LATEST NEWS, WINTER 2000

DRILLING STOPPED AT MEDICINE LAKE! …FOR NOW…
by Michelle Berditschevsky and Peggy Risch

STAY ORDER HALTS CONSTRUCTION

The GOOD NEWS is that the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) has granted a Stay Order to halt construction of Calpine Corporation's Fourmile Hill geothermal project. The Stay was requested in appeals of the Bureau of Land Management's May 31st decision to permit large-scale geothermal development in the beautiful, remote and sacred Medicine Lake Highlands just east of Mount Shasta. Because of IBLA's backlog of cases, appeals challenging the project are not expected to be decided until April 2002.

FOREST SERVICE & BLM
ISSUE COMPROMISE DECISIONS

In May 2000 the Forest Service and BLM issued two decisions, one denying CalEnergy's Telephone Flat project within the Medicine Lake Caldera because of the area's cultural significance to Native Americans and its recreational values. The other approved the Fourmile Hill project, a 49.9 megawatt geothermal industrial complex located on the rim of the caldera. This project would be situated less than a quarter mile from the Native American Traditional Cultural District boundary, in an area that has not been fully evaluated for the National Register of Historic Places.

Approval of the Fourmile Hill project brought on wave of appeals - by the Pit River Tribe, Native Coalition for Medicine Lake Highlands Defense and Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center (which have collectively formed a Native/Bioregional Alliance) represented by the EarthJustice Legal Defense Fund, and by a coalition of environmental groups. The appeals decry violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.

Even Calpine Corporation appealed the Fourmile Hill decision due to some of the stringent measures that the NHPA Section 106 Process placed on the project attempting to mitigate adverse impacts on Native American cultural uses, and the five-year moratorium temporarily preventing further geothermal development contained in the Record of Decision.

EPA, NPS VOICE CONCERNS

The National Parks Service has stated that the annual emissions of 17 tons of hydrogen sulfide-2 1/2 times more than was disclosed in the EIS-constitutes a "serious discrepancy" that needs to be "reconciled." Furthermore, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resource Board stated that the power plant portion of the project was issued without offering the public opportunity to review and comment on the permit.

PLANS TO DEVELOP
500-600 MEGAWATTS IN THE HIGHLANDS

The developers' strong opposition to the 5-year moratorium is a good indication that the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) should have disclosed the cumulative impacts of the full 65,000 acres currently leased to geothermal development. The appeals insist on a supplemental (EIS) fully disclosing the cumulative impacts of all issued leases. Calpine's Senior Vice President for Business Development has stated publicly that "[w]e are developing a project there [Medicine Lake] and we think that field could be capable of as many as 400, 500, or 600 megawatts of power." The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation has noted that "The projects are only two of up to ten anticipated developments for which leases have been issued."

LAWSUITS FILED AGAINST COUNTY DECISION

On the state of California side, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted early in the year to approve the Fourmile Hill Development based on the California Environment Quality Act (CEQA). The disturbing CEQA approval came despite the admission that the Project would have a significant effect on Native American values and the environment, and included extremely questionable overriding "social and economic" consideration to justify the Project. The CEQA decision is currently in litigation by the Native/Bioregional Alliance and the Save Medicine Lake Coalition. The Siskiyou County Air Pollution Control District has already issued air permits for the power plant and 5 deep wells, which are also under litigation by the Save Medicine Lake Coalition.

COUNTY RETALIATES
WITH HUGE ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD COSTS

In a retaliatory action, Siskiyou County has ordered the Native and Environmental plaintiffs to pay over $35,000 in costs for routine assembly of the administrative record on the lawsuit. The groups had already paid $750 for each of three appeals to the County, during which the record was presumably gathered. The County is now charging for highly paid paralegals on tasks that plaintiffs claim were performed by clerical help already in the County's employ. The County has illegally withheld the record pending the resolution of the cost issue, in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act.

FURTHER EXPLORATORY DRILLING HALTED THIS FALL

In late summer, Calpine attempted to deepen a temperature gradient hole to a level characteristic of deep exploration wells. The Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology challenged BLM's approval of this action on the basis that it was based on outdated permits in light of opposition to the geothermal development as a whole, and of review required under environmental and historic preservation laws. Calpine backed off and decided not to do exploratory drilling this year.

BONNEVILLE POWER POSTPONES DECISION

The Native Coalition met with top officials in the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). BPA is the Department of Energy agency that proposes to purchase the power at the Medicine Lake Highlands. The Native Coalition reminded BPA of its obligation to consult with affected Tribes after learning of BPA's intent to sign the Record of Decision and contracts with Calpine. Tribal representatives pointed out that the project is under a Stay Order and that a power purchase agreement could severely prejudice resolution of the appeals by giving the government a vested interest in their outcome. Remembering having to buy Calpine out in a similar situation at Newberry Crater in Oregon in the mid-90s, where BPA had to cough up $9 million of public funds after Calpine's project there was denied, BPA decided to learn from the past and at least hold off until appeals of the Medicine Lake Highlands are decided.