Bishop - Coso counting on water from Hay Ranch

Coso Geothermal Project is closer to a possible ruling on its controversial proposal to pump water near Little Lake in Southern Inyo, about 19 months after initially seeking approval from the county.
Running out of the water it needs to operate, the electrical generating plant isn’t the only entity with a vested interest in the county’s decision.
Little Lake Ranch, LLC and others are worried the pumping project will have a “devastating impact” on the lake and surrounding riparian areas. A public comment period on the groundwater pumping proposal comes to an end Saturday, Sept. 6.

The Coso Operating Company, LLC, is seeking a 30-year conditional use permit from the Inyo County Planning Commission to extract groundwater from two existing wells on the Coso Hay Ranch property in Rose Valley at the southern end of Inyo County. The permit is asking to withdraw 3,000 gallons per minute or 4,800 acre-feet per year and construct a nine-mile long pipe from the wells to the plant to supplement a shrinking geothermal reservoir.

The Coso Geothermal Operating Plant produces enough electricity to power 200,000 homes. During its 20-year career, Coso has nearly depleted the natural reservoir and is asking the county’s permission to pump water to keep operations at capacity. Photo courtesy of the US Department of Energy

Coso argues the pumping plan is the only economically feasible way to keep the plant generating at capacity.
The plan calls for mitigation guidelines and “trigger levels,” such as a decrease in the lake level of 10 percent, to prevent any permanent damage.
Opposing the project is Little Lake Ranch, and specifically Gary Arnold, the ranch’s legal counsel, representing Arnold, Bleuel, LaRochelle, Matthews and Zirbel. Arnold is also a member of the 1,200-acre ranch and private hunting club. The property includes Little Lake, a 1.6-mile riparian corridor and five ponds.
Arnold and the ranch are arguing that the proposed pumping will suck Little Lake dry, leaving it to face a very long-term recovery. Arnold noted he is using statistics from the Hydrology Model included in the Draft Environmental Impact Report to argue his claim.
Arnold pointed at statements in the model that Rose Valley Basin, which includes Little Lake, is in a state of equilibrium, meaning any new pumping or water transfer will deplete water in the aquifer. In the DEIR, impacts to the lake are defined as a reduction of 10 percent in water available to the surface. Predictions in the model state that Little Lake will not recover from a 10 percent water loss for more than 120 years after all pumping stops. So, with the reduction limitations, Coso’s request to pump 4,800 acre-feet per year would have to completely stop within 15 months to avoid the 10 percent depletion, according to Arnold.
“Then what are they going to do?” Arnold asked about the future of the project after the water is no longer available.
“Coso’s dilemma is a self-inflicted wound,” Arnold states in a press release. He claims Coso knew of the “risks of the geothermal reservoir” and entered into contracts before it knew how much the plant could produce.
“I think the county supervisors needs to educate themselves on their own geothermal ordinances and their decision to waive waterexportation laws,” said Wilfred Nabahe, District 5 property taxpayer. One of the intents in Inyo County’s geothermal resource development ordinance, Title 19, is to protect the environment and provide optimum use of the land.
“This is poor planning and poor judgment by the county. What’s going to happen 30, 40 years from now?” Nabahe asked of how Coso expects to operate after the pumping permit, and the water has run out.
Water is the primary ingredient for geothermal power. The way Coso Geothermal Plant works, according to statements by Coso Geothermal, is that hot geothermal fluid, or brines under pressure of natural geothermal reservoir, travels up through wells, some as deep as 11,000 feet, and flashes into steam that turns generator turbines and produces electricity.
As time goes by, loss of brine due to evaporation must be replaced to maintain reservoir pressure. Coso’s original 1980 Environmental Impact Study anticipated this brine loss and contemplated the potential need for up to 6,000 acre-feet of water annually from Rose Valley.
Chris Ellis, ground coordinator for Coso Geothermal, said that Coso owns the fallowed Hay Ranch and is not pumping from there currently. He said the pumping plan would add to the natural geothermal reservoir that has become depleted from Coso’s 20-year operations.
Ellis added that the plant is currently producing enough electricity to power about 200,000 homes or 200MW but the goal is to generate the full potential of 250MW. Originally intended to be used to power the China Lake Naval Weapons Station, the electricity is now sold to Southern California Edison.
Coso also states in the press release that, “Recent power contract extensions will supply an enhanced tax base for the next 20 years.” Coso has entered into an exclusive power purchase agreement with SCE that will last until 2030.
Inyo County Planning Director Pat Cecil said the county’s motivation to allow water to be pumped from already dry lands is not just the property tax revenue, but also to comply with S.B. 1078, a 2002 rule that mandated 20 percent of California’s electricity come from renewable resources by 2017.
In November, California voters will decide on Proposition 7, which would raise requirements to 20 percent from renewable sources by 2010, 40 percent by 2020 and 50 percent by 2025.
Coso states that the use permit to pump is “very important for meeting the state’s renewable energy requirements.”
Property tax revenue from Coso Operating Company jumped from approximately $4.5 million last year to $11.9 million this year according to the Inyo County Treasury Department.
Inyo County Assessor Tom Lanshaw said the geothermal plant was purchased by ArcLight Capitol to be managed by Terra-Gen in December, 2007. The plant was reappraised at $1.2 billion, up from the previous assessment of $420 million. Lanshaw explained the selling price and newly appraised value were so high because the sellers, Caithness Corporation, included the extra water from Hay Ranch in the assessment.
Lanshaw said ArcLight and Inyo County are currently in negotiations over the assessment given the new uncertainty of the Hay Ranch pumping project.
Pumping from Hay Ranch is not the only way to keep Coso operating at capacity, but the only one getting any attention.
Alternatives to the new pumping project, as stated in the DEIR, “but rejected during development of the project included: increase power through power plant enhancements; alternative sources of injection water; and, reducing the time frame of the permit.” All of these alternatives were rejected on grounds as being more expensive or not in line with Coso Operating goals, to operate at full capacity.
Proposed alternatives to the pumping project included: no project; pumping Hay Ranch at the maximum allowable rate for 30 years without surpassing “trigger levels,” the 10-percent loss; or pump Hay Ranch at various levels preventing significant impact on Little Lake.
The “no project” alternative would avoid groundwater impacts, but, according to the DEIR, the early decommissioning of Coso Geothermal Plant could “affect electricity supply in the region and the associated environmental effects of generating new electricity to compensate for the electricity lost from the Coso projects would be greater than those of the proposed (Hay Ranch pumping) project.”
“As a member of the public, I’m concerned with the substantial loss to the lake,” Arnold said. According to Arnold, he doesn’t want to sue, if possible, but he wants “the county to seriously look at the alternatives to pumping water.”
Cecil explained that after the public comment period has closed, those comments will be incorporated into the DEIR and then sent to the county Water Commission for its scrutiny and on to the Planning Commission for certification then to the county supervisors for their vote. Public notices for dates, times and locations of these meetings will be published as meetings are scheduled.
A copy of the DEIR is available for review at the Inyo County Planning Department, 168 N. Edwards St., Independence, at all Inyo County public libraries or online at www.inyoplanning.org/projects.htm (click on the “Coso Geothermal” link).
The public is encouraged to comment or ask questions about the DEIR by writing to the Inyo County Planning Department, P.O. Drawer “L,” Independence, CA 93526, faxing to (760) 878-0382 or e-mailing This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it