RICHMOND — A failed underwater power cable may prove the knockout blow in preventing the historic East Brother Light Station from ever serving again as a charming bed-and-breakfast inn to foot the landmark’s restoration and maintenance bills.
On April 1, the submarine cable that brings power to the lighthouse in the San Pablo Strait off Richmond’s coast died, leaving the three-quarter-acre island without electricity, said Richmond Mayor Tom Butt, who has put out a public plea for ideas and funding to help to save the station.
While the U.S. Coast Guard has backup batteries to keep the beacon shining for boats plying the bay — and the foghorn runs on batteries and solar power — there isn’t enough juice to run an inn that needs a “significant power supply to operate lights, pumps, refrigerators, power tools, heaters, dishwashers and appliances,” Butt said.
Until the coronavirus pandemic forced the lighthouse’s closure, visitors could make reservations to stay and dine at the inn for several days. The deal included champagne and hors d’oeuvres, a multi-course dinner, a night in one of five rooms, and breakfast, as well a full tour of the 148-year-old buildings that comprise the station.
Though the lighthouse’s operators had hoped to reopen the inn this summer after a year-long hiatus, that can’t happen now unless a power source can be found, Butt said.
Butt was one of the founders of East Brother Light Station, Inc., a public benefit nonprofit that rehabilitated the East Brother Light Station in 1979 and opened it as a bed and breakfast inn in 1980. He is still the president of the nonprofit’s board, which maintains and runs the light station, even though the Coast Guard owns it.
Butt said he met with Coast Guard officials this week, and although they have been responsive in providing information and trying to find ways to help, they’re not confident they’ll be able to replace the power cable as was done in 1991 — the last time the cable failed after getting struck by lightning.
“I’m pretty worried,” Butt said in an interview Friday. “This would be a huge loss of a historic public asset.”
Coast Guard spokesperson Brandyn Hill said the agency is seeking a long-term solution to provide power to the lighthouse and navigation aid. “We are also exploring many new technologies that were not viable 30 years ago to achieve the best energy solution for all involved,” Hill added.
Replacing the submarine power cable could cost several hundred thousand dollars, Butt noted, and Coast Guard representatives told him they don’t have the same funding they did in 1991.
He said the Coast Guard recommended that the East Brother nonprofit explore installing solar power with a battery backup, but that could be complicated and expensive. The solar infrastructure may not store enough power to operate during several cloudy days, and a backup generator would require regularly hauling fuel to the island.
He has started reaching out to contractors to see how much it could cost to install solar on the property.
Even if a financially feasible solution is found, he said it likely would take several months before power could be restored.
“Our non-profit does not have that level of assets,’ Butt wrote in an email newsletter. “To complicate it further, we do not have ownership of the island, so we cannot secure a loan.”
In theory, the Coast Guard could begin transferring the island as surplus land to a new owner — including the nonprofit — but that would be a long and bureaucratic process, Butt said. And the Coast Guard has not indicated it would even be willing to do so, he added.
If the Coast Guard won’t pay for it, and if the East Brother nonprofit can’t come up with grants or other funding sources, they may need to shut down the inn forever.
That could lead the lighthouse to fall into disrepair, as it did in the 1960s and 1970s after the Coast Guard decommissioned lighthouse keepers in exchange for an automatic beacon for boats.
Since local organizers restored the building and opened the inn in 1980, revenue from the operation has been used to cover more than $1 million in maintenance over the last four decades, Butt estimates. New pier pilings, roofs, upgraded electrical systems, new wastewater treatment systems and other repairs were financed by that revenue.
All that work makes it possible to introduce people to the history of the lighthouse via public tours and overnight stays.
“Local history is an integral aspect of the fabric of Richmond,” said Melinda McCrary, executive director of the Richmond Museum of History and Culture, expressing sadness at hearing about the power failure and its potential impact on the light station.
McCrary called the light station “an important landmark that demonstrates the significance of our local maritime history and said that “closing the light station would be a tremendous loss to Richmond and the Bay Area.”
Without the stewardship of the inn and nonprofit, Butt worries the buildings would deteriorate. He hopes people will help brainstorm ways to persuade the Coast Guard to pay for it, or to find grants.
“Worst case, this may finally be the end of our 40-plus year stewardship of this historic landmark,” he said. “Without our continuous attention, it would quickly deteriorate and fall prey to vandals as it did prior to 1979. The public would lose a critical historic asset forever.”
