 Some of the habitat enhancement ponds below Little Lake proper on the east side of U.S. 395. Coso Operating Company has struck a deal with Little Lake Ranch that will “ensure water for recreation and habitat conservation purposes remains available.” File photo By Mike Bodine
Register Staff
8-27-2009 A deal has been cut between the two parties feuding over the water beneath Hay Ranch in southern Inyo County.
Coso Operating Company has come to a settlement with Little Lake Ranch, following concerns that Coso’s plan to pump water “upstream” from the lake could potentially spell the end for the lake on the east side of U.S. 395 near Olancha.
The settlement will, according to a press release from Coso, “provide improvements around Little Lake to ensure that water for recreational habitat conservation purposes remains available, consistent with historic conditions.”
The details to the settlement are not being released.
Joe Greco, senior vice-president for Terra-Gen Power, Coso’s parent company, said Wednesday that any details as to the monetary compensation or “improvements” promised in the deal, are confidential.
“The bottom line is, it’s equitable and we’re moving forward,” Greco said.
Gary Arnold, legal counsel and member of the Ranch, said that while he could confirm a settlement had been reached, that was all he could say about it.
Steve McLaughlin, president of the Bristlecone Chapter of the CNPS, said Wednesday he has no details either.
“I’m assuming Little Lake has cut a deal that wouldn’t be detrimental to the lake,” McLaughlin added.
Mark Bagley, spokesperson for the OVC and the local Sierra Club chapter, said he presumed the Ranch has confidence in Coso that the deal will also include enough water to supply the habitat enhancements downstream from the lake.
Coso operates a geothermal plant that has a depleting “hot water” reservoir and has said it needs to pump water from its Hay Ranch property for injection into the reservoir to keep the plant working at capacity. Coso gained a Conditional Use Permit from the county on May 6, to the dismay of environmentalists and the private hunting club, Little Lake Ranch.
The Ranch, along with the local chapters of the Sierra Club, the California Native Plant Society and the Owens Valley Committee, all argued about inaccuracies and insufficient data in the environmental studies done on the project. The major concern was that Little Lake, a rare riparian area in the Owens Valley, post-LADWP, and major bird migration habitat, would be permanently altered, or even dry up because of Coso’s pumping to the north.
A lawsuit concerning the environmental reports seemed inevitable, but now the deadline to file a claim against Coso has passed. And now that the Ranch has settled, no suit will move forward. The environmental groups, lacking resources to stage their own case, were going to join the Ranch in its suit as a “friend of the court” but never became a party in the suit.
Bagley added he felt disappointed that there were no consequences for the county for approving a “bogus CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) document.” He said he hoped this will not set a precedent for future renewable energy plant proposals in the county. Bagley said he expects there to be several more requests in the near future.
Greco said pumping is still set to presume in December 2009.
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