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Coso ready to break ground at Hay Ranch |
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Tuesday, 22 September 2009 |
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By Mike Bodine
Register Staff
9-22-2009 Coso Operating Company is inching ever so closer to begin pumping water from Hay Ranch to its geothermal plant.
On Thursday, Coso will be breaking ground on the nine miles of pipeline needed to get the water from Coso’s fallow Hay Ranch property for injection into its depleting geothermal reservoir. That water, Coso has explained, is needed to produce steam that drives turbines and creates electricity.
In May, Coso was granted permission from the county to pump, and in July, it was granted a right of way, or ROW, permit from the Bureau of Land Management to construct the pipeline.
Dick Arruda, vice-president for Geothermal Operations of Terra-Gen Power, Coso’s parent company, said in an e-mail, “Coso Operating Company is excited to announce that construction is starting on the Hay Ranch Project. The water augmentation project will help produce environmentally friendly power through supplementation and conservation practices that efficiently use our natural resources while improving the long term viability of the Coso Project as well as providing increased tax revenues for Inyo County.”
Chris Ellis, Coso Operating Plant site manager, said, “The Coso plant has a 20-year proven track record of providing safe, clean and cost-effective renewable energy to area residents and Californians. We plan to continue to be responsible members of the community while enhancing power generation output.”
After more than four years of planning and litigation, Coso was granted a Conditional Use Permit by the Inyo County Board of Supervisors on May 6, 2009, to the dismay of environmentalists and Little Lake Ranch.
The Ranch (a private hunting club) is “downstream” from Hay Ranch and it was worried that the pumping could permanently alter, or even dry up, the lake and surrounding riparian areas. The Ranch was joined by other local organizations such as the Sierra Club and the California Native Plant Society that cited several discrepancies in the environmental review of the project.
In late August 2009, the Ranch and Coso settled, with the Ranch dropping its suit against Coso. The details of the settlement are not being released.
Inyo County Counsel Randy Keller said that because the county was not a principal in the lawsuit, the county is not privy to the details either.
Pumping is still set to resume in December 2009.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 October 2009 )
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