A Congressman Just Opened an Investigation Into a Plan to Send Eel River Water to Southern California

A fight over Northern California water just got a lot more intense.

Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, has opened an investigation into the Trump administration’s role in brokering a potential deal that would send Eel River water to a water district in Southern California, roughly 600 miles away.

The controversy centers on the Potter Valley Project, a pair of aging dams on the Eel River that PG&E no longer wants to operate. Under a deal reached in early 2025 and supported by tribal nations, conservation groups and five counties, the Scott and Cape Horn dams were set to be removed, which would have made the Eel the longest free-flowing river in California and reopened hundreds of miles of salmon habitat.

But then Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District in Riverside County had expressed interest in purchasing the project. Huffman immediately called it a “Southern California water grab” and fired off letters demanding answers from Rollins, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the water district itself.

In his letters, Huffman demanded all records related to any proposal to store, divert, transfer or sell Eel River water for use outside its watershed. He also pointed out that the Eel River is not connected to the State Water Project, making any transfer an unprecedented move.

Tribal leaders, environmental groups and local water managers have all pushed back against the idea. The Round Valley Indian Tribes hold water rights that were central to the dam removal agreement.

For now, federal regulators are still reviewing the dam removal plan.