Ag Secretary Rollins, Interior Sec Burgum Convene White House Meeting Between PG&E Regarding Future of Potter Valley Dam

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced on X Monday that she and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum convened a White House meeting with representatives from Pacific Gas & Electric and the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District in Riverside County, to discuss the future of the Potter Valley Project.

The Potter Valley Project is a hydroelectric and water diversion system in Northern California that transfers water from the Eel River to the Russian River watershed.

Today, I convened a meeting at the White House alongside @SecretaryBurgum with @PGE4Me and the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District to begin constructive negotiations on the future of the Potter Valley Project — and to take this fight off social media and get it resolved. Our hope is clear: keep the Scott and Cape Horn Dams in place and working for the communities they serve. For over 100 years, these dams have provided clean hydropower and reliable water to farmers, families, and ecosystems across the Eel and Russian River basins. We want to protect the dams and support the many farmers that rely on this infrastructure. The Trump Administration is focused on real solutions to preserve these dams and keep CA farms and rural communities thriving. More to come!

Today, I convened a meeting at the White House alongside @SecretaryBurgum with @PGE4Me and the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District to begin constructive negotiations on the future of the Potter Valley Project — and to take this fight off social media and get it resolved.… pic.twitter.com/DZgE771GCD

— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) June 15, 2026

The Potter Valley Project involves two aging dams on the Eel River (Scott Dam and Cape Horn Dam) owned by PG&E. It has diverted water for over a century through a tunnel to the Russian River basin, supporting agriculture, hydropower, and water supply for hundreds of thousands of people in Northern California, including farms and communities in Mendocino, Sonoma, and other nearby counties.

The San Francisco Chronicle just reported June 1st that the Trump administration was doubling down on its effort to stop yet another California dam removal – this time the Potter Valley Project which includes the Scott Dam and Cape Horn Dam on the Eel River, owned by PG&E.

The Trump administration through Secretary Rollins and Secretary Burgum has opposed full decommissioning, arguing it would threaten reliable water and hydropower for agriculture and rural communities.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Globe reported in 2024 on removal of four hydroelectric dams (Iron Gate, Copco 1, Copco 2, and J.C. Boyle) on the Lower Klamath River in Northern California/Southern Oregon took place, sold as a way to “save salmon” and restore habitat for tribes and fish. The dam removal instead caused immediate environmental harm, especially in Siskiyou County.

During drawdown and dam removal, massive sediment releases turned the river muddy brown, leading to fish kills, stranded wildlife including deer trapped in mud, degraded water quality, and dry wells. Siskiyou County Supervisor Ray Haupt described it as an “environmental disaster,” with a sediment plume reaching the ocean.

The dams, built in the early 20th century, provided hydropower, water storage, and flood control but were blamed for blocking salmon migration and contributing to water quality issues. Removal was approved by FERC in 2022 after years of negotiation.

Much of this was backed by The New Venture Fund, like all four nonprofits managed by the for-profit consultancy Arabella Advisors, a left-leaning philanthropic consulting company that provides strategy, advocacy, impact investing, and management services to high-dollar foundations, nonprofits, corporations, and individuals. The company was founded in 2005 by Eric Kessler, a Clinton administration alumnus, which according to Influence Watch, primarily exists to sponsor a number of “fake” groups: websites designed to look like standalone nonprofits. These “fake” groups rarely become fully-fledged nonprofits; instead, they typically exist to effect an issue advocacy campaign pushing left-wing policies and may disappear after the campaign is finished.

The Potter Valley Project feels similar to the Klamath River dam removal in that PG&E filed to surrender its FERC license and decommission the dams, which is part of a broader settlement involving dam removal to restore salmon habitat on the Eel River, backed by tribes, conservation groups, and local agencies.

As the Mendocino Voice reported in May:

The Northern California parties at the table — Sonoma Water, the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, the Round Valley Indian Tribes, Humboldt County, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, CalTrout and Trout Unlimited — spent six years negotiating a federally approved plan to take the dams out and keep a smaller, seasonal diversion in place to protect the farms and towns that depend on the Russian River.

The Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District wants to buy the Potter Valley project, even though it is located in Riverside County, which is why Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, are involved, and have publicly backed the district’s interest.

As Secretary Rollins said in her X post, “Our hope is clear: keep the Scott and Cape Horn Dams in place and working for the communities they serve. For over 100 years, these dams have provided clean hydropower and reliable water to farmers, families, and ecosystems across the Eel and Russian River basins. We want to protect the dams and support the many farmers that rely on this infrastructure.”