Three men in dark suits knocked on Pam Holland’s door one night last June. They told her that her son was dead, shot to death in a neighboring county by a sheriff’s deputy. The shooting, they said, was being investigated under a new California law that requires the state Justice Department step in when a police officer kills an unarmed person.

Pam Holland hoped the investigation would be quick and fair. Her father had been a Kern County Sheriff’s reserve deputy. She grew up around cops. She thought she could trust them — but she also believed that police agencies protect their own.

“I was like, wow, that’s awesome, this is great, they’re going to take it out of the hands of the local cops, who would instantly feel anger toward my son without even knowing anything,” she said.

But an investigation that the Justice Department officers told Holland would take eight months is quickly approaching 12. Now, she is among several Californians whose family members were killed by the police in the past two years and just want the state investigations to end.

The Justice Department opened the program in 2021 to carry out a law enforcement accountability law that gained traction after a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd. Attorney General Rob Bonta, who co-authored the law when he was in the Legislature, pledged that the investigations under the law created by Assembly Bill 1506 would be completed within a year. But some police shooting reviews have already stretched 18 months or more.

The oldest unresolved police shooting case is from August 2021, more than 21 months ago.

While the investigations proceed, the families and their legal teams have as much or as little information as the rest of the public and they cannot push forward with lawsuits against the policing agencies.

“I am at the point where I believe families have to pay a visit to Bonta in Sacramento,” said Jonathan Hernandez, a Santa Ana city council member whose cousin was shot to death in September 2021. “All of us, every family who’s waiting for 1506 investigations, if he doesn’t give us a response, we will give him a response.”

Bonta, the elected head of the Justice Department, refused to answer questions about delays in the investigations. His office responded to questions with an unsigned email.

“I feel for the families having to patiently wait, but rest assured, independent investigations for civilian deaths by law enforcement is vital in demanding more transparency and accountability.”
— Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, Democrat from Sacramento

The length of the Justice Department investigations leads to other impacts: District attorneys cannot develop police shooting cases to decide whether criminal charges against the officer or officers are merited until the Justice Department’s review is over.

In Holland’s case in San Bernardino County, the sheriff’s office said it could not issue a final verdict on its officer’s conduct while the state review is underway – an interpretation of the law that the Justice Department denied in a written statement to CalMatters.

The department “has no policy prohibiting a local law enforcement agency from completing its administrative investigation while our investigation is proceeding,” unnamed representatives for the Justice Department wrote.

In the meantime, the deputy who shot Holland is back on patrol duty.

Bonta’s predecessor, fellow Democrat Xavier Becerra, initially opposed the bill that led to the state’s role in police shooting reviews. Becerra argued at the time it would be too costly for the Justice Department, which is under the attorney general, to take on a responsibility that normally fell to local district attorneys.

One issue is money. The Justice Department asked for $26 million to pay for the new shooting investigation teams. The Legislature allotted half of that, about $13 million.

Becerra complained about that discrepancy to the bill’s author, Democratic Assemblymember Kevin McCarty of Sacramento.

The $13 million budget allocation “is significantly lower than our estimates and not enough resources to stand up professional teams to perform these new investigative and prosecutorial duties,” Becerra wrote to McCarty in January 2021. “As a result, the (Justice Department) will have limited capacity to implement this bill, short of redirecting resources from other essential, mandated work, which could compromise those operations.”

Now, the length of the state investigations is “longer than average” for police shooting cases, said California District Attorneys Association CEO Greg Totten, a former Ventura County prosecutor. He added that every case is different.

Prosecutors “try to move the cases as quickly as we can, but they’re not always straightforward,” Totten said.

Bonta’s office in the unsigned statement acknowledged the slower-than-expected pace of the investigations.

“As you know, the California Department of Justice requested more funding than we ultimately received to carry out our AB 1506 work, and we’ve had to adapt and make it work,” the statement read.

“This does sometimes mean that investigations may take longer to complete than they would with additional funding and resources, but we owe it to the families involved as well as our communities to ensure that each case is done right, and supported by a thorough, fair, and comprehensive investigation.”

McCarty said in a statement last week that the slow pace of investigations is a result of thorough work.

“It’s been slow to roll out and implement, but I still have confidence in the program — as it’s better to be right than to be fast,” McCarty said in a statement emailed to CalMatters.

“I feel for the families having to patiently wait, but rest assured, independent investigations for civilian deaths by law enforcement is vital in demanding more transparency and accountability.”

Pam Holland’s son, Shane, was an intravenous drug user with a litany of arrests and jail sentences. He had outstanding warrants and he ran from the police. She knows how all this looks. But she hoped the state, with its $13 million annual budget for police shooting investigations, would at least provide a dispassionate, thorough resolution.

Now?

“I wish they would have never gotten involved.”

A shooting on a desert highway

On a dark street in a San Bernardino County exurb, Shane Earl Holland gave a fake name to a sheriff’s deputy and ran.

Holland, 35, was a passenger in a car pulled over by San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputy Justin Lopez about 2:30 a.m. one day last June. Holland had outstanding warrants. Lopez yelled at him to stop running and get on the ground. Holland replied several times, “I’ll shoot you.”

Lopez, according to audio from his tape recorder obtained by CalMatters, chased Holland on foot for one minute and 17 seconds, then fired six shots, killing him. Moments later, Lopez’s sergeant arrived at the scene.

“You good?,” asked the sergeant, whose name has not been released by the sheriff’s department.

“I’m good,” Lopez said, still breathing hard from the chase.

“Where’s his gun,” the sergeant replied. “Did he have a gun?”

“I don’t know,” Lopez said. “He said he was going to shoot.”

Pam Holland holds a program from her son’s funeral while sitting in her home in Tehachapi on April 20, 2023. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

Pam Holland first heard that recording in January – a recording her daughter obtained from the Justice Department with a public records request.

“Honestly, like if there was no audio recordings, if I didn’t hear the audio recording, I would not believe the story,” she said. “If I didn’t hear it for my own self and they told me, well, you know, he said he was going to shoot, I wouldn’t believe it.”

On the recording, Lopez and his sergeant briefly discuss the injuries to Shane Holland’s body, mentioning that they can see his skull. She wants to know if he suffered.

Holland’s family has been assigned an advocate, who works for the Justice Department. Holland and two of her daughters sometimes do an imitation of the advocate’s frustrating responses to their questions: “‘I’m sorry, we can’t tell you that,’ ” they mimicked in chorus during an interview at Holland’s Tehapachi apartment.

“He killed my kid. But he’s running in the dark, chasing someone who says, I’m going to shoot you. That’s not okay.”
— Pam Holland, mother of Shane Earl Holland

Holland has questions about the night of the shooting. Why did the deputy chase the car’s passenger, leaving the driver to his own devices? Were her son’s pants falling off like they usually were? Did he have his hand at his waistband to hold them up as he ran? Did it look like he was reaching for a gun?

“I waver between thinking the cop needs to suffer, go to prison himself, to feeling bad for him,” she said. “And that makes me wonder what the hell’s wrong with me. He killed my kid. But he’s running in the dark, chasing someone who says, I’m going to shoot you. That’s not okay.”

When should police chase on foot?

Ed Obayashi, a former Plumas County Sheriff’s deputy who is now a nationally recognized expert in police use-of-force cases, also has questions about the shooting. CalMatters shared the tape recording of the shooting with him.

He broke the deputy’s decision-making into two parts: Why chase Holland, and why fire shots?

“Officers, it’s embedded in their DNA to chase,” Obayashi said. “That’s why we’re cops.”

But state and federal courts have held that simple fleeing is not a reason for a police officer to detain a person, said Obayashi, who also has a law degree.

Lopez, the deputy, told the driver that he had a reflective coating on his license plate, making it hard to read. Obayashi said he doesn’t understand what threat Holland posed to the officer when he fled.

“A physical threat, that hardly exists here because he’s running away,” Obayashi said. “And it’s inherently dangerous to be chasing anyone during the day, much less at night.”

“There is a skill associated with investigating not only officer-involved shootings, but just shootings in general, that the Attorney General’s office doesn’t have.”
— Brian Marvel, president of the Peace Officers Research Association of California

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department has a policy for vehicle pursuits, but not pursuits on foot. In emailed responses to CalMatters’ questions, department spokesperson Mara Rodriguez said the department relies on guidance from the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, or POST.

The POST guidelines – which are merely suggestions and not mandatory – call foot pursuits “one of the most dangerous and unpredictable situations for officers.” They say an officer should have observed criminal activity before starting a chase.

“I just don’t see the legal justification for this shooting,” Obayashi said. “Fleeing alone is not a good reason to chase. Matter of fact, that’s no reason at all.”

But when Holland threatened Lopez, Obayashi said, his fate was sealed.

“I’m not taking that chance, if he’s saying he’s going to shoot,” Obayashi said. “It’s very easy for someone to pull out a gun and spray bullets behind them. The individual made a distinct threat and the deputy’s thinking, oh shit, this guy is going for a gun.”

Pam Holland stands in the doorway of her apartment in Tehachapi on April 20, 2023. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

For the deputy, the ramifications of using deadly force will be compounded by investigations by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, the local district attorney’s office and the Justice Department, said Brian Marvel, president of the Peace Officers Research Association of California.

“That adds up to a lot,” Marvel said. “Having to wait long periods of time and going through that is, it’s pretty rough. I think anybody under any circumstances having to wait those types of time frames, (it) takes a toll on your psyche, it takes a toll on your health and it’s difficult to get through.”

Marvel said it’s not surprising that the Justice Department investigations are taking a long time – the people doing the investigations are still learning to conduct them at this level.

“I think what you’re dealing with now is, you have an Attorney General’s office that has never done this before,” Marvel said. “So, in essence, you’re having to train up special agents to do officer-involved shootings. There is a skill associated with investigating not only officer-involved shootings, but just shootings in general, that the Attorney General’s office doesn’t have.”

Councilmember watched his cousin’s death

Another family who lost faith waiting for the Justice Department’s investigation has long roots in Orange County. Hernandez, the Santa Ana city councilmember, watched from behind a police barricade as officers shot his cousin, Brandon Lopez, 22 times after a police chase in Anaheim on Sept. 28, 2021.

Lopez, 33, had three outstanding warrants and was driving a stolen car that crashed at a construction site. During an hours-long standoff, police shouted commands to him, telling him to surrender. In a video presentation of dispatcher audio and body camera footage prepared by the Anaheim Police Department, police said Lopez was “smoking narcotics” inside the car and refused to leave.

Santa Ana police handed over the standoff to the Anaheim Police Department. Soon after, Anaheim Police officers fired a flashbang grenade and tear gas canister into the car. Lopez emerged from the car’s backseat moments later.

The officers called out that Lopez had a gun. Police fired multiple rounds, and Lopez is shown in the video falling to the ground. He died at the scene. He was unarmed.

“What they called a standoff was a public execution of an unarmed man,” Hernandez said. “The days of lynching have gone away and have evolved into the modern day police shooting.”

Hernandez ran in 2020 against an incumbent former Orange County Sheriff’s deputy on a police reform platform. He won by 9 percentage points.

At the scene before the shooting, body camera footage shows the councilmember in a T-shirt and shorts, asking to speak with his cousin and telling an officer he’s worried because “cops kill people every day.”

The officer responds: “People kill people every day.”

“Absolutely,” Hernandez said, “but you’ll get away with it.”

CalMatters requested raw footage, interviews and relevant documents associated with the Lopez shooting from the Anaheim Police Department in September. The department denied the request, citing the ongoing investigation.

When the Justice Department took control of the investigation, Hernandez said he was hopeful it would avoid the local politics of Santa Ana and Orange County. Unlike Holland’s family, Hernandez said his relatives do not think well of the police. He and Lopez’s mother, Johanna, told CalMatters they refused to speak with the local cops after the shooting.

“You cannot trust the people who just murdered your loved one to properly investigate each other,” Hernandez said.

Now, because of the delay, he wonders whether he and his family can trust the Justice Department.

Pam Holland holds a photo of her late son as her two daughters, Solana Roberts and Reymi Updike stand by her, in front of her home in Tehachapi on April 20, 2023. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Dennis William Eugene Ganfield (Denny), age 51, unexpectedly went home to be with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on May 5, 2023. He was born in Arcata on March 1, 1972 to Dennis and Phyllis Ganfield. Denny was an active child who loved growing up in the small town of Mckinleyville, where there were always friends and family close by. A few years later he became a big brother and protector of his little sister, Brandy. He learned to hunt and fish alongside his dad, grandpas and uncles.

Sports time was also family time, where his biggest fan, his mother, could be seen and heard cheering him on! From a young age it was evident that Denny was athletically gifted. All through his youth he dominated on the soccer fields, baseball fields, basketball courts and especially on the football field. It was on the gridiron where Denny found his true passion. When he entered Mckinleyville High School in 1986 he went to work polishing his skills at the wide receiver position. It didn’t take him long to establish himself as a prolific wide receiver. Throughout his varsity years he struck fear into the heart of HDN Big Four and Little Five defensive backfields. Denny established himself as the premier wide receiver of the HDN his senior year while helping his team shatter records and write themselves in the CIF state record books. Denny was a team player who worked tirelessly on and off the field. Denny and his teammates were honored for their undefeated North Coast Section Championship season by being inducted into the Mckinleyville High School hall of fame.

After high school and working locally, Denny enlisted into the US Army in 1993. Upon graduating from basic training in South Carolina he was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, where he became a certified Vehicle Mechanic and achieved the rank of Specialist. During his time in service he would be awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, Army Service Ribbon and Expert Marksmanship Qualification Badge with Rifle Bar. During his time in Texas he was blessed with his two boys, Kyle and Dennis Jr. Ganfield.

Denny later returned to his roots in Humboldt County, where he was employed as a mill worker, and always found time to head to the outdoors where he continued to hunt and fish. He loved his children and showed them the beautiful nature that Humboldt County has to offer and was very proud of the men they are today.

Denny always had a special place in his heart for his sister, Brandy, and her children, Chase and Jovie. He cherished being a part of and watching his nephew and niece grow up. He loved his mom’s home cooking and drinking a cold beer over long talks with his dad.

Later on in life, he found purpose and meaning in his Christian faith. He was baptized as an adult and attended Church on a regular basis.

Denny left us too soon and will be deeply missed. Rest in peace in God’s care, we will be reunited in Heaven.

Dennis is survived by his sons, Kyle and Dennis Jr. Ganfield, and their mother, Patricia Coria; grandchildren, Matthew Anthony Ganfield and Kaylee Grace Ganfield; his parents, Dennis and Phyllis Ganfield; his sister, Brandy Eskra, and her children, Chase Evenson and Jovie Fischer; aunts, Donna (and her son Tommy), Sandra Weeks, Lois Crawford, and great-aunt Bonnie Benjamin; uncles, Marvin (and Peggy) Ganfield, Robert Ganfield, Bob Reynolds, and numerous cousins and lifelong friends.

He was preceded in death by maternal grandparents, William and Audrey Reynolds; paternal grandparents, Marvin and Thelma Ganfield; his brother-in-law and great buddy, Scott Eskra; aunts, Sheryl Whitaker, Jean Van Epps, Sharron Sandal, and Bonnie Kay Reynolds; uncles, David, Darrell, and Roger Ganfield, Mel Peterson, Bill Reynolds, and Thomas White; and cousins, Cherie Reynolds and Winter White.

We invite family and friends to attend a gravesite memorial in honor of Denny on Saturday, May 27 at 12 p.m. at Greenwood Cemetery, which is located at 1757 J Street in Arcata. After the memorial, we would be honored to have you join us at the Arcata Veterans Memorial Building, located at 1425 J Street in Arcata.

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FURTHER READING: 

• Eureka Woman Dies at Moonstone Beach One Day After Graduating From Nursing School
• OUT of the SCRUM! Meet the 18-Year-Old Arcata Native Whose College Rugby Team Just Won Nationals
• Body of 44-Year-Old Man Recovered After His Boat Was Swept Out Of Klamath River Mouth
• Fishing and Conservation Groups Sue PG&E Alleging Harm to Salmon and Steelhead on the Eel River
• State Senate Will Host Hearing on Offshore Wind and the Fishing Industry Tomorrow, McGuire’s Office Announces

HUMBOLDT TODAY can be viewed on LoCO’s homepage each night starting at 6 p.m.

If you’ve strolled along the Eureka waterfront trail much over the past few summers, chances are you’ve come across “Chalk Talk,” a series of essays written in chalk on the surface of the trail, the letters in all caps, the words spaced roughly one step apart.

Reading Chalk Talk requires you to walk forward with your head down. As you do so, the words unspool from background to foreground, like an inverted version of the “crawl” sequences at the start of each Star Wars film.

The author, whose real identity is unknown to us at the Outpost, goes by K.P. Smile, and their temporary word installations address matters pertaining to our local homeless residents.

K.P. Smile describes their creation as “a talk radio show that plays out right here on the waterfront trail,” and the latest installment — listed as Season 4, episode 1 — recently appeared on the pathway, its full message stretching for nearly a mile. (It begins at the intersection of First and C streets and continues southwest almost to Schmidbauer Building Supply.

The latest episode of Chalk Talk focuses primarily on the potential legal ramifications of privately organized homeless “sweeps.” You can watch the video above to read the whole thing, and as we head into summer, look where you’re stepping: You might come across another edition.

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You probably saw all the hoopla earlier this year about Cal Poly Humboldt’s rugby team kicking butt at nationals. Well, in other rugby news, last weekend the Claremont Colleges women’s rugby team – the Foxes – won the College Rugby Association of America’s D2 National Championship for the second time. And though that might not usually be news of particular interest in Humboldt County, it turns out that one member of the national champion team is born-and-raised Arcata gal, 18-year-old Flannery Warner. 

Warner, who graduated from Arcata High, just finished up her freshman year at Scripps College – one of five Claremont Colleges that have members on the team. So this was her first year playing rugby for the Foxes, which made it especially exciting for her to be part of winning nationals. In fact, Warner told the Outpost, it was actually her first year playing rugby at all. 

“At Arcata High I was a competitive swimmer,” Warner said in a recent phone interview. “And then I decided when I went to college that I was kind of burnt out with swimming and I wanted to try something new. I knew that this team had won nationals the previous year. And so that of course was like a little bit intimidating, but I was like, ‘why not?’”

One of the nice things about the rugby team, Warner explained, is that anyone can join, even if they don’t have rugby experience. Since rugby is not a hugely popular sport in America, compared to American football or other sports, a lot of high schools do not have a rugby team. So many of the players are athletes coming from another sport, like soccer or basketball, and they learn how to play from the coaches and senior team members. 

After new players join the team, the process is sort of “self-selecting,” Warner said, because many people realize within the first few days of training that rugby isn’t really for them. “A lot of people don’t continue because they realize they don’t like being tackled and all of that stuff,” Warner said. 

But Warner said that even though she was a little wary of the intense physical contact of the sport at first, she discovered that she really likes it. As a swimmer Warner did a lot of weight training, which she said was something she always really enjoyed. One of the things that made her interested in transitioning to rugby is that it’s a sport that really emphasizes being physically strong.

OK, so here is the part where this reporter who knows nothing about rugby (or, really, sports in general) tries to explain a little bit about how rugby is played. If you are a rugby aficionado, just go ahead and scroll past this part and save me the embarrassment. During a rugby match, there are 15 players per team on the field, who are grouped into eight “forwards” and seven “backs.” One of the jobs of the forwards is to form the scrum, which involves the forwards from each team packing closely together with their heads down and attempting to gain possession of the ball. Warner generally plays as one of the “props,” whose role is to support the “jumper” as they compete for the ball. 

Evan Wollen, one of the team’s coaches, told the Outpost that props have to be very strong and usually have a larger body type, so it is not a position commonly given to a freshman. But Wollen said that Warner is very strong and has worked very hard to prove her capabilities. 

“Her statistics in the weightroom really improved over the year,” Wollen said in a recent interview. “She didn’t just show up and get that position. She worked her way into it.” 

Of course, Wollen is very excited that the team won nationals for the second year in a row and is impressed with all of the team members, many of whom had never played rugby before joining the team. There are 40 members on the team and 25 on the roster for each game. In the nationals match against Howard University, Warner was put in as an alternate for the last 18 minutes of the game, Wollen said, and got to be a part of winning the title. As a particularly determined team member, Warner was always trying to figure out a way to be on the field.

“Her dedication was kind of an example for the other freshmen,” Wollen said. “She asks me at the end of pretty much every practice what she can do to improve. Trying to stay ahead of a player like Flannery is a challenge. But a good challenge.” 

Growing up in the hippie-town capital, Arcata, Warner’s drive seems to come from living in a very sports-centric family. Warner’s older and younger brother both also play team sports, and her father, Tim Warner, is one of the regular announcers for the Humboldt Crabs. The whole Warner family has spent many summers working at the Crabs games, and Flannery said she will be working with them again while she is home for the summer. 

Other than working at the ballpark, Warner said that she plans to spend most of her summer back in Humboldt catching up on rest. In addition to playing rugby, Warner also has a full schoolwork load and is planning on majoring in biology and doing pre-med. With the team’s final game on the weekend right before finals, Warner and her teammates were stretched pretty thin, using most of their downtime in Houston to study in their hotel rooms. The team really didn’t even have enough time to celebrate their win. 

But Warner said that traveling with her teammates was still a lot of fun and she is so excited to have been a part of winning the D2 nationals. Though she plans on going into the medical field after school, Warner said she plans to play rugby throughout her college career. 

“It was super fun…” Warner said. “I think I would have been a lot more socially isolated without the team. I think that if I hadn’t had the team and the friendship of the team, [freshman year] would have been a very different experience.”

Press release from the office of Sen. Mike McGuire:

Senate Majority Leader Mike McGuire, Chair of the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture (JCFA), is gearing up for this Wednesday’s hearing in the State Capitol focused on California’s burgeoning offshore wind industry. This hearing will explore how to expedite the deployment of green energy while protecting the interests of California’s fishing fleet and ensuring coastal environmental safeguards remain in place.

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For the first time, the hearing will bring all sides of the issue together for a groundbreaking discussion that will feature representatives from federal and state agencies, tribal leaders, offshore wind industry representatives, representatives from the fishing fleet, labor leaders and environmental organizations.

Presenters will focus on why offshore wind energy is essential to the State’s green energy future and energy supply, the need to incorporate fish and wildlife in the development process, and how wind energy can be compatible with the protection of California’s fisheries.

“This first-of-its-kind hearing will bring all sides of the offshore wind discussion together, ensuring the State can expedite the deployment of this valuable energy resource while protecting the interests of California’s storied fishing fleet and guaranteeing coastal environmental safeguards,” said Senator McGuire. “It’s critical to have these voices at the same table as we develop the roadmap for offshore energy, healthy oceans and a thriving fishing fleet to co-exist here in the Golden State.”

The hearing begins at 2 p.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, May 17th in the State Capitol Swing Space, 1021 O Street, Room 2100. The public is welcome to attend the hearing.

The hearing will be live-streamed via the Senate Website. For more information about the hearing, visit the Committee web site at Committee web site.

UPDATE, 3:12 p.m.:

After receiving a copy of the lawsuit, PG&E issued the following statement by spokesperson Paul Moreno:

We have just received the complaint and [are] reviewing it. We are confident that our Potter Valley Project’s operations are in compliance with all environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act.

For the past 100 years of PG&E owning and operating the Potter Valley Project, PG&E has complied with the licenses issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authorizing operation of the Project.  The terms of PG&E’s current license, which remain in effect until the Project is licensed or surrendered by FERC, include requirements to comply with all environmental laws, including the ESA.

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Original post:

Joint press release from California Trout, Friends of the Eel River, Institute for Fisheries Resources, Trout Unlimited and Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations:

San Francisco — A coalition of five commercial fishing and conservation groups have filed suit in federal court charging that Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project on the Eel River is illegally harming salmon and steelhead listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Specifically, the lawsuit charges PG&E with maintaining and operating the Potter Valley Project in a manner that harms and harasses Coastal California Chinook salmon and Northern California steelhead trout, amounting to illegal “take” of these species. Legal representation for the groups is being provided by Earthjustice and Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLC.

The Potter Valley Project includes two dams, Scott Dam and Cape Horn Dam, which impede fish passage and block access to hundreds of miles of critical, high quality spawning and nursery habitat for Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, and pacific lamprey. PG&E is in the early phases of planning to decommission the facilities, which the company no longer wants due to the high costs associated with operating the aging structures. The hydroelectric portion of the Project no longer produces electricity after a transformer failure in July of 2021.

“These obsolete dams are harming fish populations in several ways,” said Matt Clifford, California Director of Law and Policy for Trout Unlimited. “In addition to blocking the migration of both adult and juvenile salmon, the operation of the Project results in stream temperatures that are too hot for these populations to recover. We’re asking the court to ensure PG&E operates the facilities in a way that will preserve fish populations so that they will be able to take advantage of dam removal when it occurs.”

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has made it clear to PG&E and federal dam regulators that keeping ESA-listed Chinook and steelhead populations off extinction’s edge in the near future will require immediate changes to PG&E’s operations of the Potter Valley Project. In March 2022, NMFS wrote that the Potter Valley Project “is causing take of ESA-listed salmonids in a manner not anticipated in the (2002 Biological) Opinion and from activities not described in the Opinion.” This May 11, NMFS noted that the “Cape Horn Dam Fish Passage Facility currently does not have ESA take coverage and is likely non-compliant with NMFS fish passage guidelines.”

“Both Scott and Cape Horn dams are clearly causing take of Eel River salmon and steelhead. To the extent they ever had a permit to cause those harms, PG&E no longer enjoys those legal protections,” said Clifford.

The lawsuit makes several specific claims against the utility for operating the facilities in a manner that harms native fish. These claims include maintaining water temperatures below the dams that are too high for salmon and steelhead; operating Cape Horn Dam and its fish passages facilities in a manner that directly causes injury and death to species listed under the Endangered Species Act; blocking access to high-quality habitat above the dams; and making it difficult for juvenile fish to migrate out to sea.

“We expect PG&E to propose the removal of both Eel River dams in this fall’s decommissioning plan. Scott Dam faces serious seismic safety concerns and has no fish passage,” said Alicia Hamann, Executive Director for Friends of the Eel River. “But Cape Horn dam is also very problematic for fish and the ecological function of the river. The fishway at the dam harms and harasses fish whose populations are already severely depressed. Fish ladders are really difficult to operate in a sediment-rich river like the Eel and PG&E has been operating this ladder for years despite known risk to these protected species. The best move for PG&E and the Eel River is to remove both dams as soon as possible.”

PG&E revealed in March of this year that the larger of the two dams, Scott Dam, is at higher risk of failure in an earthquake than was previously understood. Due to the increased danger, state dam regulators will no longer allow the Lake Pillsbury reservoir to be fully filled. PG&E is scheduled to file a draft decommissioning plan with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in November of 2023. The plan will spell out the specifics of how the utility plans to wind down Project operations for good and how it plans to deal with the facilities.

“The real solution here is to completely remove these obsolete dams from the river,” said Redgie Collins, Legal and Policy Director for California Trout. “We applaud PG&E for seeking to decommission this Project, but in the interim, they need to operate the Project in a way that reduces its impact on fish and is compliant with the law. We understand that the dams could be out in five years or perhaps even less, but PG&E needs to comply with the law starting today.”

“Salmon season is closed this year for the second time,” said Vivian Helliwell, Watershed Conservation Director for the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “West Coast salmon and steelhead populations are really struggling right now, and along with them our coastal and inland communities that rely on these fish for food and jobs.”

The Eel River was once one of the most productive salmon rivers in California with returns of commercially important Chinook salmon estimated to be as high as 800,000 fish in good years. “The poor operation of the Potter Valley Project by PG&E is directly impacting the fish these communities rely on,” added Helliwell. “For our coastal fishing families, fixing these issues can’t come soon enough. We need these populations to be healthy enough to support a harvestable surplus above the minimum numbers needed for delisting. The Eel River has the potential to support that kind of recovery.”