A member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet on Monday intensified her ongoing campaign to thwart PG&E’s plans to eventually tear down a pair of century-old Eel River dams. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced in a social media post that she and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had met earlier in the day with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. CEO Patti Poppe, along with representatives from the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District “to begin constructive negotiations on the future of the Potter Valley Project.” The administration’s “hope is clear,” she stated: to “keep the Scott and Cape Horn Dams in place and working for the communities they serve.” That goal stands in direct opposition to PG&E’s long-held plan to decommission the century-old dams, part of Potter Valley hydroelectric project that no longer made financial sense, the utility concluded in 2019.

Other Potter Valley Project news:

• Lost Coast Outpost (Eureka, Calif.): Internal documents from a Southern California water agency outline a vision to turn Eel River water rights into a cash bonanza — at the expense of local users
• Redheaded Blackbelt (Phillipsville, Calif.): Support Eel River dam removal at upcoming public hearings, urges Friends of the Eel River
• RFD-TV (Nashville, Tenn.): Trump administration evaluating California’s Potter Valley Project, signals support for existing dams
• California Trout: News release: Two-Basin Solution partners respond to meeting between USDA, Interior, PG&E, and Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District regarding Eel River Dams