{"id":417049,"date":"2026-07-29T21:05:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/417049\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T21:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:05:07","slug":"pd-editorial-ferc-makes-right-decision-denying-southern-california-water-agency-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/417049\/","title":{"rendered":"PD Editorial: FERC makes right decision denying southern California water agency bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

The federal government might not get a lot of things right these days, but one agency \u2014 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission \u2014 made the right decision this week in denying a Southern California water agency\u2019s Hail Mary bid<\/a> to actively participate in Pacific Gas & Electric\u2019s efforts to remove Scott and Cape Horn dams along the Eel River.<\/p>\n

For nearly eight months, the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District, a Riverside county water agency, has flirted with the idea of taking over the Potter Valley Project \u2014 the hydroelectric power plant and dual dam system in Lake and Mendocino counties, currently owned by PG&E.<\/p>\n

They filed a motion to intervene with FERC seven months after the deadline. The motion would have allowed the agency to participate in proceedings, have the right to request FERC to re-try orders and go to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, should they disagree with any of FERC\u2019s decisions.<\/p>\n

FERC didn\u2019t think Elsinore Valley should get that privilege, and we agree.<\/p>\n

In making its decision, FERC told Elsinore Valley it \u201cfailed to demonstrate that good cause exists to grant its untimely motion to intervene because it did not provide any explanation for the untimeliness of its motion,\u201d\u00a0reads the commission\u2019s denial.\u00a0\u201cTherefore, the District\u2019s late motion to intervene is denied.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsinore Valley will get 30 days to appeal the decision, but in the meantime, PG&E will continue to move forward with its plans<\/a> \u2014 which will inevitably alter the way Mendocino and northern Sonoma county communities access drinking and irrigation water.<\/p>\n

Had Elsinore Valley been upfront about its interest in the Potter Valley Project, maybe our opinion would be different. But the agency \u2014 and local officials who have courted them<\/a> \u2014 have been cagey from Day 1. Throughout the course of the winter and spring, officials from the water district have been mum about their prospective plans, frustrating even members of their own board, who have requested to daylight the topic on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n

Are they planning a potential southern California water grab? Some thought so.<\/p>\n

Are they seeking to bring more revenue to the small district? Most likely, yes.<\/p>\n

All we can do is speculate. Their intentions have never truly been transparent, forcing journalists, government officials<\/a> and nonprofits alike to file California public record act requests for more information.<\/p>\n

The information gained through those requests \u2014 many which are months old and still being fulfilled \u2014 have indicated that two of Elsinore Valley\u2019s board members looked at the aging dams and saw water and dollar signs. Big dollar signs.<\/p>\n

But their efforts were too little, too late \u2014 and quite frankly, without merit.<\/p>\n

A potential takeover would come long after PG&E started the process of offloading the infrastructure. The power company\u2019s plans \u2014 submitted to FERC last summer \u2014 includes the construction of a new water diversion facility. Sonoma Water is spearheading the engineering of that facility, which would ensure seasonal diversions from the Eel River would continue into the East Branch of the Russian River.<\/p>\n

Getting that water diversion facility and the management plan behind it into PG&E\u2019s decommissioning efforts was no easy feat, requiring the union of government agencies, nonprofits and tribal representatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Will water allocation be different post-decommissioning of the Potter Valley Project? Yes. How could it not be? But trying to stop the efforts \u2014 especially for a southern California agency with unknown intentions \u2014 would be far more damaging for our region.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re grateful the government sees it that way, too.<\/p>\n

You can email letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The federal government might not get a lot of things right these days, but one agency \u2014 the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,166825,133229,166539,166540,166535,166826,136444],"class_list":["post-417049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-darcy-burke","tag-elsinore-valley-municipal-water-district","tag-federal-energy-regulatory-commission","tag-ferc","tag-potter-valley-project","tag-sonoma-water","tag-todd-lands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417049","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=417049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}