The Scott Dam in Lake County, shown here in 2025, and the Cape Horn Dam in Mendocino County are owned by PG&E and slated to come down. But the Trump administration is trying to prevent that, and says a Riverside County water district might buy them.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/S.F. Chronicle
The Trump administration injected a surprising twist into the fight over Northern California’s Eel River on Tuesday, offering up a potential plan to stop the removal of two dams in the basin — though how serious the plan is remains to be seen.
In a social media post on X, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said she had been in touch with a Southern California water agency that was interested in buying the Scott Dam in Lake County and Cape Horn Dam in Mendocino County and continuing their operation.
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Such a move would run counter to longtime plans by Pacific Gas and Electric Co., the owner of the dams, to remove the facilities as part of the retirement of the Potter Valley hydroelectric project.
The utility’s century-old hydroelectric project is not worth keeping, PG&E says, because it no longer generates cost-effective energy, and many people, including tribes and environmentalists as well as Gov. Gavin Newsom, support the deconstruction as a way to restore the Eel River and the struggling salmon runs there.
The enduring value of the Potter Valley Project, though, is the water it moves from the Eel River to the Russian River. Some towns and farming communities in the Russian River basin have opposed the shuttering of the project and its dams because they don’t want to lose their water supplies.
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These opponents have found a sympathetic ear in Secretary Rollins, who has criticized the planned dam-removal before and pledged to fight it. Only now, however, has Rollins provided an alternative course of action, albeit with few details.
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“Last week, I heard from the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District. A legitimate buyer who expressed strong interest in purchasing the project from PG&E,” Rollins wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “This would allow @POTUS and @SecretaryBurgum to restart/expand reliable hydroelectric electric generation while keeping both (dams) in place. I hope @PGE4Me is taking them seriously!”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture did not immediately respond to questions from the Chronicle about the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District and why the agency in Riverside County would be interested in running the Potter Valley Project.
The district, though, confirmed to the Chronicle in a phone call that it was exploring options for new water supplies, including on the Eel River. District officials did not elaborate on how they could capitalize on river water so far away. The Eel River is not linked to the State Water Project or any other intrastate pipelines that carry water long distances.
“We are in the initial stages of gathering information and understanding the opportunity,” said Silvia Ornelas, public information officer for the district.
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The water agency provides supplies to about 160,000 people.
PG&E, in a statement to the Chronicle, said it had met with the district earlier this year and also been in communication with the USDA, though there was no plan for the project to change hands.
“While PG&E has not received a proposal from the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District, we would review any proposal we received,” said Megan McFarland, a PG&E spokesperson.
At the same time, PG&E said it was too late for the company to sell the project or for another party to take it over because the decommissioning process was already underway. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is currently reviewing PG&E’s $350 million plan to dismantle the operation.
Part of the retirement plan includes the formation of a new water agency, called the Eel-Russian Project Authority, which would continue a portion of the water deliveries between the Eel and Russian rivers after the project and its dams are gone. Sonoma County Water, which serves cities in Sonoma County as well as in Marin County, is among the agencies that have benefitted from the Eel River supplies and is now helping run the authority.
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The Eel-Russian Project Authority has no plans to generate electricity.
Many people following the closure of the Potter Valley Project were surprised to hear that a possible buyer had emerged. Some questioned the seriousness of a potential sale.
“Why anyone would be interested in paying money for a failed, money-losing, and risky project is beyond me, let alone a water district nearly 600 miles away from the dams,” said Alicia Hamann, executive director of Friends of the Eel River, which has long advocated for the removal of the dams. “The project simply isn’t worth investing in.”