By Chris Shutes, CSPA Water Rights Advocate
On April 19, 2010, Potter Valley Irrigation District wrote a letter to FERC asking that PG&E, operator of the Potter Valley hydroelectric project. be ordered to analyze the amount of water diverted from the Eel River through Potter Valley Powerhouse since new flow requirements for the project were instituted in 2004. The letter from PVID claimed that more water had been diverted in practice than was modeled when the proposed change was analyzed. On July 20, 2010 FERC ordered PG&E to assemble information that provides gross annual flows and diversions through the project.
In a filing with FERC today, CSPA, CalTrout and Friends of the Eel River ask FERC to order PG&E provide greater specificity in the hydrologic analysis. In addition, these conservation groups ask for simultaneous analysis of the effects of flows released from the project into the Eel River in improving salmon and steelhead, knowing that populations have not increased since 2004. (More…)