The push to remove two dams on Northern California’s Eel River, making it the longest free-flowing river in the state, took a step forward Thursday with a major agreement among clashing communities.
The agreement, which unites local, state and tribal leaders behind the retirement of PG&E’s Potter Valley hydroelectric project and its two dams, promises “restorative justice” compensation for the region’s indigenous people and continued water exports to the Russian River basin, where the PG&E facility has long sent supplies.
Restoring the Eel River to its natural flow has been an enduring goal for many along the waterway. Most fundamentally, it would raise river levels and give struggling salmon and other fish access to spawning habitat blocked by the dams for more than a century. Several obstacles have stood in the way, however — none so great as concern that cities and farms in Mendocino, Sonoma and Marin counties might lose the Eel River water that is piped into their Russian River supplies…