SMUD Surprises River Advocates with Mixed Message on River Restoration

SMUD Surprises River Advocates with Mixed Message on River Restoration

by Dan Bacher

The SMUD Board is definitely giving anglers, conservationists and recreational boaters a mixed message regarding its position on restoring water to sections of the Upper American River.

The Board has claimed in recent meetings that it is “sincerely” trying to reopen settlement negotiations with government agencies and NGO's (non governmental organizations) regarding raising flows for the benefit of fish and the ecosystem, as well as anglers and recreational boaters, below its hydroelectric facilities in the South Fork of the American River, Silver Creek and Rubicon River.

Yet at the same time, it recently tried to bar the media from a press conference in front of SMUD headquarters scheduled by a coalition of groups to restore the Upper American River.

A strange sight greeted me when I drove up near the SMUD headquarters in Sacramento on October 6. In front of the building, the parking lot entrance and exit was blockaded by a SMUD security truck and a group of security officers were nervously watching the two dozen kayakers, river rafters, anglers, conservationists and Coloma-Lotus area business owners that were milling in the parking lot.

I thought to myself, “this is sure strange.” I speculated that a bomb threat, accident or some other emergency had spurred the parking lot lockdown.

However, when I arrived at the scene and talked to Ron Stork, Conservation Director of Friends of the River, he said the blocking of the parking lot and unprecedented showing of SMUD security officers was apparently spurred by the press conference that conservation and fishing groups had planned that evening at 5:30 pm in front of the building.

After I talked to Stork and several other people, including ROAR (Restore Our American River) activist Theresa L. Simsiman, I began walking towards the building. A SMUD security officer, J. Quam, stopped me there, seeing my camera, and told me. “I'm asking you not to take photos inside the building.”

I was shocked - and informed him that I had been reporting on SMUD Board meetings for the past three years and had never been prevented from taking photos. I have covered scores of different meetings regarding our fisheries over the past 20 years - and was only once before preventing from taking photos by security guards, under the authority of Homeland Security, in a federal building last fall.

“Who told you and gave you the authority to do this.”

“My supervisor,” he stated.

“Who is your supervisor?” I asked, getting more and more exasperated:

“I don't have to tell you that.”

I told him that I wanted to talk to the supervisor about this because this was such an unprecedented situation. After all, SMUD, Sacramento County's customer owned electrical utility, makes a big deal on its website and its radio ads how it is owned and operated as a public “green” non-profit organization.

About five minutes later, the security officer told me that it was OK for me to take photos with my 35 mm camera, but not with a video recorder. “I checked with the assistant general manager and he told me that it was OK for you to bring a camera into the board room,” Quam said.

Another five minutes later, Greg August, the SMUD Security Manager, approached me, and told me, “All we are asking is to respect the decorum in the building,” and confirmed that it was OK for me to take photos. However, in spite of my request, he would not tell me specifically why this show of force was taking place.

Simsiman had a similar experience to me. “So I'm traveling down S Street getting ready to turn into the SMUD parking lot when - lo and behold - my entrance is barred by closed gates and a plethora of serious looking brown clad security guards,” she recalled.

“Was there a bomb threat? Did someone find some curious white stuff in the bathroom? Uh…. well....no! It turns out, after receiving a courtesy copy of the FOR press release, the ever knowing SMUD attorneys advised the powers that be to close the gates and post the guards with orders to prevent cameras from entering the premises. Of course this whole debacle begged the question…Why?

The board meeting started with no further incident. When my time came to talk on the relicensiing section of the agenda, I asked the board and staff as to why television cameras were apparently being barred, why the parking lot was closed and why there was such a show of force by SMUD security.

Jan Schori, SMUD general manager, responded, “We have no intention to bar the media. However, we have a longstanding policy that outside groups can't use the premises for press conferences. When we open it up to one group, we would have to include others.”

“Outside organizations are not allowed to have press conferences,” she said, unfortunately using the example of “the Nazis” trying to use the premises for a conference!

What was the press conference that SMUD was so concerned about? The press advisory was headlined: “ Yolo County Environmental Groups to Join Sacramento Groups in Questioning SMUD's 'Green' Reputation.

The event was billed as a “press conference discussing SMUD's reputation as a 'green' utility in terms of Upper American River Project (UARP) relicensing.”

Ron Stork, Senior Policy Advocate, Friends of the River; Terry Davis, Mother Lode Chapter, Sierra Club; V. John White, Director At-Large, Environmental Council of Sacramento; Chris Shutes, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance; and Howard Penn, owner, the Sierra Nevada House were scheduled to speak at the conference that was never held. However, Davis, White, Shutes and Penn spoke during the meeting to adopt the agency/NGO alternative to operate their hydroelectric facilities with better flows at the right times to benefit fish, anglers and recreational boaters.

The 20 members of the public who spoke, including members of the Coloma-Lotus Chamber of Commerce, were remarkably on target and polite, considering the SMUD security's weird and hostile behavior earlier that evening.

On the positive side, Jim Shetler, SMUD staffer, and Board members affirmed the desire of SMUD to reopen negotiations. “I feel that we never left negotiations,” said Shetler. “I believe that a settlement can be reached and the board has taken the steps to reopen the process.”

Three board members - Genevieve Shiroma, Susan Patterson and Peter Keat - have formed a subcommittee to renew negotiations. In addition, the General manager has added senior management staff to the negotiating committee and has sent a letter to the agencies requesting that the parties reopen negotiations.

“The board is taking this process very seriously. The letter submitted by staff is a very sincere action,” said Shiroma.

October 19 marks the date when SMUD can probably formally meet with the Agencies/NGO's, since the agencies are in the process of filing their terms and conditions regarding the relicensing with FERC. Shiroma asked the river advocates present to help her in bringing the parties together for a planning meeting (not negotiating) meeting before October 19 - and they agreed to help to bring the parties together.

I understand, though I don't agree, with SMUD's policy on not allowing groups to hold press conferences on their property. SMUD is a public utility - and anybody should be able to have a demonstration or press conference on their property because it is public property, not private property.

Apparently, the SMUD Board and staff are suffering under the stress of a heated campaign by SMUD to annex eastern Yolo County into its jurisdiction. The board and staff are not communicating with the public very well - resulting in the surrealistic mixed message they gave river advocates and business owners at the latest SMUD Board meeting

The story doesn’t end there. On October 11, I received the following letter of apology from Jan Schori, general manager:

I want to offer my sincere apology for the initial refusal by our security staff to permit you to attend the Board meeting on October 5 with a camera. Our Board of Directors has a longstanding and firm policy that all members of the public are invited to attend any meeting of the Board and may bring audio, video or other equipment such as cameras to record the event. Our Board meetings are web-streamed and telecast on Cable Channel 14 with the intent that the public be allowed full access and coverage of SMUD Board deliberations and decision-making. I am sorry for any inconvenience you may have suffered and assure you that this will not happen again to you or any other attendee at a Board meeting in the future.

As you may know, we received information sometime that day that a press conference had been scheduled at our Headquarters building by Friends of the River and other parties with interest in the hydro-relicensing process. We were uncertain as to what was being planned. In hindsight, the size of the group that assembled did not warrant the level of response we put into place. As a result of this situation, we will be reviewing and revising our procedures to make sure that in the future we promote safe and welcome access to our public meetings and establish clear written guidelines for our staff when groups may wish to conduct non-SMUD sponsored press events.

I am sorry if you or anyone else experienced any difficulty last week in attending the Board meeting that evening. To my knowledge, everyone who wanted to enter the auditorium to view or participate in the meeting did so, and everyone with a camera who wanted to take pictures was allowed to do so. As a side note, we do request that the aisles and the area in front of the dais remain clear of equipment for safety reasons and pursuant to the instructions of the Fire Marshal, and that if anyone wants to set up a tripod that they should do so at the back of the room.

Please be assured that SMUD has a firm commitment to open meetings and welcomes public input and participation. We appreciate your input and will learn from this experience.”