Herrington Cites Costs, Attacks Proposal to Drain Hetch Hetchy

Energy Secretary John S. Herrington, opening a public battle with a fellow Cabinet member, said Wednesday that the proposed draining of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir would force the spending of billions of dollars to find replacement water and power for the San Francisco Bay Area.

The energy secretary’s remarks were in total disagreement with the stated position of Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel, who has ordered a study of the feasibility of draining Hetch Hetchy and returning it to its natural state. Herrington predicted that President Reagan, “as a longtime Californian,” would never approve the project.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to propose, and I don’t think it will ever happen,” Herrington--himself a Californian--said in an interview with reporters. “Certainly, the issue has not been to the White House nor would the President support it,” said Herrington, who has no official role in the issue.

Hetch Hetchy, in the northern part of Yosemite Park, includes the 430-foot O’Shaughnessy Dam and provides water for about 2 million people in San Francisco and neighboring communities. It also furnishes electric power for many Northern California communities. San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein has lashed out at Hodel’s suggestion.

Hodel ordered the Interior Department to conduct a top-priority study of the feasibility of demolishing the dam, dismantling the reservoir system and providing alternative water and power supplies. The valley would be cleared of water, as it was before the dam was completed in 1923.

The Interior Department dismissed Herrington’s criticism as uninformed.

“Secretary Hodel has been talking about an idea, not a specific proposal,” Interior Department spokesman David Prosperi said.

“We will bring Cabinet members who are interested in the issue up to speed as soon as we have information,” Prosperi said. “Secretary Herrington’s statements are understandable, considering the fact that he has not had a chance to focus on the information.”

The draining of Hetch Hetchy “is only going to work if we can come up with a feasible approach to replace the quality water supply and the power,” Prosperi said.

“If we can’t do that, it’s not feasible,” he said.

From Herrington’s viewpoint, however, even the idea of studying the issue is unnecessary because Hetch Hetchy does an effective job and would be extremely costly to replace.

“I don’t see the benefits of this kind of proposal. Many municipalities and towns depend on electricity” from the system, he noted. “It delivers clean water and needed electricity to its customers.”

A management study could be justified to determine whether water and power from Hetch Hetchy are being used in the most efficient way, he said, but a discussion of tearing down the entire project is simply wrong. The cost of replacing Hetch Hetchy would be enormous, Herrington maintained. “Several billion dollars plus” was his guess. The Interior Department has not indicated when its study might be completed.

In addition to his opposition to the draining of Hetch Hetchy, Herrington urged caution in the development of oil drilling off the California coast.

“It has to be done in an environmentally sound way,” he said.

“I am not supportive of indiscriminate drilling,” the energy secretary said. “I grew up on the beaches in Southern California. The coast of California is an extremely valuable asset.”

Herrington said that the best prospects for future domestic petroleum production lie in Alaska.