Huffman Demands Answers on Trump Scheme to Ship North Coast Water to SoCal District

Huffman Demands Answers on Trump Scheme to Ship North Coast Water to SoCal District

Federal water grab would hurt northern communities, tribes, farms, fishermen

Washington, D.C. - Today, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) announced he has opened an investigation into the Trump administration's latest scheme to steal water from Northern California and divert it to Southern California. As part of his investigation, he sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum demanding records and information about their efforts to facilitate a Southern California water district's takeover of dams and water rights on the Eel River, hundreds of miles outside its service area. He sent a similar letter to the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District.

"The communities and Tribal Nations I represent would be directly impacted by the proposal Secretary Rollins and the District have described," Huffman wrote. "Yet your agencies have thus far provided no information to explain why a Southern California water district would seek to acquire water rights and water infrastructure on the Eel River, hundreds of miles north of its service area."

In the letter, Huffman pressed both secretaries to explain why federal agencies are working to facilitate a takeover of the Potter Valley Project, including Scott Dam and Cape Horn Dam, by a water district with no connection to the Eel River basin. He warned the proposal raises serious environmental, legal, economic, and water supply concerns for vulnerable communities along the Eel and Russian Rivers and renews decades of failed schemes to divert North Coast water to distant interests in Southern California and the Central Valley.

Big water interests have targeted Eel River water for decades. The Army Corps once pushed a dam that would have flooded Round Valley before Governor Ronald Reagan killed the plan after fierce local and tribal opposition. Huffman warned the new scheme "revives a long and contentious history of plans to divert Eel River water to distant interests in southern California and the Central Valley."

"The public deserves a clear and complete accounting of what the District and your agencies have been discussing and planning," Huffman wrote. "Even the minimal information you have shared to date raises serious environmental, legal, economic, and water supply concerns for vulnerable communities in the Eel and Russian River basins."

The letter demands a full accounting of meetings, proposals, and financing arrangements, along with any plans to connect Eel or Russian River water to the State or Federal Water Projects. Huffman specifically asks about previously studied diversion projects, including Dos Rios Dam, the North Bay aqueduct, and the Richmond Bridge pipeline.

Read the full letter to USDA and DOI here.

Read the full letter to the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District here.

Background

Secretary Rollins recently announced she had "found a buyer" for the Potter Valley Project in the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District (the District) in Riverside County. The District confirmed it wants to acquire PG&E's water rights and infrastructure, including Scott Dam and Cape Horn Dam, to pull new supplies from the Eel River.

The plan would blow up a hard-won agreement between PG&E, local water managers, tribes, and environmental partners to bring Eel River water rights under local control for the first time in a century. That deal removes two obsolete dams, secures water deliveries for Mendocino County and the North Bay, restores salmon runs, and creates local jobs. It has the backing of Governor Newsom, elected officials across the North Coast, tribes, and the fishing community.

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