BLM Releases Draft Environmental Document for 33-MW Geothermal Project Near Mammoth Lakes
The Bureau of Land Management today issued a Draft Joint Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (Draft EIS/EIR) analyzing a proposal to develop additional geothermal resources near Mammoth Lakes in Mono County, California.
A 60-day public comment runs through Jan. 15, 2013. Public meetings will be held Wednesday Dec. 5 at the Mammoth Lakes Community Center, 1000 Forest Trail, Mammoth Lakes and Thursday Dec. 6, at the Crowley Lake Community Center, 458 South Landing Road, Crowley Lake. Both meetings run from 6 to 8 p.m.
The proposed 33-megawatt Casa Diablo IV Geothermal Development Project would be built on the Inyo National Forest within existing federal geothermal leases and private lands. It would include construction of a new geothermal power plant and substation, up to 16 new production/injection wells, multiple pipelines and access roads. A 650-ft long transmission line is proposed to interconnect the new power plant to the existing Southern California Edison substation at Substation Road. The proposed Casa Diablo IV plant, substation, access roads, well pads, pipelines and transmission line would occupy approximately 80 acres.
The agency preferred Alternative 3 differs from the applicant’s proposal in pipeline alignments and the location of one well.
The Draft EIS/EIR may be reviewed at the BLM Bishop Field Office at 351 Pacu Lane, Suite 100, Bishop, CA 93514, and the Mono County Library at 400 Sierra Park Road, Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546. Additionally, CD-ROM versions of the Draft EIS/EIR may be obtained by contacting the Bishop Field Office. The document is also available on the Internet at: HYPERLINK “http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/bishop.html” http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/bishop.html.
Written comments should be submitted to: BLM, Bishop Field Office, 351 Pacu Lane, Suite 100, Bishop, CA 93514; Attn: Casa Diablo IV Geothermal Development Project Draft EIS/EIR, c/o Collin Reinhardt, Project Manager; by facsimile: (760) 872-5050; or by e-mail: [email protected]; Subject: Casa Diablo IV Geothermal Development Project Draft EIS/EIR. To ensure comments will be considered, the BLM must receive them by Jan. 15.
Oral comments may be submitted to Margie DeRose at the Inyo National Forest, Supervisor’s Office by calling (760) 873-2424, or in person at, 351 Pacu Lane, Suite 200, Bishop, CA 93514, or at a public meeting.
Additional information regarding the project can be obtained from Reinhardt at (760) 872-5024, email [email protected].
-BLM-
The people who work at the current plant here seem to like their $20/hr+ jobs plus benefits ( and that is entry level). I was told they have been hiring BTW. I would think the FOI and environmentalists would be all for a renewable energy source like Geothermal. I am… Read more »
really,you think young people want to spend their lives in a limited ski resort in the middle of nowhere?ever watch breaking amish?and cudos to the power plant, but i dont think anyone knows what the impact will be.and really again,big business in the sierras,people live her because its quiet and… Read more »
“House of the devil”
A perfect name for this project
Look out mammoth
Trouble this additional geothermal plant will generate additional tax revenue. Nothing negative about it, I’m 100% for it regardless of environmental impact which I think is a minimum. The geothermal plant at Coso is the largest tax revenue generator for Inyo County. Not a whole lot of long term jobs… Read more »
Your sarcasm should be directed at those who continue to flog the dog of tourism without the imagination to think of anything else. And I think there are enough young people who want something more than to be gofers for the tourists that new industries will be more and more… Read more »
Well Ken I can’t argue with that. Tourism creates low paying jobs with no bennies. A good example is Alaska (which is also the welfare state).
Finally! Inyo and Mono County are sitting on a gold mine of renewable energy. Both counties could be energy self sufficient with cheap electricity for all. And cheap electricity will do far more for both counties economies than tourism. And maybe — if they don’t screw it up like they… Read more »
So were all going to work for the geothermal plant for great pay, benifits and pensions! Nice pipe dream Ken Warner.
Any additional power generated would just go to the grid at wholesale rates. The only benifit I see is additional taxes for the county.
I’m all for it.
Why so negative Mark? I don’t see how this will effect taxes negatively. Plus I don’t see Ken saying anything about high paying jobs.
You have a limited imagination — probably deliberatly just to be snarky on a blog. The availability of cheap energy will attract high tech businesses that use lots of energy. It’s not just another fast food joint that will employ low skilled, undereducated workers — like yourself (back at ya).… Read more »
Not to rain on your parade, but projects like this do not mean cheap energy for the local area. I live down in Kern county with around 300,000 barrels of oil per day coming out of the ground within a 50 mile radius of my house and I am currently… Read more »
Johncampnfish – you’ll have to excuse the locals. They’ve been riding on the wagon so long they’ve forgot what it’s like to pull the wagon.
We don’t make any excuses for you Mark ..we just consider the source.