Environmental Report On PG&E Hydropower Tackles System's Effects, Sets Stage For Protection Of Sierra Rivers

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has released its long-awaited draft environmental impact report (EIR) on PG&E’s proposed sale of its hydroelectric system, setting the stage for resolving widely-debated questions about who will own PG&E’s dams and how they will be operated to better protect the environment.

The report recognizes that “new ways of using the hydroelectric facilities and watershed lands would produce environmental impacts,” according to the report’s executive summary. The 4,000-plus page document outlines in extensive detail the types and extent of environmental impacts that could stem from various ownership and management scenarios.

“We are gratified to see that the Public Utilities Commission has heeded our concerns about a no-strings deregulation of PG&E’s hydropower plants,” said Thomas J. Graff, regional director of Environmental Defense. “California’s rivers have endured enough damage. The time has come to reevaluate how Californians want to manage their rivers, even while producing electricity and providing water supplies. The Commission’s report clearly agrees that this is a monumental opportunity for that reevaluation.”

Among the study’s most significant findings are to reject auctioning off the hydropower system and to recommend against PG&E’s controversial proposal to transfer its hydropower system to a PG&E Corporation subsidiary, “CalHydro.” One immediate concern about the EIR is the CPUC’s apparent oversight of the need to mitigate existing environmental impacts. Environmental Defense and the California Hydropower Reform Coalition (CHRC) have worked to ensure that whoever ends up owning the dam projects commits to stronger environmental protection.

Steve Wald, coordinator of CHRC, praised the CPUC for presenting alternatives that avoid the impacts of deregulation, but cautioned that there is still work to be done to protect and restore the rivers affected by PG&E’s projects. “People need to get involved now to improve the CPUC’s report,” he said.

The draft environmental impact report will be available for public comment until February 5, 2001. The stage is now set for the CPUC to determine the future management and ownership of PG&E’s vast hydropower system, which includes 68 power plants, 174 dams, and 140,000 acres of watershed lands throughout the Sierra Nevada and other regions of the state.