Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 7, 2009
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
Coso pumping opponents appeal to Inyo Supervisors
The Inyo Register
State holds fast on
The
County: Delta controversy creating “disaster”
Coso pumping opponents appeal to Inyo Supervisors
The Inyo Register – 5/6/09
By Mike Bodine
Coso Geothermal Plant has another hurdle to overcome before it can pump water from Hay Ranch.
Little Lake Ranch is appealing the Inyo County Planning Commission’s approval of the Conditional Use Permit for Coso to pump water from its Hay Ranch property to its geothermal power generating facility to replenish the underground geothermal reservoir. The water will be injected into the reservoir to bring capacity at the plant back up to maximum allowable levels.
This appeal is going to the Board of Supervisors for a special meeting and public hearing Wednesday to decide whether to certify, modify or deny the permit.
The special hearing is a “de novo” hearing, meaning the supervisors will be hearing and judging on the arguments as if it were the first time, or if the Planning Commission had never decided on the permit. This means the meeting is expected to be as long as the Planning Commission meeting/ public hearing on the permit in March. Staff will present their findings, opponents and proponents will make their arguments and summarize points of appeal and rebuttals. The March meeting went on for more than nine hours.
In March, the commission decided in favor of the permit, but modified the amount of water allowed to be pumped for the first year, from 4,800 acre-feet per year to 3,000.
Gary Arnold, legal counsel and part-owner of the Little Lake Ranch and Hunting Club, is appealing the permit fearing the pumping will permanently damage the riparian area.
One the most compelling arguments brought by
The article was part of a lengthy scientific paper written by Austin and his son, Richard. The two conclude in the paper, “Without question, one can run a field out of fluid, but before spending a lot of money on artificial recharge, it is not a bad idea to determine both what has really been going on and what the recharge fluid will do to the host rock.”
Arnold is also appealing on the grounds of a larger, more general concept that most renewable energy sources are in the desert, be it solar, wind or geothermal, and that water priorities are always a problem with these sources.
In previous interviews and at the commission meeting, Coso Operating Company has explained that the air-cooled technology is incredibly expensive. And, the plant was not built with the intentions of adding an air-cooled system, meaning complications would arise with a new system and the production would drop substantially especially during the peak summer months. In the summer, demand for energy is greatest, but so would the demands on the cooling system trying to keep the plant cool in the hottest time of the year. Coso explained that with the air-cooled system, akin to a large vehicle radiator, the plant would be producing just enough energy to keep the plant cool, and that’s it.
Specifically,
Fitch also reports that the owners of Coso Operating Company, namely Terra-Gen and ArcLight, “have significant economic incentive to invest in Coso projects over the long term.”
There have also been reports of concern that if the plant does not get the Hay Ranch water the county would suffer. The survival of the plant is very important to the county as the plant was recently assessed by the county to be worth $1.09 billion. This means annual property tax revenues for the county of $11 million.
Tom Lanshaw, county assessor, said Monday that the value of the plant was de-valued by some $110 million due to the Hay Ranch project delays. But, like any addition to a property, the county can pick up more revenues as the plant adds infrastructure or increases production.
These issues include: the mitigation trigger levels, who controls them and why; tax revenues; three different hydrology models, which all contain different impact conclusions, and which one is being used for the permit or impact review; air-cooled versus water-cooled technology; and the feasibility of the alternatives.
The meeting will begin at 9 a.m., tomorrow in the
http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/120863/1/
State holds fast on Russian River
The Santa Rosa
By Bob Norberg
But the staff of the state Water Resources Control Board was standing firm on its proposals to set a limit on how much water can be taken from the
“This watershed has had water shortage problems and it looks like it will continue to have water shortage problems,” said Victoria Whitney, a deputy director of the state Water Resources Control Board.
Whitney also justified the staff proposal to ban irrigating commercial turf, a statewide issue which the water board has had on its radar as a way to save water.
“A third of urban water use is irrigation,” Whitney said. “Given the issues that they face, it seemed now was the time to point out to folks this is an easy fix.”
The public hearing was scheduled for Wednesday after the order was challenged by the Water Agency’s primary customers, the cities and districts serving 600,000 people from
The low river flows draw criticism because of water-quality concerns and the effect on tourism, while landscapers and irrigation companies complain a ban on commercial turf irrigation is unnecessary and will put people out of jobs.
Within the next two weeks, staff officials will rewrite the order and submit it to board Chairman Charlie Hoppin, who, because it is a urgency order, will have the authority to approve it.
Hoppin did not give an indication of which way the board was leaning, but made it clear the board believes the
“It is not easy to take a regulatory action that affects peoples lives, jobs and whether their lawns go dry,” Hoppin said. “It is easy for us up here to talk about conservation, but we aren’t the ones to implement it.”
The water board issued issued the order April 6 as it granted the Water Agency’s request to reduce the summertime flows in the
Because of the lack of rain this year,
Pam Jeane, the Water Agency’s deputy director of operations, said reducing flows by more than half this summer will leave 30,000 acre-feet of water in
Additionally, the National Marine Fisheries Service is restricting the amount of water the Water Agency can release from Lake Sonoma into Dry Creek to protect fish habitat.
While granting the Water Agency request, the state board additionally ordered the Water Agency reduce the amount of water it takes from the
The conservation goals are opposed by the Water Agency’s customers, who said they have been leaders statewide and contend there is enough water available to required conserving by only 20 percent.
“We believe with the analysis, a 20 percent conservation would be sufficient. We are asking that be the level in the order,” said Jake Mackenzie, a
Whitney said during a break in the meeting, however, that 25 percent is a reasonable goal for conservation and it includes a prohibition on using ground water from wells as a supplement.
“If you substitute ground water, ultimately you will see that impact on the
Caroline Wassem, a
She said the coalition, representing 95 percent of business park owners, is committed to reducing irrigation by 35 percent by 2010 and 60 percent by 2017 by replacing indoor fixtures, using high-tech irrigation systems, reducing and replacing turf and having landscapers trained as part of the Qualified Water Efficiency Landscape program run by the county.
Mark Palmer of
“We have the capacity and ability to reduce landscape irrigation by 25 percent,” Palmer said. “Don’t make commercial turf the bad boys; the bad boys are those who waste water.”
Brenda Adelman, a
“The pollution that is in the river naturally and unnaturally will be concentrated,” Adelman said.
Linda Burke of Burke’s Russian River Canoes in
“We are ready for a huge season, all we need is water,” Burke said.
The water board staff made some clarifications in the proposed order, which will require conservation efforts immediately upon approval, and directed that the most drastic flow reduction will not be imposed until July 6.
It also added requirements that the Water Agency conduct monitoring of water quality and fish habitat, and conduct an inventory of who has water rights on the Russian River and who might be diverting illegally.#
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090506/articles/905069916
County: Delta controversy creating “disaster”
County Agricultural Commissioner Ruben Arroyo said the county will ask to be designated a disaster zone because ag industry losses due to lack of water will do $600 million damage to the local economy.
Hopefully, he said, the disaster designation would draw cash to offset the losses. The designation would be a little different than ones supervisors have approved in recent years, he said.
Those disasters were caused by natural droughts and freezes, he said, while this time it’s because of legal decisions and legislation limits to the water
Around 40,000 acres will be left out of production, according to preliminary estimates from the Kern County Water Agency, Arroyo said. Another 48,000 acres will get limited water.
“People are bulldozing trees,” said Kern County Water Association spokesman Steve Dalke. “You’re having to decide which trees you’re going to keep alive.”
Row crops, he said, won’t happen this year.
Jim Beck of the Kern County Water Agency told supervisors that local ag districts are being given only 25 to 30 percent of their normal allocation of water from the State Water Project — despite the fact that rainfall in the northern
“It’s bad. It’s really bad,” Beck said.
The cost to buy water has shot up to $450 an acre foot. An acre-foot is the about the amount of water needed to serve one average family for a year.
Dalke said growers unable to afford to irrigate their crops are laying off people and the trickle-down impact of that loss of work is what is creating the $600 million disaster.
Also Tuesday, supervisors passed a 3.5 percent trash fee increase.
The residential rate increase passed in a flash, with nobody raising objections.
But supervisors long debated the proposed 3.5 percent increase in fees paid by businesses and bulk-trash disposers.
Supervisor Jon McQuiston said he's concerned that Kern's prices are outstripping fees at other landfills and he wants to make sure the department cuts expenses before raising costs.
Waste Management Director Doug Landon said his department has made major cuts and the only things left to cut would be reducing public services and the county's ability to comply with state recycling diversion rates.
Some examples of those cuts would include closing the Boron landfill, the Buttonwillow transfer station and ending the metropolitan
Other supervisors supported the increase in fees for businesses.
“I'm going to hold my nose and vote yes,” McQuiston said.#
http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x443328877/Parched-county-to-seek-disaster-designation
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DWR’s California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader’s services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost2.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news . DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of
No comments:
Post a Comment