By Herbert A. Sample — Bee San Francisco Bureau
Published 2:15 am PDT Tuesday, September 28, 2004

OAKLAND – Hoping to jump-start the necessary social, political and legal forces, a veteran environmental group on Monday unveiled a months-long study supporting the feasibility of restoring Yosemite National Park’s Hetch Hetchy Valley by demolishing an 80-year-old dam.

While acknowledging that the road ahead is long and bumpy, officials with Environmental Defense said the potential of regaining a beautiful valley in one of the country’s most well-known national parks outweighs the drawbacks of removing the O’Shaughnessy Dam.

“This is neither technically nor institutionally simple, but we think it can happen if local, regional, state and federal agencies cooperate,” said Tom Graf, California director for the group, which has offices throughout the country.

The difficulty ahead for the group and its allies became instantly obvious when a spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the city agency that operates the water and power systems at the dam, called the study a “rosy scenario.”

The head of a major Bay Area business group essentially described the report as dead on arrival.

“These people are obviously looking for water in the sand because that’s where their heads are,” said Jim Wunderman, president of the Bay Area Council, which represents the nine- county region’s largest employers. “Our organization is not willing to look at any study that involves removing the O’Shaughnessy Dam.”

And some important political leaders expressed grave misgivings as well.

“I am firmly opposed to the destruction of one of the largest sources of clean drinking water in California,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who has voiced opposition to the concept before, said in a statement. “In a state that has faced repeated droughts and is desperate for water sources, I believe this would be a terrible mistake.”

The beauty of Hetch Hetchy Valley and the Tuolumne River that runs through it was regarded by John Muir and other early environmentalists as equal to that of the Yosemite Valley several miles south on the Merced River.

But in 1923, after 10 years of construction, the O’Shaughnessy Dam was completed and the valley was submerged under 300 feet of water. It now provides water and power to 2.4 million users living on the San Francisco Peninsula, in parts of Santa Clara County and the East Bay, and in the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts.

Environmental Defense and others two years ago failed to persuade the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to include a study of Hetch Hetchy’s restoration in a multibillion-dollar water and power system upgrade. So the group decided to conduct its own analysis, titled “Paradise Regained.”

The report states that the water supply that would be lost through the dam’s removal could be replaced by storing more water at the Don Pedro Reservoir and other sites, water transfers and increased use of groundwater banking. A small amount of new storage might also be needed.

As for power, the study says that only 0.6 percent of the state’s electricity supply originates from three Hetch Hetchy generator facilities. Some but not all of that output would disappear without a dam but could be replaced by greater use of solar and other renewable energy, natural gas and more efficient energy use, according to the report.

Making up for the lost water and power supplies could total $500 million to $1.65 billion – not including the expense of dismantling the dam, a factor the report does not address.

“We think our study brings the discussion about restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley to a new plane,” said Nancy Ryan, senior economist with Environmental Defense.

But Tom Winnicker, communications director for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission who attended the group’s media briefing, told reporters that adding volume to the Don Pedro Reservoir could increase flood control problems in the Central Valley.

Further, the lost electricity could force an extension of the life of an old power plant on San Francisco’s south side that many nearby residents believe is a health hazard and want shut down, he said. “It’s only responsible for us to be cautious and to urge caution in running to look at rosy scenarios about the restoration of the valley,” Winnicker said, adding that his agency nevertheless would consider the study’s findings.

Ryan called it a “false choice” to tie the Hetch Hetchy issue to the power plant, which could be closed as early as next year.

And Spreck Rosecrans, a senior economic analyst at Environmental Defense, said flood- control operations at the Don Pedro facility were factored into the study.

As for re-establishing Hetch Hetchy Valley, that would be a work in progress for as long as 150 years. Hetch Hetchy “is beautiful with the reservoir there,” Rosecrans said. “We think it would be more beautiful if the valley were restored.”

About the Writer

The Bee’s Herbert A. Sample can be reached at (510) 382-1978 or hsample@sacbee.com.