California Dam Initiative

California has the opportunity to accelerate its fight against climate change by better protecting and restoring its rivers

We are engaging in projects to help California lead the U.S. and the world to protect and restore rivers, as well as accelerate its fight against climate change. With its strong environmental laws, regulations, and policies, California has the opportunity to not only stop new dam construction, but also decommission dams to restore the biodiversity and carbon sequestration currently inundated in river valleys across the state. Further, California can be a leading voice in acknowledging and addressing the greenhouse gas emissions caused by dams and reservoirs.

Several state agencies including the California Air Resources Board (CARB), California Energy Commission, California Water Resources Control Board, and others are engaged around permitting, licensing, and regulating dams and reservoirs in the state.  All of these agencies have opportunities to dramatically increase their work to better address the greenhouse gas emissions caused by dams, and better protect rivers in California and beyond.

In 2024 and 2025, we worked with our partner, Friends of the River, to address the shortfalls in the California Water Board’s permit process for the proposed Sites Reservoir. We alleged that the permit did not correctly estimate the greenhouse gas emissions that the massive project would cause. Our allegations where based on the results of our All-Res Modeling Tool which indicated that the emissions from Sites could be two to five times larger that the project estimated. See our press release here about the Sites All-Res report. In March of 2026, the Board issued a draft permit that we are currently analyzing for its adequacy.

In 2025, we worked with our partner, Rios to Rivers, to apply the All-Res Modeling Tool to the four Klamath River Dams that were removed. Our model indicated that not only did removing the dams stop greenhouse gases from being emitted, but the former landscape that was inundated by the reservoirs is now sequestering carbon as it regrows with vegetation. The river ecosystem changed from a carbon emitter to a carbon sink. See the press release here about the Klamath All-Res report.

In March of 2026, we led a coalition of environmental and indigenous groups to file a legal petition with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) asking them to accelerate the fight against climate change by requiring dam and reservoir operators to count and report their greenhouse gas emissions. See the press release about our petition here.