Fact vs. Fiction: Restoration Of Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park

Fact vs. Fiction: Restoration Of Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park

It was great to hear Mike Marshall, Restore Hetch Hetchy Executive Director, and Congressman Dan Lungren on KQED radio today discussing the opportunity to restore Yosemite National Park’s second great valley with host Michael Krasny.

The show is posted on KQED’s website and is definitely worth a listen: http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201112210900

Ed Harrington, general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, and Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of Bay Area Council, presented the opposing view that the reservoir should be left in place. These men raised a number of valid issues that must be addressed.

But Wunderman and Harrington also misrepresented a number of fundamental facts about the existing system and what restoration would involve. These misrepresentations include:

Fiction: All 400 MW of San Francisco’s hydroelectric power would be destroyed.

Fact: The truth is that all three of San Francisco’s hydroelectric power plants would still be operational and only the Kirkwood plant would generate significantly less power during late summer and fall when the Tuolumne River’s natural flow is low. Modeling studies suggest only 20% of San Francisco’s hydropower would be lost, certainly not all of it.

Fiction: San Francisco and its customers have just invested 4 billion dollars in this system to make it seismically safe and this money would be wasted if restoration takes place.

Fact: This investment pertains to retrofits in the Bay Area that have little to do with the water that San Francisco stores in the Sierra Nevada. Restore Hetch Hetchy has supported the retrofit and encouraged other environmental groups to do so as well. This is money well spent but is a separate issue from restoration.

Fiction: The California Department of Water Resources said restoration would cost 10 billion dollars.

Fact: DWR actually said it could cost as little as 3 billion dollars or as much as 10 billion dollars. And even the lower estimate of 3 billion dollars included enough additional water supply to replace the relatively small amount that would be lost several times over.

Fiction: Restoration would put the region at risk in huge ways.

No one has proposed that restoration of the valley take place until facilities to provide equivalent water and power to those who use it are in place and operational.

Fiction: The Bay Area would go to the bottom of the list in terms of water rights.

Fact: Restoration would not affect anyone’s water rights to the Tuolumne River. All it means is that the water would not be stored in Yosemite National park.

Fiction: The Bay Area would not have sufficient water in 1 out of 5 years.

Fact: In one out of five years some water would need to be replaced. In most years, San Francisco’s other 8 reservoirs and water rights on the Tuolumne would provide full supplies while allowing ample reserves.

Fiction: 85 % of San Francisco’s water is stored in Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.

Fact: Hetch Hetchy Reservoir stores only about 25% of San Francisco’s water.

Fiction: It would take a huge amount of energy to pump the water to San Francisco if Hetch Hetchy Valley were restored.

Fact: Water would still be diverted at “Early Intake”, on the Tuolumne River just below Yosemite National Park, and would flow from there to the Bay Area under gravity. Very small amounts of energy would be required in some parts of the system, as it is now.

Fiction: Hetch Hetchy Reservoir was required because San Francisco ran out of water to fight the fire following the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco.

Fact: San Francisco had plenty of supply in local reservoirs in 1906. The problem was that pipes within the city broke during the quake.

Fiction: Restoration would bring tremendous risk and harm to the region.

Fact: The amount of water and power at stake are not large, but are far less than has been replaced in other environmental restoration projects around the State. And restoration will not take place until replacement facilities are in place.

Restore Hetch Hetchy understands and respects that many people have other priorities and do not support restoration. We believe, however, that the debate over restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park is worth having. And we ask our opponents to stick to the facts.

Interested persons can learn more about these issues by reading the plethora of reports posted at http://www.hetchhetchy.org/resources.

Big Lil Loop, Day Two

Sublime is how I’d describe Day 2 of our adventure. After a restful night we woke to a breakfast of grits with cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. I was feeling wonderful. Most of the group was planning a hike around the lake to see the view from a dome on the side of the lake. I definitely did not want to tax myself with that, but I did want to walk back a mile to Beehive and see all the flowers during the day. Unfortunately everyone except Rebecca, Jason’s 11-year-old, was going on the long hike and Rebecca wanted to stay in camp. Heather advised me against going alone, and I happily obliged.

Instead, I sat in the shade and wrote in my journal. I laid on my back and meditated on the tree tops. I read from a book of Muir writings borrowed from Mike Marshall. And a few times I made the 20-foot trip over to the waters edge to sit on a log and filter water with electric-blue damselflies sailing about in between their own log rests.

It was perhaps the most relaxing morning of my adult life.

Close to lunch time the group returned with tales of climbing across fallen logs through marshy fields. We had a lot lunch of leftover rice and beans, at my suggestion (that food had not sounded tasty the night before, but did now; a good sign.)

It was 2 p.m. by the time we packed up and headed down the trail, but we only had four mostly-downhill and shaded miles to go to our next and last camp, Gravel Pit Lake. Just as we started out and crossed a stream that fed into Laurel Lake, we came out of the trees into a picture-perfect meadow decorated with flowers and butterflies. Clouds formed behind us to the north that could have held lightning, and later we did think we were hearing a bit of thunder.

Heather had us gather ‘round and gave us a writing assignment (I was thrilled)! She asked us to think about something we had seen and write about it in the flowery way of Muir. My mind began working immediately.

We walked on, soon to a broad view of Lake Eleanor, then to our toughest water crossing at Frog Creek. We took off boots and waded across, me about to my waist. Some of the kids got carried piggy-back by their dads and some went for another swim!

On we ventured to the tune of conversation that ranged from music to religion to SF politics. At Gravel Pit Lake, we were quickly attacked by mosquitos, but found refuge a bit uphill in our own rock city, with established fire rings and knock-out views atop house-sized boulders.

Unfortunately I was the only one to complete the writing assignment. I kept quiet about that and instead read from one of Muir’s essays about experiencing a mountain storm. We marveled about how he welcomes and fully experiences that from which we hide. He wrote: “Nature was holding high festival, and every fiber of the most rigid giants thrilled with glad excitement.”

Tom Clark: Restore Hetch Hetchy loses a water buffalo

Tom Clark, who passed away on July 23, was Restore Hetch Hetchy’s most unlikely supporter. Or maybe not.

Lois Henry of the Bakersfield Californian was right when she said that it is hard to overstate Tom Clark’s influence on the water landscape in California. During his 14 years as its General Manager, he advanced the Kern County Water Agency and staunchly protected it from competition with urban and environmental interests.

Clark was instrumental in crafting the 1995 Monterey Agreement – a document that not only improved Kern’s dry year water delivery priority among State Water Project Contractors but also included the State ceding the undeveloped Kern Water Bank to local interests. As a result, the aquifer has been recharged in wet years with millions of acre-feet of water, helping to stabilize annual variations in supply and support a regional shift to highly profitable almonds, pistachios, pomegranates and citrus fruits. The Kern County Water Agency has indicated that they intend to name its (groundwater) Pioneer Project in Tom’s honor.

Environmental and fishing organizations that are committed to protecting the Bay-Delta and Central Valley rivers tend to view Tom with a bit less reverence. Many are still rankled that some of the water accumulated by the Kern Water Bank during the late 1990s was sold back to the public through the ill-fated Environmental Water Account in the early 21st century at a handsome profit, and legal action to return the bank to public control has been pursued.

And in person Tom was often provocative – he liked to accuse environmentalists of viewing farming as a sin. He once placed cotton bolls on a conference room table, asserting to the supposedly ignorant meeting participants that they were striped bass. But those who learned that Tom could take it as well as dish it out did so, and found that meetings with Tom could be fun, if also challenging.

Tom was used to working with large volumes of water. Kern County Water Agency has a contract with the State Water Project for 1,000,000 acre-feet – more than three times the supply that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission delivers to the city and Bay Area communities. And groundwater banks developed in Kern County since 1977 can hold 5,700,000 acre-feet, more than 15 times the volume of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. So when we showed Tom that we had done our homework – that adding a relatively simple intertie to other Tuolumne River reservoirs could ensure reliable delivery of surface water, it was not hard to convince him to join our National Advisory Board. (Former Metropolitan Water District GM Carl Boronkay joined us in December 2005 as well.)

Tom was clear he did not want to cause trouble - now who ever would have thought otherwise? He offered us advice from time to time, and there were a few key places where his phone calls were always readily answered. He simply said he was trying to help and that he thought restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park was a worthy cause.

We will miss him.

More Day One bear photos

Here are my two best photos of the bears, shot from about 200 feet with a lens that only zooms to 70mm. (Sorry, I wasn't going to schlep a second lens on this trip!)

In the first one a cub is visible on a leafless tree left of center.

Here's the momma at the base of the two trees in the middle of the shot. An amazing sight!

Big Lil Loop, Day One

Epic. As far as I’m concerned, this was an epic trip, even if we were only in the backcountry for about 48 hours.

Our group on what was supposed to be the easiest of the overnight trips consisted of seven Marchers, including me, and our guides Heather and Mateo. The other Marchers were three dads and their kids, ages 7 to 11.

We spent Wednesday night at Hodgdon Meadow with the Marchers signed up for the Long Loop and our guides. There was rice pasta for dinner for those of us who don’t eat gluten. The next morning there were delicious lox and cream cheese along with Udi’s, the good gluten-free bread.

Thursday morning we were up around 6:30 getting ready for our respective trips. Most of us were at the dam ready to go around 10. It was already hot and we were about to climb nearly 3,000 feet on a rocky, exposed trail with our full packs.

Rattle snakes were a favorite topic that morning. I was anxious to spot one.

About half way up the switchbacks from the reservoir-side trail I asked a man coming down if had seen any. He said, “No, we saw some on our last trip, but not on this one. They try to stay out of your way.” A beat later he pointed and said, “There’s one!” Sure enough there was a long, fat one a couple feet down from the trail slithering into a gap between some rocks.

On one of our many stops Heather asked us to gauge how we were feeling with a thumbs-up, -sidways or –down. Mine was about half way between up and sideways. I had a headache, which is typical when I’m exerting myself in the sun on a hot day. But I was excited and wanted to keep my steady pace. There was lots to learn about my fellow marchers and from our guides.

We stopped for lunch at the top of the switchback trail, still a few miles of uphill from the site of a spring called Bee Hive. I ate a Ziploc baggie full of pasta and veggies left over from the night before. It hit the spot. We marched on.

It wasn’t long before, at a stop, I started to feel nauseated. I came back from using the natural facilities when everyone else was moving on and I told Heather how I was feeling.

In a few minutes I started throwing up. My stomach felt better. She asked me all kinds of questions about medications, how much I’d been drinking, if I could have the flu, if I could be pregnant. It was clear she knew how to handle the situation. Mateo came back down the trail a bit later to check on the situation, after the last hiker who left our little stop, Josh, told him I was feeling sick. He and Heather decided the rest of the group would go on and she and I would take our time.

I rested in the shade for a while, then we hiked a short distance back down the trail to a creek that made a little oasis, with gorgeous flowers all around. She filtered water with a hand pump and I soaked my clothes to get my core temperature down. Heather theorized that I had AMS (acute mountain sickness) or heat exhaustion, or a combination of the two. The cool water and rest made me feel somewhat better. I had an Emergen-C (sort of a Gatorade-powder drink) and a few nibbles of a gluten-free cereal bar.

We walked back to the packs and rested a bit more and started out again. We made a third or so of a mile before I puked again. We talked again about our options. There was a good spot to camp near there, and we could have stopped there and caught up the next day. We almost did, but she realized we had gear the other group need for dinner and they had gear we needed. If we could make it to Bee Hive with our packs, she could quickly cover the mile to the set campsite for the night, Laurel Lake, to exchange gear. After more rest, we pressed on.

I shuffled along for a little while, and she asked if I would do better without my pack. I said, “Sure, but what’s the alternative?” She offered to carry my pack. I was somewhat unbelieving that that was a real possibility and mumbled a noncommittal response. A short time later she said, “I’m going to carry your pack.” With her pack on her back, and mine on her front, we moved along slowly but steadily for almost two miles. It was getting to be 5 or 6 in the evening and with the sun no longer beating down, the break from carrying 25 pounds on my back was improving my condition greatly. The terrain was much easier, and my pace was just a tad faster than hers, me carrying only my camera and her toting 50 or more pounds of gear.

We came to another stream and filtered more water. I was feeling much better and ready to carry my pack again. We were nearly to Bee Hive when Heather said softly, “Look! Bears!” I could hardly believe my eyes. About 200 feet from the trail, across a level span of greenery, was a momma bear foraging while one of her cubs scampered up a tree after noticing us. The momma looked at us for a bit with a look that expressed mild interest. The baby looked down at her, clearly concerned. Soon we noticed another cub up a tree. And a half-blonde adolescent ambled up the hill, not seeming to notice us at all.

My only other bear experience was seeing one dash across the road while driving from Yosemite Valley to Wawona. So this sighting blew me away. It made the earlier nausea a distant memory.

We ogled the quartet as long as we dared in the fading light. After a few more minutes we arrived at Beehive, where we hoped to find our group. As we got attacked by mosquitoes, it became obvious why they decided to press on to Laurel Lake instead of camping at Beehive.

The signs at the junction were a bit sketchy, with one falling over a bit and the other directing toward a somewhat grown-over trail, but we soon noticed an arrow made with branches and highlighted with pieces of lichen! We eagerly followed. Soon there was a slightly-challenging stream crossing, which I made after Heather went across to find the trail.

We had one more climb before we came over a ridge and spotted campfire and headlamps. Heather hooted and got a reply to this from Mateo. It was almost totally dark, but we were finally able to relax. The cooler evening temps and the break afforded by Heather carrying my pack had contributed to what felt like a miraculous recovery.

Two headlamps came toward us and soon 7-year-old Xander was shouting at us: “You missed the most exciting thing!” Another momma bear and her two cubs had come right into camp soon after they got dinner going. Those had made their way out of camp without a confrontation, and the next day I saw amazing photos of the trio not 15 feet from the photographer (Jason). I think I would have been pretty nervous if bears had been that close to just Heather and me!

I made my way to the dinner area and my dear fellow Restore Hetch Hetchy board member Drew and his 9-year-old Dylan offered to put up my tent so I could rest and eat. I gratefully accepted. Miso soup plus a tortilla with a bit of avocado made a good dinner for my recovering stomach. I told some of my fellow marchers of our adventure and what an amazing nurse/sherpa/encourager my guide had been.

Thanks for supporting Muir's March!

With just days to go before the first Marchers head out, I thought it appropriate to thank our sponsors here:

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Please click, shop and support our sponsors! And if you haven't already, pledge your support to a Marcher. Click here and then click on one of the Marches, then "List of Marchers" at the top. Thank you!

"The Battle Over Hetch Hetchy

Browsing at the library recently I happened upon two books about Hetch Hetchy, both published in 2005. Presumably I was too distracted by giving birth to my first child that year to notice, but now I have some time to check them out.

The first (at least, the one I decided to read first) is The Battle Over Hetch Hetchy by Robert W. Righter. I'm about half way through and so far a good read. A couple interesting tidbits:

- In the 1880s, the USGS determined that the valley was too beautiful to flood.

- Early on, Lake Tahoe was considered as a source for water!

But the most interesting information I've learned falls under the category of history repeating itself, and/or the more something changes, the more it stays the same: San Francisco then, as now, had its mind made up before any rational or logical information came its way, and when that info came, it decided to ignore it. Then, as now, they disputed evidence presented by scientists that sufficient water could be had more cheaply(financially and resource-wise), and when asked to present evidence to the back the city's claims, said they hadn't been able(willing) to gather such evidence. One is reminded of the infamous 2005 hearing when, pressed to explain the PUC's $10 bil restoration figure, the spokeswoman admitted it was a "back of the envelope" number.

No Double Standard for Green Power in San Francisco

Officials in San Francisco have stated they want to meet 100% of their electrical demand with renewable power within a decade (see New York Times article). It is a laudable goal, but to reach it they would have to classify their generation from large hydroelectric plants as “renewable”, something disallowed by State regulations.


Essentially they want special treatment that is different from other California utilities. They want a double standard.

Let’s be clear. San Francisco has made important progress on the energy front. They have invested substantially in solar power and energy conservation. And after a long struggle, they have recently shut down their last in-city fossil fuel plant on Potrero Hill.

But they would like to count the hydropower they generate in the Sierra Nevada at three sites – Moccasin & Kirkwood along the Tuolumne River and Holm on nearby Cherry Creek - as renewable. No other utility in California is allowed to classify hydropower facilities over 30 megawatts in size as renewable, and San Francisco should be no exception.

The debate over how to classify hydropower in California arose several years ago during the discussion of how to apply a “Renewable Portfolio Standard” to require utilities to generate more environmentally friendly power over time. The role of hydropower was debated. Some insisted that hydropower emits no pollutants and is in a sense “renewable”. Others argued that hydropower facilities have devastated fisheries and ruined rivers, so they should not be included. The compromise (albeit imperfect) was to classify any facility over 30 MW as ”non-renewable” and any facility under 30 MW as “renewable”. This compromise has been accepted by all, except apparently by some officials in San Francisco.

Of course, this is not the first time that a double standard would apply to San Francisco. They are after all the only water agency allowed to operate a major reservoir in a National Park. But in addition to continuing to store water in Hetch Hetchy Valley and deny generations of Americans the opportunity to appreciate its splendors, they want special dispensation in how they classify the hydropower generation from the project.

For those who have not followed the effort to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park, it worth knowing that removing the dam or simply draining the reservoir would diminish the amount of water delivered to the Bay Area by only about 4% and the amount of hydropower generated at the 3 plants by 20% - see reports by Environmental Defense Fund, UC Davis, Restore Hetch Hetchy and others. Replacing these resources would be challenging but is eminently doable and well worth the effort to make Hetch Hetchy Valley and Yosemite National Park whole once again.

Let’s tell San Francisco to play by the same rules as everyone else.