Fall / Winter 2011 - 12

Holding High Ground

by Michelle Berditschevsky and Peggy Risch

As the first high snows blanket the Medicine Lake Caldera, things are mercifully quiet in the Highlands, while we hold legal ground against the energy-at-all-costs decisions pressing against the invisible barrier of beauty and caring that continues to protect this magnificent mysterious landscape over fourteen years...

Quiet on the legal front

Following the 2010 Ninth Circuit Court decision that mandated a new review process on the lease extensions for the Fourmile Hill project, BLM proposed that all the parties (the Pit River Tribe, Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center, Native Coalition, and Calpine Corporation) enter into discussions. The purpose of these talks would be to see if our second lawsuit could be bypassed and allow Calpine and the agencies to move directly into the required environmental review phase. One problem is that Calpine's proposal has now grown to full buildout of 480 megawatts of power, five times what had been proposed. After a series of meetings in the past year and much analysis on our part, negotiations are presently at a standstill as key issues on both sides have not been resolved. At this point, it is hard to predict if settlement talks will resume, or whether our second lawsuit (challenging the rest of the leases and the Telephone Flat Project), which has been joined by the Save Medicine Lake Coalition of environmental groups, will move forward.

Making good use of time

While we commend the Ninth Circuit Court for declaring the lease extensions invalid, we recognize the ambivalence of the decision in letting the underlying leases stand, which confer property and development rights to Calpine on 38,000 acres (about 60 square miles) in this sacred landscape.

Yet this partial victory has bought us time to develop much needed information about the risks to the enormous pure aquifer that flows under the Medicine Lake Volcano.

Medicine Lake Highlands and Mount Shasta stand together

The Save Medicine Lake Highlands project is our ongoing effort since 1997 to protect the wild and sacred Medicine Lake Volcano from devastating, polluting industrial geothermal development. The geothermal industry and BLM have identified an unrealistic potential for large-scale energy development in both the Medicine Lake Highlands (480 megawatts) based on limited data and on Mount Shasta (280 megawatts). After more than 20 years of exploratory testing, there is virtually no evidence that supports this corporate ploy of exaggerating the geothermal potential for what is still called “renewable” energy despite polluting and degrading activities that cannot be mitigated.

While geothermal leases were denied on Mount Shasta in 2008, the equivalent of at least five power plants is still on the books and the decision is under appeal by Vulcan Power. Medicine Lake is where we are holding ground against geothermal development, and it will set a precedent for Mount Shasta.

High water sources

Keeping pristine high mountain water sources pure and safeguarding the major recharge areas of our bioregion have been and continue to be a primary goal of the Ecology Center. Watershed protection is at the heart of our two principal projects, Save Mount Shasta and Save Medicine Lake Highlands, which hold major sources of the north state water supply.

The complex strata, lava tubes and ice caves of Medicine Lake Volcano and the Modoc Plateau collect, filter and store more water volume (36-40 million acre-feet) in this underground aquifer than all of California's reservoirs combined! These high quality waters come through California's largest spring system, the Fall River Springs, reliably making their way into the Sacramento River and San Diego Aqueduct even in drought years.

The risks to the aquifer from geothermal development are great, and relatively little is known of its complex structure and characteristics. Politically, agencies have thus far largely ignored its critical importance for California. We are seeking the means to assure that adequate studies exist that will favor science-based management decisions and counter the industry-driven studies, in light of Calpine's latest push to claim that 480 megawatts exists in the Highlands. Such studies will allow us to advocate strongly for this prime water resource in the upcoming process.

What is at stake

The problem we're addressing is inappropriate industrialization of near-pristine public lands without regard for the values that already exist there. Geothermal extraction involves drilling 9,000-10,000 feet into the earth through 800-1,000 feet of a huge fresh water aquifer and risking contamination from toxic emissions, spills, well casing failures, blowouts, and “enhanced geothermal systems” that include “fracking,” a process that injects toxic hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids under pressure in order to fracture the strata and access the resource in an area that is highly prone to seismic activity.

Growing a regional coalition

Our approach involves fostering our partnerships and alliance of stakeholders, including the Stanford Law School Environmental Clinic, the Pit River Tribe, the Native Coalition, Save Medicine Lake Coalition (including Medicine Lake Citizens, Fall River Wild Trout, and Klamath Forest Alliance), the Fall River Conservancy, and the large network with which we are involved through participation in developing an Integrated Regional Water Management Plan for the Upper Sacramento Watershed.

The regional coalition includes all who care about the bioregion, so please continue your support by sending in your new or renewed Membership!!

Glass Mountain from Mount Hoffman Photo by Peggy Risch