We need your help today to ensure that the North Fork Mokelumne River remains protected for generations to come, along with its recreational, scenic, wildlife and cultural resources. You can scroll down to read our sample email, or keep reading to learn more.
A private development company, GreenGenStorage LLC, is seeking federal approval to build and operate a hydroelectric pumped-storage “battery” project that would rely on water from the North Fork Mokelumne and the Bear Rivers in Amador County south of Highway 88. The “Mokelumne Water Battery Project” could have temporary and long-term impacts on the North Fork Mokelumne, which is a Forest Service-recommended Wild and Scenic River and which is also protected by the state under the California Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
Your comment will help CalWild and its allies’ efforts ensure that the Forest Service acts to protect the North Fork Mokelumne and the public resources nearby. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is reviewing a Draft License Application (DLA) for the project submitted by GreenGenStorage, a privately funded energy project speculator. The company has never built or operated a major hydroelectric project.
The U.S. Forest Service is obligated to determine whether the project complies with the protective management direction for these public lands, including the North Fork Mokelumne segment recommended by the agency for Wild and Scenic protection and the existing Mokelumne Archeological Special Interest Area (SIA) . The agency is also responsible for proposing mandatory construction and operating conditions to be included in any power license FERC may issue for the proposed project. Those conditions are necessary to ensure protection of the river and the public resources and continued non-power uses of the Eldorado and Stanislaus National Forest lands where the project would be located.
Your e-mail can help persuade the Forest Service to put the value of our public land and waters above private profit. It may even help CalWild and other resource advocates persuade the Forest Service to recommend that FERC deny the project due to its conflicts with Forest Service plans, policies, and standards.
Just a few of the concerns about this project’s impacts on National Forest resources and values include:
- The project proposes to use two existing PG&E reservoirs on the North Fork Mokelumne (Salt Srpings) and Bear Rivers (Lower Bear), moving water between the two reservoirs every day to generate hydropower during peak demand, when power prices are highest. The project requires expanding powerlines, enlarging roads, constructing a large electric switching station, drilling and blasting a large tunnel through solid rock, and creating a tunnel debris storage area directly adjacent to the North Fork and several recreation sites. During its multi-year construction period, the project will create major traffic delays on narrow Forest Service roads; create vibration, noise, and dust from tunnel blasting; and block a key access route to the Mokelumne Wilderness east of Salt Springs.
- The project and its supporting infrastructure is proposed adjacent to a segment of the North Fork Mokelumne River recommended by the Forest Service for National Wild and Scenic River protection. The Forest Service is required by its own guidelines to protect the river’s free-flowing condition and outstanding archeological and cultural values.
- Part of the project and its supporting infrastructure is located in the Mokelumne Archeological SIA, which was established by the Forest Service in 1988 to preserve the integrity of this rich cultural area. The SIA represents the outstanding value that made the North Fork eligible for Wild and Scenic River protection.
- The same river segment affected by the project is a Caliornia Wild and Scenic River designated by the state in 2018 to protect its its extraordinary scenery and recreation values (although the Forest Service has no little authority over the management of a state-designated river) .
- If built and operated, the project will significantly alter Lower Bear River Reservoir’s levels daily, impacting popular family recreation uses of the reservoir including fishing, swimming, and boating, as well as several campgrounds, organizational camps and a commercial resort. It would also change water levels in Salt Springs.
- As currently proposed, the project does not appear to affect flows in either the North Fork Mokelumne or the Bear River, but its construction could seriously constrain public recreation access to public lands and recreation sites on the Lower Bear River and Salt Springs Reservoirs as well as the Mokelumne Wilderness as well as disrupt users’ experience of the nearby public lands. Some of the impacted recreation sites include the White Azalea, Mokelumne, and Moore Creek campgrounds, fishing and whitewater recreation access sites, and the Calaveras and Hammer Domes rock-climbing areas along the North Fork Mokelumne Wild and Scenic River.
- Construction traffic will disrupt public access on the rural road system leading to and following the North Fork Mokelumne. Noise and dust from construction blasting and drilling would adversely affect recreation use. Using an existing old quarry site to permanently store tunnel debris, as well as building new powerline towers and switching stations, and road and bridge improvements could affect the extraordinary scenery and recreation values and outstandingly remarkable cultural/archeological value of the North Fork Mokelumne Wild and Scenic River.
Please help by sending the Forest Service an e-mail today!
Send an email to the Eldorado National Forest Acting Supervisor Amy Reid urging the agency to propose conditions to the power license considered by FERC for the GreenGen project that protect the North Fork Mokelumne and Bear Rivers, as well as the public lands through which they flow. Please point out that the area is already affected by hydropower development, and that its existing recreational, cultural, natural, wildlife, and scenic values should be protected. Feel free to use and add your personal views to the sample email below and then paste it into the Eldorado National Forest’s internet contact page (link provided below – add as hyperlink here). Your email will be most effective if received by the Forest Service by the end of January 2025.
SAMPLE EMAIL
Forest Supervisor Amy Reid
Eldorado National Forest
100 Forni Road
Placerville, CA 95667
Via: https://www.fs.usda.gov/contactus/eldorado/about-forest/contactus
Re: GreenGen Project – Please ensure the protection of the Mokelumne and Bear Rivers
Dear Supervisor Reid:
I’m concerned that GreenGen’s proposed “battery” project will adversely affect the North Fork Mokelumne and Bear Rivers, as well as the scenery, recreation, cultural resource, and wildlife values of surrounding, federally managed public lands. The Forest Service has the authority (and I believe, the obligation) to inform the Federal Energy Regulatory Agency (FERC) that the project conflicts with other National Forest purposes, as well as to propose mandatory project conditions to protect our public resources. I urge you to develop and require conditions for this project to fully protect the North Fork Mokelumne and Bear Rivers and other National Forest resources.
Specifically, the Forest Service should:
- Determine whether the project as proposed conflicts with the existing Mokelumne Archeological Special Interest Area (SIA) and the segment of the North Fork Mokelumne recommended by the Forest Service to Congress as a National Wild and Scenic River in 1994.
- Assess the Bear River upstream of the Mokelumne SIA for its potential eligibility as a National Wild and Scenic River (as required by a Regional Forester appeal decision) and determine the potential impacts of the project on North Fork tributaries located in the SIA.
- Ensure the project complies with existing management direction in the Eldorado and Stanislaus Forest Plans, including retention of visual quality along the river’s scenic corridor and maintenance of semi-primitive non-motorized recreation opportunities south of the North Fork.
- Ensure that the project does not limit access to popular recreation sites during construction, damage Indigenous cultural resources, or adversely affect recreational use of National Forest lands in the long term.
Management direction for the popular North Fork Mokelumne recreation area is to maintain the visual character for the enjoyment of the public. But the GreenGen project will require expansion of existing roads and bridges, powerline and switching station improvements, drilling and blasting to create a large tunnel, and disposal of tunnel debris. All this construction activity will restrict if not prohibit public recreation use and the physical effects of the facility expansions and improvements could have adverse permanent effects on scenery and recreation opportunities as well as Indigenous and post-settlement cultural resources.
Please take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that the GreenGen project fully protects the Wild and Scenic character of the North Fork Mokelumne and Bear Rivers, the visual and recreational character of the area, cultural resources, and public recreational access and facilities.
Sincerely,
(Name)
