":"2026-07-27T23:50:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T23:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/414517\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T23:50:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T23:50:20","slug":"ferc-off-federal-agency-tosses-southern-california-water-agencys-bid-to-take-over-eel-river-water-rights-lost-coast-outpost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/414517\/","title":{"rendered":"FERC OFF: Federal Agency Tosses Southern California Water Agency\u2019s Bid to Take Over Eel River Water Rights | Lost Coast Outpost"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Scott Dam. Photo: Isabella Vanderheiden.<\/p>\n

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PREVIOUSLY:<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

This morning, the
\nFederal Energy Regulatory Commission \u2013 the agency overseeing
\nPacific Gas and Electric\u2019s effort to decommission two dams on the
\nupper Eel River \u2013 told a Southern California water agency that its
\nlate bid to take over the project, along with the water rights that come with it, will not be allowed to proceed.<\/p>\n

In making its decision, FERC staff told the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District that it presented no compelling argument as to why it should be allowed to intervene in the case more than eight months after the deadline to do so had passed.<\/p>\n

\u201c[T]he District failed to demonstrate that good cause
\nexists to grant its untimely motion to intervene because it did not provide any explanation
\nfor the untimeliness of its motion,\u201d reads the commission\u2019s denial<\/a>.\u00a0\u201cTherefore, the District\u2019s late motion to intervene is
\ndenied.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsinore Valley now has 30 days to ask the commission to revisit the decision, according to the notice.<\/p>\n

The Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District, a Riverside County operation with about 150,000 customers, launched its bid to assume control of PG&E\u2019s Potter Valley Project in April, when Brooke Rollins, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, tweeted that a \u201clegitimate buyer\u201d<\/a> for the project had been found, several months after FERC\u2019s deadline for such buyers to step forward had passed.<\/p>\n

Elsinore Valley \u2014 which seems never to have discussed its bid to take over the operation in open session of its own board of directors \u2014 did not file a request to enter the proceedings until earlier this month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The water district\u2019s move sought to upend the \u201cTwo-Basin Solution<\/a>\u201d hammered out under the auspices of Congressman Jared Huffman, which would see the decommissioning of the two outdated and non-functional dams, the transfer of the associated water rights to the Round Valley Indian Tribes, and a long-term lease which would allow continued diversion of Eel River water to Russian River water users downstream in Mendocino and Sonoma counties.<\/p>\n

Though there was no discussion of their intervention at meetings of the district, internal documents from Elsinore Valley seemed to suggest<\/a> that the goal was to sell the water to downstream users at market rates, using the proceeds to subsidize its own operations.<\/p>\n

The FERC document archive in the case \u2014 click here<\/a> and search docket number \u201cP-77-332\u201d \u2014 continues to be filled with comments from Potter Valley agricultural interests, most of which present the historically odd spectacle of Northern California water users pleading for a Southern California water agency to assume the rights to their supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease reconsider this brainless idea and at the very least consider Elsinore as a option to saving our community,\u201d writes \u201csecond-generation Potter Valley graduate\u201d Joe Goeken in a letter to FERC dated last week<\/a>, arguing that it would be cheaper to fix the dams than remove them.<\/p>\n

In a letter filed today, Rep. James Gallagher, who is running against Sen. Mike McGuire to represent portions of Mendocino and Sonoma counties in Congress in the fall, likewise objects to PG&E\u2019s efforts to decommission the dams and the subsequent implementation the \u201cTwo-Basin solution\u201d plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI write to express my strong opposition to Pacific Gas & Electric Company\u2019s proposal to
\ndismantle Scott Dam and drain Lake Pillsbury,\u201d Gallagher writes<\/a>. \u201cThis proposal threatens the health, safety,
\nand economic well-being of many communities throughout Northern California that depend on
\nLake Pillsbury as a reliable, year-round source of water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsinore Valley\u2019s effort to intervene in the proceedings was officially opposed by the Round Valley Indian Tribes, the Wiyot Tribe, Friends of the Eel and California Trout.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Scott Dam. Photo: Isabella Vanderheiden. ### PREVIOUSLY: ### This morning, the Federal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-414517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}