A Southern California water district’s bid to acquire PG&E’s water rights to the Potter Valley Project hit a setback this week, when a federal agency blocked the district from intervening in the proceeding that will decide whether and how the project’s dams are removed.
In a one-page notice issued July 27, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission denied Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District’s motion to intervene in PG&E’s application to surrender its license and decommission the century-old hydroelectric project on the Eel and East Fork Russian rivers.
The district filed its motion July 9 — more than seven months after FERC’s Dec. 1 intervention deadline. Parties who miss that deadline must “show good cause why the time limitation should be waived,” the commission wrote. Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District (EVMWD), however, “did not provide any explanation for the untimeliness of its motion.” FERC said it would still consider the written comments the district filed the same day…