Power Plays

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

― Upton Sinclair

On Feb. 6, Pacific Gas and Electric dropped a bomb on residents of California’s North Coast: the company announced it will request the decommissioning and destruction of Scott Dam and Cape Horn Dam, removing a major water source for the iconic wine country and 600,000 residents of Sonoma, Marin, and Mendocino counties.

Mendocino County 1st District Supervisor Glenn McGourty summed it up: “It is a shock, and we are still kind of reeling from it,” he said.

By submitting its plans to destroy Scott Dam and the Cape Horn diversion facility, PG&E, a quasi-state agency, has shown us three valuable data points:

• They have no further interest in the dams
• It is up to North Coast residents to protect our water supply, quality of life, and cost of Living
• They use elected officials to increase their topline

Sadly, our region’s Congressional representative, Jared Huffman, is ready to help move the story along for PG&E’s benefit without a fight. He is dutifully “critical” of PG&E – always an easy target. Yet, he supports removing Scott and Cape Horn Dam and is silent on an inevitable truth: Water will become scarcer and thus more expensive for his constituents to the benefit of his donors. Current studies place the destruction project alone at almost $400M.

Incredibly, in an article posted to his website, Huffman said he intends to make PG&E’s destruction of Scott Dam slow and expensive.

“I urge people not to get overly excited,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) Wednesday when asked to respond to the decision by PG&E, explaining that “PG&E is trying to get out from under the project as quickly and as cheaply as possible … but it’s not going to be fast and it’s not going to be cheap.” 

Who does Huffman think will pay for PG&E’s decommission-and-destruction project?

Translation for all PG&E customers: Expect even higher rates for a long time. And once these dams are gone, by all official accounts, they are gone for good.

Thanks to Gov. Gavin Newsom and Rep. Huffman.

Power Disconnected

This line of reasoning perfectly demonstrates the supreme disconnect many of our elected officials in California have when engaging in their political theater. Given the status of the region, state, and nation, ideology cannot outweigh our reality; at this point, it is causing dire consequences in California and America. And Californians are paying for it dearly.

PG&E’s decision and Huffman’s complicity puts the region on a perilous path if we allow it to continue; more importantly, I believe it presents an opportunity for North Coast residents to discuss our water security and political environment honestly.

It is plainly evident that we cannot count on current politicians or executives of faux corporations. The ultimate stakeholders in this matter are the residents, families, business owners, farmers, fishers, foresters, vintners, and restaurateurs whose lives and livelihoods depend on access to cheap, plentiful, clean water.

If our current representative in Congress will not lead the effort to save this region and our existential resources, then we will.

Jared Huffman continues to demonstrate his disconnect from the interests of this district. While he strives to impose higher costs on PG&E, which PG&E customers will ultimately bear, the company donates tens of thousands of dollars to his political committee every year and millions to Newsom. PG&E feeds them money; they feed PG&E justifications for further rate hikes to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Rate hikes equal more of your money, and for what? Hint: Taxes are in percentages. The more you pay for an item, the more the government receives via tax receipts, including corporate taxes. Thus, the moral hazard of government.

If further justification of true alignment is needed, ask yourself if you have heard Huffman or Newsom speak out against PG&E’s continued delays in paying the fire victims – or pushing back on discussions that PG&E’s fire victim trust will not have sufficient funds to compensate victims fully. That was seven years ago, and residents still have not been made whole – even after PG&E posted significant profits last quarter. Where are our leaders calling for justice?

Robert De Niro, as Sam Rothstein, taught us in the movie “Casino:” “Either he was in on it, or forgive me for saying this, he was too dumb to see what was going on. Either way, I cannot have a man like that working here.”

Power Supply

I do not believe the problem is that Huffman is a Democrat. After all, his fellow Democrat and Sonoma County Rep. Mike Thompson wrote a formal memorandum to PG&E on Dec. 6,, 2023, highlighting his concerns about removing Scott Dam.

Unsurprisingly, Rep. Thompson’s concerns match my Oct. 15, 2023, Marin IJ article. Namely, removing significant water storage will impose unacceptable costs upon North Coast residents, including higher prices and higher regional fire risk. 

Another Democrat congressman, Lake County’s John Garamendi, raised similar concerns in his Oct. 16, 2020, memorandum to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC): “I strongly oppose draining Lake Pillsbury reservoir by removing Scott Dam,” Garamendi wrote. “The planning process will not be adequate until every community impacted by this project has a voice in the process.”

Once PG&E’s May 2023 Flow Variance Request is approved – which is already in review and can occur within months – Mendocino, Sonoma, and Marin counties will need to replace that water source lost from reduced diversion into the Russian River.

In June 2022, the Marin County civil grand jury called into question Marin Municipal Water District’s (MMDW) ability to meet water needs stated in their Water Resource Plan 2040. The grand jury report further calls for MMWD to increase current water supplies by 10,000 acre-feet (AF) annually for four years. That is with the 60,000 AF presently in Lake Pillsbury, which flows to the Russian River and is available for transfer to Marin County.

MMWD is currently carrying $139 million in bond debts; two years ago, they discussed putting forward another bond of approximately $111 million to send a pipeline across the Richmond Bridge to access more water sources because “Marin almost ran out of water” in 2021.

This bridge pipeline is the least expensive of the options available to solve the present water shortage. MMWD scuttled the proposal after political winds told them there was little appetite from the already overwhelmed taxpayers. But we can rest assured the proposal will return.

Presently approved rate hikes will increase MMWD ratepayers’ water costs for a family of 4 using 55 gallons daily from $115 a month to $130 a month this summer. Then, it will go to $145 next summer and $160 in summer 2026. It is important to note that this increase is solely to rebuild financial reserves, account for inflation, and increase the current capital improvement/ maintenance budget.

None of these cost increases account for funding any projects to increase water storage capacity, nor does it address the loss of water supply from the voluntary destruction of Scott Dam at Lake Pillsbury. A destruction project slated to cost ratepayers or taxpayers $400 million to remove – not including interest and ever-likely overruns.

The Plug 

Huffman has suggested a desalination (desal) plant on the Petaluma River to solve MMWD’s pending water shortage. The water district’s viability study determined the project would cost ratepayers between $121 million to $194 million to build and produce approximately 5,325 acre-feet at a price of $1,800 to $2,900 per acre-foot. Compare this to the current cost per acre-foot of $300-$450.

Note that the water produced by this desal plant would only cover 13% of the civil grand jury’s total recommended increase. We should also note that the water produced will be split between Novato’s water district and MMWD, reducing its shortage offset to MMWD.

Let us set aside that an “environmentalist” is pushing a solution that will severely impact the local ecosystem through brine discharge and salinity increases to either the Petaluma River or aquifer, likely both.

Let us focus on how PG&E is playing Huffman to pad their topline numbers at the expense of the citizens: Desal plants are widely known to have massive energy demands. Energy demands that would be fulfilled by … PG&E.

This region already has power grid shortfalls, experiencing brownouts, blackouts, and public safety power shutoff events frequently, particularly during summer months – otherwise known as the “please do not charge your EVs so we do not crash the grid” season in California.

If we plug a massively energy-intensive water source into a grid that regularly fails during the hottest times of the year while we have the least amount of water in supply, which one gets energy priority in the scenario we all can see happening?

Do we stop producing water so that people receive power to their air conditioning units so they do not die of heat exhaustion in their homes or lose their food to spoilage? Or do we produce sufficient water when our reservoirs are at their lowest, and people need it most?

How much will you be willing to pay for water when it is not readily available? What “flex pricing” will we face for access to the existential resource? This is not a choice an advanced nation should have to make in 2024. We should remember that the community that would lose or keep its power access (Petaluma) is not the same community that would lose or keep the water access (Marin).

So, PG&E creates dire conditions for the region, forcing us to make unsustainable financial choices to “guarantee water and power for all” to justify ever more rate hike approvals from the CPUC.

Power Play

In addition to PG&E’s recent announcement regarding its intent to destroy existing power generation and water storage facilities in the North Coast, its poorly timed earnings report shows a staggering profit surge of almost 25% in the fourth quarter of last year, totaling $2.24 billion.

Be sure to note that this earnings report was for the period prior to its most recently approved requested rate hike of 13%, which took effect Jan. 1, 2024. Even with outrageous profits flowing in and a rate hike that went into effect last month, PG&E has already requested yet another rate hike in 2024. What will it do when it comes time to take down Scott and Cape Horn Dams? Or upgrade the power plants? And improve the grid necessary to supply the new desal plant?

This scenario is analogous to the scene in “Yellowstone’s” 1893 series where the Dutton son remarks that the refrigerator salesman is not selling refrigerators; he is selling electricity and the subsequent continual reliance on the power company.

It should be evident that those currently in elected office do not represent our interests, and our monopoly water and power provider can proceed in its interest carte blanche. PG&E is taking blatant advantage of the voters of northern California, causing substantial financial harm to the residents and our future.

Californians face an affordability and leadership crisis, and the continuing increases in costs have become unaffordable and untenable for most.

We can see that we cannot continue down this path.

Powering Up

All of the congressmen from adjoining districts oppose the removal of dams in the region because it is an unsustainable and catastrophic path. Most citizens aware of the project are adamantly opposed to this path; unfortunately, most are unaware.

Ultimately, it is up to the people to improve our quality of life and increase our natural resource security. The fastest path to a better future is through the ballot if we choose to do so.

I encourage you to overcome the air of malaise exacted upon us by underperforming political troupes and take hold of our future by voting with your head. Ask yourself about the definition of insanity: doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome. Critically assess the situation you exist in today – do you want change? Vote for your future, not against the fears expressed to you by those trying to maintain their power.

Please take what you read here and apply it to your region; the North Bay is not PG&E’s only playground. Either way, following the March election, I will announce a symposium of leaders to chart a path for the North Coast’s water security.

It is time to stand. Our residents deserve no less.

“The power is in the People and politics We address. Always do your best.”

– Tupac