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Opinion
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- Written by: Deb Sally
Lake County should stop wasting staff time and taxpayer money on a losing battle to stop the removal of Scott Dam.
Having attended a number of meetings of various groups and the CalWild Workshops held to discuss the Potter Valley Project (PVP), it is clear to me that Lake County’s opposition to the removal of Scott Dam is ineffective and risky.
Interested persons should review the surrender of license comments on PG&E’s Draft application for surrender of license and application for non-project use of project lands dated January 2025, that the county paid for, available at https://countyoflake.legistar.com.
In 2022 PG&E concluded that maintaining the dams was no longer economically viable and didn’t make sense for ratepayers. In recent years, the money-losing dams have stopped making electricity, rendering them useless for energy production.
After unsuccessful attempts to find an alternative operator to take over the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license, seismic studies revealed additional risks associated with Scott Dam. As a result, the maximum water storage capacity of Lake Pillsbury was decreased by 25%. The area which is in the Bartlett Springs Fault Zone, part of the San Andreas complex, has shown the potential for a magnitude 7 earthquake in the area posing a substantial risk of catastrophic failure and major downstream flooding.
Some Lake County Board of Supervisors (BOS) members continue to downplay this danger. But, this threat is real. This dam, as any other structure that is over 100 years old, is subject to failure. There is also an active landslide adjacent to the southern abutment of the dam.
Given these considerable liabilities, it is unrealistic to expect the federal government or any other entity to assume responsibility, especially with the transactional approach of the current administration and the lack of profitability in this situation.
Regarding other concerns raised by the Lake County BOS, fire fighting capabilities in the Lake Pillsbury area certainly must be addressed and mitigated for, ideally by PG&E.
However, the greater regional firefighting efforts are minimally reliant on Lake Pillsbury. Cal Fire Chief and Director, Joe Tyler, has stated to Congressman Mike Thompson that removing Scott Dam will not negatively impact Cal Fire’s ability to fight fires in the region. Also, a large portion of that $750,000 tax base that the county is concerned about losing will be diminished anyway, since PG&E pays much of it.
Lake County needs to allocate time and resources to prepare for the significant changes ahead. Siskiyou County’s experience on Klamath River Dam removal effort demonstrates that the failure to proactively plan for residents, recreational users and local wildlife can lead to a loss of benefits.
Resources would be better spent planning future restoration efforts in the upper basin and developing new recreational opportunities. Asking the Mendocino Land Trust to make changes in the conservation easement held on the Eel River and Lake Pillsbury to allow for appropriate restoration is also needed. Fighting the inevitable loss of the dam makes no sense.
Concerns have been raised about the potential impacts on salmon and steelhead populations from the controlled sediment flushing. While some fish of both native and non-native species will die, these impacts are significantly smaller than having abandoned dams on the landscape or worse yet, the catastrophic losses expected from a sudden dam failure caused by a large earthquake.
Ecosystems have shown great resilience as evidenced by the rebound of fish and other wildlife observed following the removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon in 2011 and 2014. Six years after the removals, the number of wild steelhead observed above the dams had increased from tens to hundreds of fish. The tribal communities, for whom these fish hold great cultural and spiritual significance, will greatly benefit from the restored habitats.
PG&E is required to submit its surrender application by July 29, 2025 and plans to begin the decommissioning in 2028. It is impossible, under FERC regulations, for PG&E to ever hold a license for the PVP again.
Change is not always welcome. But it is inevitable. Lake County can capitalize on the changes or let its chance slip away.
Deb Sally is chair of the Sierra Club Lake Group in Lake County, California.
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- Written by: Jennifer Gianni
This bill would force every voter to present proof of citizenship, primarily through a passport or an original birth certificate, documents many Americans don’t readily have, every time they register or update their registration — in person. That means ourselves, our loved ones, and our neighbors could face insurmountable barriers: as it's written now, the bill creates particular problems for military service members, tribal citizens, married women, naturalized citizens, rural voters, and seniors.
The SAVE Act is a solution in search of a problem. It’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, and election officials already verify voter eligibility using secure state and federal data. This bill does nothing to improve election security, it only makes voting harder for law-abiding citizens.
Congress should reject this dangerous bill and focus on ensuring that all eligible Americans have fair and equal access to the ballot box. Instead of erecting new barriers, we should be working to make voting more accessible for all eligible Americans.
Jennifer Gianni lives in Lucerne, California.
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- Written by: Michael S. Green
CAP’s founding members state the cannabis “floodgates” opened in 2018, while permit approval has been more of a slow, steady drip spanning years for most applicants. For fiscal year 2022-23, Lake County had only 38 annual state licenses, less than 1% of all licenses issued statewide. The 2023 Lake County crop report showed 219 total acres of state-licensed cannabis cultivation, but more than 10,000 acres of wine grapes. Who’s flooding whom?
Yes, cannabis prices are trending down as state licensing comes online, and it doesn’t help when illicit growers continue to engage in unfair competition. State and local taxes certainly present a challenge. However, federal tax policy is the larger concern because cannabis business owners can’t deduct most business expenses under Internal Revenue Code Sec. 280(e). Don’t hold your breath waiting for cannabis tax reform as the DOGE wrecking ball takes aim at the IRS and other federal agencies.
CAP members suggest planning resources could be better used on other projects, but planners don’t get to pick and choose when and where projects are proposed. When an application is filed, they perform site-specific analysis and environmental review to ensure all state and local standards are met. The Lake County Planning Commission conducts public hearings, and its permit approvals can be appealed. Our robust cannabis ordinance protects public health and safety, not in theory but in daily practice.
CAP suggests processing new cannabis applications will “doom” small growers. Not so. As of today, there are nearly 150 licensed cannabis operations in Lake County, still less than 2% of licenses statewide. This slow but steady growth shows ingenuity and business savvy, not gloom and doom.
Measure C was not designed to deliver “return on investment” to anyone. It was designed to allow the county and its communities to see added value from the investments made by cannabis businesses, and it has done exactly that since its passage. Throttling cannabis permit applications after years of sustainable growth won’t protect local growers from competitors large and small, but it would seriously damage Lake County’s newest agricultural sector – and the jobs and taxes it generates.
Michael S. Green is the former District 4 supervisor. He lives in Lakeport, California.
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- Written by: Carolynn Jarrett
It is my understanding that the environmental impact report for the project was accepted by both the state of California and seven tribes, but not the Koi Nation.
They sued in court and lost, and now are appealing, as is their right. However, it may take from 12 to 18 months to settle this appeal, and while Clearlake city officials try to be confident of the outcome, there is a group, without a voice in this matter, which is bearing the brunt of this conflict: our kids.
The need for positive recreational opportunities for Clearlake youth is clear and overwhelming and has been for years.
A 12- to 18-month delay for this project means kids could still be facing teen pregnancy, drug abuse, truancy and delinquency when they could be developing social, cultural, artistic, and physical skills on the field and at the new recreation center.
As adults, we need to decide what we want for our kids. Our City Council has worked hard to get this project to this point. I respectfully ask the Koi Nation to reconsider their appeal of this court decision and put the best interests of our children at the forefront of all of our actions.
Carolynn Jarrett lives in Clearlake, California.