California: Coalition sues to halt Calpine plant - The Fourmile Hill a spiritual site

The Contra Costa Times ^ | Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002 | JENNIFER COLEMAN The Associated Press

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

SACRAMENTO - A coalition of environmentalists and Indian tribes sued several federal government agencies Monday in an attempt to stop San Jose's Calpine Corp. from building a 49-megawatt geothermal power plant in a remote corner of Northern California.

The Fourmile Hill project would desecrate a spiritual site important to several tribes, according to the lawsuit filed by the Pit River Nation, one of the tribes suing to overturn the Bureau of Land Management's approval of the power plant.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

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[Hunble]

Note to self:

This summer, when it gets hot and the power requirements increase, divert electricity from this area first.

[meyer]

The spirits are known to dislike minute, almost unmeasurable, and otherwise harmless heavy metals. Though gold and silver in adequate amounts have been known to please them.

[marron]

one site within the caldera was rejected because BLM officials said it would have adverse effects on Indian cultural values...

How? By providing jobs?

[farmfriend]

Whoa, the posting boxes changed. Get ready for those threads on change.

Anyway, back to this article. We wouldn't want any of those alternative power sorces they are trying to push on us. They want us to use alternative power plants but you can't put up wind mills, they kill the birds. You can't use hydro-electric, that dams the rivers. You can't use thermal power, that land is sacred. What next? Solar heats the sun?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Whoa, the posting boxes changed. Get ready for those threads on change.

I like the change since you can copy some portion of the text you are replying to without scrollin up and down!

Back to our discussion,. The Environwacko just want everyone to go back to the stone age. Course they are going to keep their limos!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

There is at least one thread where the changes are being discussed or complained about . John gets a few comments in now and then!

FR changes thread (discuss here)

[Myrddin]

It's hilarious to watch the stupidity of how California is dealing with the electric power supply. Almost none of the promised power plants are being built. The freaky, overpriced contracts for power from non-existent plants are going to default. California will still be in debt $30 billion and no closer to solving the power problems. I suspect that mild weather and reduced electricity demand as a consequence of the recession have prevented power alerts and rolling blackouts. Once the weather and economy heat up again, the problems will be back. The huge state debt and desire to raise taxes to fix it will probably keep the economy from taking off for some time.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Right, All the power Plants are being built around the bordering states and in Mexico.

Feinstein and others are trying to force them to met the same air quality standards that plants in California have to met!

[Myrddin]

Feinstein and others are trying to force them to met the same air quality standards that plants in California have to met!

The state government is preventing power plant construction inside the state. Since they have no jurisdiction outside state lines, they have pulled Feinstein into the act at the federal level to bully the Mexican and interstate sites. CA is determined to fail any way possible.

Idaho is experiencing a continuing drought. Our hydro-electric plants will have limited capacity. Probably enough to meet local needs, but not enough to sell into the CA market. In fact, we had to buy power on the market because someone foolishly sold some our limited, cheap hydro power into the marketplace for CA to consume. I don't see a repeat of that mistake again.

[forester]

Thanks for posting this Ernest. Hard to believe the envirals are opposing this. It is located 4 miles west of the Pacific Inter-tie (the main lines from BPA to CA) on pretty gentle land. If I remember right, the amount of land that would be disturbed by construction was less then 3 acres. Of course some trees would have to be cut down along the power line right-of-way.

Our Board of Supervisors approved this project three years ago, and the next thing we knew Steven Seagal was up here protesting with some tribal members. What a joke!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for adding some additional facts to this!

Does Steven Seagal reside in one of those plush Office Towers in the Bay area?

[forester]

Does Steven Seagal reside in one of those plush Office Towers in the Bay area?

I don't know about that, but he did buy a ranch up here. Get this: he bought the ranch a few months before the Board of Supervisors approved the geothermal project. After they approved it, he sends his hired man to a public input meeting that the Board held to discuss the appeal (yep, he supported those that appealed it. Got his picture in the paper with a protest sign - the whole nine yards). So during this hearing, Seagal's hired man states something to the effect "As you know Mr. Seagal has purchased property in the area and plans to operate an organic farm. This could bring alot of jobs to this county. If you approve this project, Mr. Seagal has informed me that it may jeopardize this project."

Can you believe the arrogance of this guy! Not only does he NOT show up, he sends a paid goon to threaten the supervisors! In the end, he started his organic farm anyway. The place has a bad reputation already for it's low pay rates and refusal to heed the advice of long time local ranchers and farmers. As it sits next to a wildlife refuge (ie swamp) I hear the skeeters are awfull! Just rewards for hubris eh?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Figures!