SACRAMENTO — As U.S. and global oil production is projected to reach record levels this year and a record heat wave hits the nation, Patagonia and Friends of the River (FOR) have just released an alarming scientific report on the environmental impacts that massive greenhouse emissions generated by the Sites Dam and Reservoir Project will have on California.
Patagonia is the Ventura-based outdoor apparel company has supported grassroots groups working to find solutions to the environmental crisis for more than four decades, while Friends of the River is one of California’s most respected conservation organizations, according to a press statement.
A new analysis using the comprehensive All-Res Modeling Tool estimated the greenhouse gas emissions that would be caused by building and operating the Sites Dam and Reservoir Project — an environmentally destructive, salmon-killing boondoggle backed by agribusiness, water agencies and the Newsom administration, according to critics. Read the full report HERE.
“Over the 100-year expected life cycle of the Sites Project, the project is predicted to emit approximately 362 million metric tons of CO2e or 362,000 metric tons of CO2e/year, the vast majority of which is methane,” according to the analysis. “That’s the equivalent climate emissions of over 80,000 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles per year.”
“For all of California’s lofty climate change ambitions, it’s mind-boggling that so many state leaders are trying to rush us full-bore into a boondoggle that will set us back dramatically in reaching our greenhouse gas goals,” said Jann Dorman, Executive Director of Friends of the River. “This report should be an eyeopener for every state leader who wants to be serious about the climate crisis.”
The report comes at a critical time when the increasing impacts of climate change are being seen through California, the nation and the world. While California officials constantly claim the state is the nation’s “climate leader,” state oil and gas regulators have in reality continued to issue thousands of oil and gas drilling permits every year since Gavin Newsom became Governor in 2019, making the climate crisis even worse.
The total number of oil drilling permits issued by CalGEM, the state’s oil and gas regulatory agency, has blown past 15,000 since January 2019. Meanwhile, nearly all permits issued in the first six months of 2023 were to fix unproductive wells that should be shut down and capped, not to drill new ones, Consumer Watchdog and FracTracker Alliance revealed in an analysis: www.dailykos.com/...
Hans Cole, Head of Environmental Grants, Campaigns, and Activism at Patagonia, echoed Dorman’s concerns about the increase in greenhouse gases that will result if Sites Reservoir is built.
“Patagonia wants policymakers to operate with complete information as they make decisions that will determine the health of our planet, and until now, the proposed Sites Reservoir’s climate impacts haven’t been a major part of the conversation,” said Cole. “Our report is a wake-up call that huge dam projects come with costs that run far beyond their large price tags and regional ecological damage.”
Sites Reservoir has already secured $875 million in state funding through 2014’s controversial Proposition 1, money that is being directed into a project that competes against the state’s “ambitious climate change goals,” according to the report.
“Sites Reservoir, if built, is only expected to increase California’s overall water availability by less than 1% in good years. Meanwhile, the harm caused by this project’s construction will be permanent and practically irreversible, setting back the state even further on its climate goals,” according to the report.
The All-Res Modeling Tool was developed using readily available emissions models that estimate greenhouse gasses from dam and reservoir projects, according to the advocates. The tool uses data provided by public sources, including the Revised Draft Environmental Impact Report/Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Sites Reservoir (USBR, 2021) to calculate the total carbon footprint of the Sites Reservoir Project over its entire lifecycle.
“Dams and reservoirs produce harmful greenhouse gasses (GHG) through their construction, operation, and maintenance, but most importantly by the decomposition of organic matter under, and flowing into, the reservoir (see 2016 Washington Post article),” the groups reported. “In fact, some hydropower dam and reservoir systems have been estimated to produce as much GHG as a coal-fired powerplant of similar electricity output. A full list of emissions pathways analyzed using the All-Res Model can be found on Tell The Dam Truth’s website.”
The last thing that California, a state whose cities suffer from the worse air pollution in the nation, is a new salmon-killing dam and reservoir that will result in more greenhouse gases and more air pollution as state regulators continue to issue thousands of oil and gas drilling permits every year and to promote the environmentally devastating Delta Tunnel project and Big Ag-promoted “voluntary agreements.”
Despite all of the cynical talk by politicians at climate conferences in California, U.S. and throughout the world during a summer with record warm temperatures, U..S and global oil production continues to soar to record levels. Here are the projections for 2023 and 2024 from the U.S. Energy Information Agency:
• U.S. crude oil production. "As a result of higher expected well-level productivity and higher crude oil prices, we expect U.S. crude oil production will average 12.8 million b/d in 2023 and 13.1 million b/d in 2024, both annual records."
• Global oil production. "We forecast global liquid fuels production will increase by 1.4 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2023. Non-OPEC production increases by 2.1 million b/d in 2023, which is partly offset by a drop in OPEC liquid fuels production. In 2024, global production increases by 1.7 million b/d, with 1.2 million b/d coming from non-OPEC countries. Non-OPEC production growth in the forecast is led by the United States, Brazil, Canada, Guyana, and Norway."
For more information on the All-Res Model, visit https://tellthedamtruth.com/all-reservoir-greenhouse-gas-model/.
In other Sites Reservoir news, the State Water Resources Control Board decided to extend the “protest period” for the proposed Sites Reservoir the environment and people, from August 1st to August 31st, this coming Thursday, at the request of the North Delta Water Agency.
The project is opposed by a coalition of fishing groups, Tribes, conservation groups and environmental justice advocates because of the horrendous impacts they say it would have on fish populations, Central Valley, Bay-Delta and Klamath-Trinity ecosystems and environmental justice communities.
The State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Rights, issued a Notice of Water Right Application for Sites Project Authority’s application to appropriate water by permit (A025517X01) on June 2, 2023. On June 26, 2023, North Delta Water Agency requested additional time for potentially affected parties to review the application and, if necessary, file protests.