SEEKING GOOD MEDICINE THROUGH THE COURTS

New Medicine Lake Lawsuit Filed

In their second attempt to stop what in Indian eyes would be desecration of sacred lands, a coalition of Native Americans and the Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center filed a lawsuit challenging a May 18, 1998 renewal of leases on which Calpine Corporation hopes to drill for deep geothermal resources in the Medicine Lake Highlands in northeastern California. The complaint charges that the leases were illegally renewed by the Bureau of Land Management, without benefit of environmental or historic preservation review, or consultations with affected Tribes.

The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on May 17th and challenges the legality of leases which authorize the development of geothermal power plants, including the now approved Telephone Flat geothermal project. Located in the heart of the Medicine Lake Caldera, which has been designated as a Traditional Cultural District by the National Register of Historic Places, the Telephone Flat project would have avowedly unmitigable impacts on Native American spiritual practices. The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, which has the last word in determining whether a federal undertaking will have adverse effects on historic properties, determined that the project's industrial elements would "significantly and irreversibly diminish the characteristics that qualify this area for listing on the National Register." Archaeological evidence shows that the remote, hauntingly beautiful Medicine Lake Caldera has been used for spiritual, ceremonial and healing purposes for over 10,000 years by the surrounding Pit River, Modoc and Shasta Tribes. Yet, in spite of these findings, in November 2002 the Bush Administration reversed an earlier Clinton-era decision to deny the project.

This is the second lawsuit in the case filed by the Earthjustice Environmental Law Clinic at Stanford, which represents the Pit River Tribe, Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center, and Native Coalition for Medicine Lake Highlands Defense. On April 12th, the groups filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court in response to a denial at the District Court level of a June 2002 lawsuit challenging approval of Calpine's Fourmile Hill geothermal project in the Highlands.

The two geothermal projects are the most immediate threat to the Medicine Lake Highlands. However, opponents see these project as only the beginnings of an extensive assault on this geologically unique, pristine area. There are 66 square miles of geothermal leases—several of which Calpine has attempted to explore for commercial levels of hot fluids which are supposed to lie 9,000 to 10,000 feet underground. Embedded like a gem in the 24 square mile Caldera are the azure waters of Medicine Lake. The Highlands make up the continent's largest shield volcano, a million-year sculpture of volcanic fury that includes mountains of glass-like obsidian, clear lakes, lava flows, slopes of white pumice, dark boulders, and silver-green mountain hemlock trees.

"At stake is the search for justice in this issue, looking at the very point of whether leases should have been issued in the 1980s and renewed in 1998," said Michelle Berditschevsky of the Native Coalition for Medicine Lake Highlands Defense. "It is amazing that after more than seven years of challenges, Calpine and BLM still don't understand that an industrial wasteland would be out of harmony with the primordial spiritual significance of the Medicine Lake Highlands. From time immemorial this place has had a deep spiritual purpose."

Studies show that geothermal development poses severe risks to water resources—in this case the pure underlying aquifer that emerges as the state's largest spring system and feeds into the Sacramento River. Leases associated with the project cover eight square miles, beginning within 500 yards of Medicine Lake and encompassing several other pristine lakes and springs. The nine-story high plant complex would annually produce 18 tons of toxic hydrogen sulfide gas, and other heavy metals such as arsenic and mercury, descending through large visible steam plumes. Initial drilling calls for 10 to 12 wells to depths of 9,000 feet, with additional wells throughout the life of the project. 24-hour lighting and noise would disturb this peaceful remote area where nothing dims the star-studded night sky. "Such industrial intrusion in a timeless landscape cannot be considered 'green energy production'," said Peggy Risch of the Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center. "The issue of corporate control and resource exploitation that is in the forefront of the news is playing itself out in the microcosm of the Medicine Lake Highlands."

The legal basis for the new lawsuit is BLM's failure to conduct any environmental or cultural review when it extended the original 10-year leases for an additional 40 years. "By the time of the lease extensions in 1998, BLM was accutely aware of the devastating impacts of extending these dormant leases past their original, expired terms and thereby allowing development to go forward," said Deborah Sivas, Director of the Earthjustice Environmental Law Clinic that represents plaintiffs. "The agency simply elected to slide these extensions through under cover of darkness, without any public notification or process, any environmental analysis, or any consultation with the Tribes. That conduct not only violates a number of federal statutes, it also makes a mockery of the federal government's fiduciary trust obligations to the Pit River and other Tribes."

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