River Conservation Groups Object to PG&E Reorganization Plan

in US Bankruptcy Court

BERKELEY, CA-A coalition of nine river conservation groups filed papers today with the US Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco to protest Pacific Gas & Electric Company's proposed plan of reorganization. PG&E has asked the Bankruptcy court to preempt all applicable state and local laws so it can transfer the company's vast hydroelectric system and associated watershed lands to a new corporate entity not subject to California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) oversight.

Earlier this year, the CPUC published a Draft Environmental Impact Report finding that such a transfer could cause 49 significant adverse environmental impacts, including impacts to water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, and public recreation. The report proposed dozens of mitigation measures designed to avoid or minimize these impacts. [1] PG&E's proposed reorganization plan does not include any mitigation measures.

"The state already determined that PG&E's plan posed a serious threat to our rivers and to important Sierra lands," said Steve Wald, coordinator of the California Hydropower Reform Coalition. "Now PG&E is asking the bankruptcy court to ignore the state's findings and proceed down a path fraught with risk for these resources and for the people who use and enjoy them."

PG&E's hydropower system includes hundreds of dams that control the flow of rivers from Mt. Shasta to Bakersfield, affecting fish and wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities, water supply, and flood control. The utility is also one of the state's largest private land owners, with about 140,000 acres of land in scattered parcels throughout the Sierra and Cascade mountain ranges.

The California Hydropower Reform Coalition was formed by conservation, sportfishing, and river recreation organizations in 1997 to restore and enhance California rivers adversely affected by hydropower. The CHRC Steering Committee consists of American Rivers, American Whitewater, California Outdoors, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, California Trout, Foothill Conservancy, Friends of the River, Natural Heritage Institute, and Trout Unlimited.

[1] The Draft Environmental Impact Report can be referenced online at: < <http://cpuc-pgehydro.support.net/DraftEIR/index.htm>http://cpuc-pgehydro.support.net/DraftEIR/index.htm> Specific impacts and proposed mitigation measures are listed in Table S-1 of the DEIR: < <http://cpuc-pgehydro.support.net/DraftEIR/DEIR%20Files/Summary%20of%20Impact%20Table%20ES-1.pdf>http://cpuc-pgehydro.support.net/DraftEIR/DEIR%20Files/Summary%20of%20Impact%20Table%20ES-1.pdf>

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