East Bay Express
Posted on September 16, 2009

Richmond Council Opposes the Dam

By Robert Gammon
East Bay Express

Mayor Gayle McLaughlin (left), Councilman Jeff Ritterman (middle) and Council member Tom Butt (right) voted to oppose the dam.

The Richmond City Council passed a resolution last week, officially opposing the East Bay Municipal Utility District's plans to build a huge new dam on the Mokelumne River. Although the dam proposal has received widespread opposition from cities and other public agencies in the Sierra Foothills, this was the first time that an East Bay city had come out against it. The new dam would nearly the double the size of an existing reservoir and would ruin a scenic section of the river that is popular for swimming, fishing, and kayaking.

The council voted 4-0-2 for the resolution, with the council's progressive majority of Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and councilmembers Tom Butt, Jim Rogers, and Jeff Ritterman standing firmly against the dam. "It seemed like a good idea for us to put a hurdle in their way," Ritterman told Eco Watch. [emphasis added]

Although the council's vote is not binding on East Bay MUD, it may turn out to be more than just symbolic. It could put pressure on district board members Lesa McIntosh and Katy Foulkes to vote against the dam, too, when it comes up for a vote in October as part of the agency's proposed infrastructure needs over the next ten to fifteen years. Both McIntosh and Foulkes represent parts of Richmond, and it will be hard for them to justify supporting the dam when their city's elected councilmembers have come out against it.