Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Liz Writes Life - 10-5-2021 -- Newsom agrees to $138 million for wildfire prevention

Liz Writes Life

Oct. 6, 2021

 These days of blue skies have been wonderful! The two mornings of frosts last week did not kill-off my garden, but most plants are certainly slowing down. The pumpkin, cucumber, cantaloupe and several old-looking tomato plants need to be pulled out. The zucchini plants are still tall and producing, so I will leave them in a while longer. That means I need to irrigate them, two healthy tomato plants and the rhubarb every few days, so I will be gardening a bit longer.

Wildfire prevention

California Senator Brian Dahle and his wife, California Assemblywoman, Megan Dahle, sent out a press release celebrating support for wildfire prevention. After pushing negotiations in this year’s wildfire prevention funding, they identified a list of shovel-ready projects to protect communities in their district and received $30 million in grant funding. This is a big win out of Governor Gavin Newsom’s recently announced allocation of $138 million for the entire state.

“We are excited to announce the data we gathered on unfunded projects was prioritized in the governor’s funding and thankful for his trust in our local Fire Safe Councils’ abilities to do this critical work,” said the senator and assemblywoman.

 The projects will give communities resources necessary to prioritize and establish much-needed firebreaks. The Dahles stressed that over six million acres have been destroyed by wildfire in the past two years and the state is late in funding the much-needed clearing of unnatural undergrowth and using controlled burns. Our legislators also stressed the need to focus on mobilizing the timber industry, reducing environmental regulation and costly red tape that hold up projects – and to commit substantial, ongoing funds to wildfire prevention.

Klamath dams

The deadline to submit public comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding its proposal to transfer the hydroelectric license of the Klamath dams to the non-profit entity Klamath River Renewal Corp. closed the end of August.

CA. Dist. 1 Congressman Doug LaMalfa sent out a press release explaining why he submitted opposition. I decided to use the congressman’s response, because it puts in a nutshell the comments made by Siskiyou County, Siskiyou Water Users Assoc. and many individuals that oppose the license transfer and ultimate destruction of the Klamath dams by the KRRC.

“Clear evidence rebukes the idea that salmon would have naturally traveled above the current site of Copco 1. But, undeterred by facts, zealous environmentalists continue their dogmatic pursuit of dam removal even if it sends millions of cubic yards of toxic sediment and silt downstream, forces school closures, wrecks the habitat of other threatened and endangered species, reduces our ability to manage water in the Klamath watershed and eliminates a key source of water for wildfire air attack craft with any liability placed firmly on the backs of California and Oregon Taxpayers. The dam removal plan will create a man-made natural disaster that will cost billions to clean up,” said LaMalfa.

Boy do I agree.

Then, if we add the destructive wildfires and declining water levels at reservoirs throughout the state into the comments, it makes one wonder at the sanity-level of anyone wanting to destroy any reservoirs. The current drought shows the desperate need for more water storage – in reservoirs – not less.

With the threat of rolling blackouts compounding the crisis of water shortage, it has been reported that California Gov. Gavin Newsom is looking at constructing five “temporary” gas-fueled plants. The California Energy Commission approved licenses for the emergency gas generators (for up to five years) with the ability to generate 30 megawatts of energy from each generator. Hum, 30 megawatts times five generators is 150 megawatts. Keep that number in mind.

In researching the Klamath dams hydropower ability, I found that 151 megawatts of energy is generated and 70,000 customers receive power. The same amount the “temporary” gas-fueled plants will produce!

Once again, why in the world would anyone want to decrease our current ability to produce power and store water from a project that is already in place? I just don’t get it! Thank you to everyone that objected to FERC’s license transfer of the Klamath dams and provided facts to FERC regarding dam removal.

Update on FERC situation

I have read FERC’s Sept. 23, 2021 “Order Addressing Arguments Raised on Rehearing” by Siskiyou County that tried to appeal FERC’s June 2021 Transfer Order that allows the potential license transfer of the Klamath dams to the non-profit entity Klamath River Renewal Corp. In this mix of procedures -- that I admit are complicated to me -- the California legislature decided (negated) its need to be involved. This included the state ignoring its mandate to do the environmental assessments accomplished through California Environmental Quality Act, which is state law. For a state that is so environmentally aware, I find this shocking because demolishing the Klamath dams will be a huge detriment to the environment.

So, this puts the environmental assessments regarding the removal of the Klamath dams directly on the federal National Environmental Policy Act, which must be done by FERC.

Once again, I called our Siskiyou County Supervisor, Ray Haupt, for clarification.

Ray said that FERC refuses to hear the county’s arguments. As a result, the county has two choices: One is to fight the current license transfer order that did not have a NEPA, but has no case law to support the county. The second is to wait until NEPA is completed and then challenge -- if it is insufficient.

“We must be prudent in the challenges we make,” Ray said. “It is the public’s money, not my money.”

As most folks know, lawsuits cost lots of money and I agree the county must be careful to use the best process that could provide a win in court.

Typically, NEPA takes about two years of environmental studies and several public comment periods to complete.

May peace and calm be with you this week. Smile – just cuz it makes you feel better!

Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County. Columns from the past can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.

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