“…every national park is besieged by thieves and robbers and beggars with all sorts of plans and pleas for possession of some coveted treasure of water, timber, pasture, rights of way, etc.”

It was sometime before December 1913 when environmentalist and writer John Muir wrote these words, hoping to save a valley that few now remember. The Hetch Hetchy Valley, he said, was “a grand landscape garden, one of Nature’s rarest and most precious mountain temples.”

But where Muir saw granite cliffs, rock domes and waterfalls, others saw an opportunity for the dry and populous state of California. Under the Raker Act of 1913, the O’Shaughnessy Dam was on its way to damming the valley, turning it into a water reservoir for California.

Known as the Yosemite Valley’s lost twin, Hetch Hetchy now lies beneath 300 feet of water and supplies an average of 220 million gallons of water to the San Francisco Bay Area each day. The O’Shaughnessy Dam produces approximately 1.7 billion kilowatt hours of electricity every year. But now, after years of serving San Francisco, some say residents could do without the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.

On the forefront of this argument is Environmental Defense, a national nonprofit organization with over 400,000 members. Formed in 1967, Environmental Defense has had several victories, such as convincing McDonald’s to cut down on packaging waste in 1991 and playing a role in FedEx’s use of hybrid delivery trucks in 2004.

After lengthy research, Environmental Defense produced a report claiming the valley could be saved in “technologically feasible, safe, dependable and affordable ways.”
The plan includes several recommendations on how the dam could be removed without losing the water and power Hetch Hetchy provides.

The report suggests the Tuolumne River watershed, which flows through Hetch Hetchy, could be diverted into different reservoirs to make up for the losses.
The plan challenges the necessity of Hetch Hetchy and its reliability, stating, “In most years, the SFPUC [San Francisco Public Utilities Commission] has sufficient supply even without Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.”

Though the plan touches on areas that concern environmentalists and politicians alike, some areas are given more attention than others. In the final chapter, where the conclusions and recommendations are stated, phrases like “should be investigated” appear where no specific alternatives to a problem are given.

While the suggestions on how the dam could be removed safely without losing water or power make it seem possible, some recommendations, such as adding water treatment facilities, do not mention the driving force behind it all: money.

California officials, of course, have thought of that side of the issue.
Perhaps environmentalists should be happy that the state is taking any action at all. After all, this is not the first time the issue has been reintroduced.

In 1987, President Reagan’s secretary of interior, Donald Hodel, proposed removing the O’ Shaughnessy Dam and restoring the valley, and environmentalists have been protesting the dam since before it was built. At one point, protestors painted a fake crack in the dam next to the message, “FREE THE RIVERS!” It was signed, “J. Muir.”

But now California officials have decided to reexamine the possibility of removing the O’Shaughnessy Dam. They are preparing a seven-month investigation of the issue that will differ slightly from the report compiled by Environmental Defense. Where money was discussed only as a side note in Environmental Defense’s study, it will be the backbone of California’s investigation.

In a letter to state capital assembly members, Secretary for Resources Mike Chrisman wrote that studies, such as the one by Environmental Defense, will be taken into account, although he made several references to the project’s financial constraints. Though Chrisman gives no specific numbers, the state, governor and citizens, he writes, “are committed to economically feasible restoration of ecosystems.”

The story of Hetch Hetchy is not new; it is only being retold by those who have seen another opportunity to restore the valley they now only know from paintings, black-and-white photographs and the words of a writer who died shortly after his fight to save it.