Editing Hetch Hetchy (section)

===Arguments against===
[[File:View-at-Hetch-Hetchy-California.jpg|thumb|View point by the O'Shaughnessy Dam]]

Those in opposition of dam removal state that demolishing O'Shaughnessy Dam would take away a valuable source of clean, renewable hydroelectric power in the Kirkwood and Moccasin powerhouses; even if measures such as seasonal water diversion into the powerhouses were employed, it would only make up for a fraction of the original power production.<ref name="EDF">{{cite web|url=http://apps.edf.org/documents/4039_hetchhetchyrestored_Chap09.pdf|title=Chapter 9: Impact of restoration on hydropower production and revenues|publisher=Environmental Defense Fund|access-date=2013-05-25}}{{Dead link|date=May 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The remaining deficit would likely have to be replaced by polluting fossil fuel generation.<ref name="faq"/> The removal of the dam would be extremely costly, at least $3–10 billion,<ref name="RestorationStudy">{{cite web
|url=http://www.water.ca.gov/pubs/environment/hetch_hetchy_restoration_study/hetch_hetchy_restoration_study_report.pdf
|title=Hetch Hetchy Restoration Study
|publisher=California Department of Water Resources
|year=2006
|access-date=2013-05-25}}</ref> and the transport of the demolished material away from the dam site along the narrow, winding Hetch Hetchy Road would be a logistical nightmare with possible environmental impacts. Most importantly, San Francisco would lose its source of high-quality mountain water, and would have to depend on lower-quality water from other reservoirs – which would require costly filtration and re-engineering of the aqueduct system – to meet its needs.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/worth_a_dam/
|title=Worth a Dam? Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite
|publisher=Earth Island Journal
|year=2012
|access-date=2013-05-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/science/earth/hetch-hetchy-valley-measure-pits-bay-area-against-environmentalists.html
|title=Putting Bay Area's Water Sources to a Vote
|author=Onishi, Norimitsu
|date=2012-09-09
|work=The New York Times
|access-date=2013-05-26}}</ref>

The economic wisdom of removing the dam has been frequently questioned.<ref>{{cite news
|author=Bowe, Rebecca
|title=Ecological rewind: Environmentalists want to tear down O'Shaughnessy Dam and restore the Hetch Hetchy Valley, but does their plan hold water?
|work=San Francisco Bay Guardian
|date=2011-08-09
}}</ref> Some observers, such as [[Carl Pope (environmentalist)|Carl Pope]] (director of the [[Sierra Club]]), stated that Hodel had political motives<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.sierraclub.org/ca/hetchhetchy/undamming_hh_NovDec87.html|title=Undamming Hetch Hetchy|first=Carl|last=Pope|publisher=Sierra Club|journal=Sierra |date=November–December 1987|pages=34–38}}</ref> in proposing the study. The imputed motive was to divide the environmental movement: to see residents of the strongly Democratic city of San Francisco coming out against an environmental issue. [[Dianne Feinstein]], the [[mayor]] of San Francisco at the time, said in a ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' story in 1987: "All this is for an expanded campground?&nbsp;... It's dumb, dumb, dumb."<ref>{{cite news
|author1=Morain, Dan |author2=Houston, Paul |title=Hodel Would Tear Down Dam in Hetch Hetchy
|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-08-07-mn-1121-story.html
|work=Los Angeles Times
|date=1987-08-07
|access-date=2013-05-25}}</ref> Hodel, now retired, remains {{When|date=October 2019}} a strong proponent of restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley and Senator Feinstein remained {{When|date=October 2019}} strongly against restoration.{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}} The [[George W. Bush administration]] proposed allocating $7 million to studying the removal of the dam in the 2007 National Park Service budget.{{sfn|Glennon|2009|p=121}} Dianne Feinstein opposed this allocation, saying, "I will do all I can to make sure it isn't included in the final bill. We're not going to remove this dam, and the funding is unnecessary."<ref>{{cite news|last=Doyle|first=Michael|title=Hetch Hetchy debate reborn|newspaper=[[Sacramento Bee]]|date=2007-02-08}}</ref>

Opponents of dam removal have pointed out that the flooding of the Hetch Hetchy Valley has also deterred the crowds that overrun other areas of Yosemite National Park. As of 2013, Hetch Hetchy remains one of the least visited developed area of the park.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hetchhetchy.org/how/what-will-a-restored-valley-look-like|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130704023021/http://www.hetchhetchy.org/how/what-will-a-restored-valley-look-like|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-07-04|title=What will a restored valley look like?|publisher=Restore Hetch Hetchy|access-date=2013-07-02}}</ref> Karin Klein has described Yosemite Valley as "so crammed&nbsp;... that it looks more like a ripstop ghetto than the site of a nature experience."<ref name="la_times_editorial_muir_wrong">{{cite news
|author=Klein, Karin
|title=On Hetch Hetchy, John Muir was wrong: California's revered naturalist wrote a poetic diatribe against the drowning of the great valley. But the reservoir has spared it some of the indignities of Yosemite Valley.
|work=Los Angeles Times
|date=2012-08-15
|url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-xpm-2012-aug-15-la-ed-yosemite-hetch-hetchy-20120815-story.html
|language=en-US
|issn=0458-3035
}}</ref> She does support breaching the dam once it has reached the end of its lifespan, and not replacing it.<ref name="la_times_editorial_muir_wrong"/>
In November 2012, San Francisco voters soundly rejected Proposition F,<ref>{{cite web|title=San Francisco Department of Elections, November 2012 Results|url=http://sfelections.org/results/20121106/|access-date=29 November 2012}}</ref> which would have required the city to conduct an $8 million study on how the flooded valley could be drained and restored to its former state. The proposed study would also have been required to identify potential replacements for the water storage capacity and hydroelectric power production.<ref>{{cite news|last=Wildermuth|first=John|title=Hetch Hetchy fight not over, activists say|newspaper=[[San Francisco Examiner]]|date=2012-11-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/elections/ci_21944305/san-francisco-vote-study-draining-hetch-hetchy-reservoir
|title=San Francisco vote to study draining Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is defeated
|author=Rogers, Paul
|work=Mercury News
|date=2012-11-12
|access-date=2013-05-25}}</ref>