Opponents of a plan to remove two Pacific Gas & Electric-owned dams from the Eel River in Lake and Mendocino counties have officially won a huge ally: the Trump administration. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Friday filed a notice to intervene in the utility giant’s bid to decommission its waterworks in the rural area, which also include a century-old power plant that helps to shunt Eel River water into irrigation canals that support Mendocino County’s Potter Valley and dump into the upper Russian River, boosting supplies for farms and hundreds of thousands of urban dwellers in the North Bay. 

Other Potter Valley Project news:

• Times-Standard (Eureka, Calif.): Potter Valley Project: Feds intervene in Eel River dam removal
• The Ukiah Daily Journal (Calif.): USDA intervenes in decommissioning of Potter Valley Project
• Lost Coast Outpost (Eureka, Calif.): Trump administration intervenes in Potter Valley dam removal, as Department of Agriculture asks FERC to halt decommissioning process
• Redheaded Blackbelt (Susanville, Calif.): Trump administration enters fight over Potter Valley Project, Eel River water
• Active NorCal (Redding, Calif.): Federal government intervenes in fight over Eel River dam removal
• USDA: News release: Secretary Rollins intervenes to protect Potter Valley’s water supply