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July, 2005 |
The proposal to construct two hydro-electric plants in the area of West Valley Reservoir and Jess Valley Road near Likely is extremely extensive and would have huge negative environmental and aesthetic impacts that easily outweigh its limited benefit.The project proposes to forever divert virtually all of the water out of three miles of the South Fork Pit along portions of Jess Valley Road, except for leaving the absolute MINIMUM flow, based on the determined water depth needed solely for the migration of the “watch listed” Redband Trout. There is no consideration given to general fish habitat, fish spawning or even the needs of fish living within the river nor is there any consideration to other fish, Browns, Rainbows, etc., or anything else for that matter. One must wonder: “what if there were no Redband trout in the river, what criteria would be used then to determine how much water to leave? Would it be zero?”. The project as a whole would involve thirty one acres of land and would consist of enlarging three miles of existing channel, the placement of thousands of feet of penstocks (4 to 5 foot diameter steel pipes), footings, buildings, roads, tons of gravel and concrete, denuding the land, unknown changes to West Valley Reservoir, unknown and perhaps unanticipated problems within the Pit River system in total, increased noise levels, additional power lines and on and on ... and all to create an ugly, unsightly mess in what is now an unusually pristine and an extraordinarily beautiful area of Modoc County... The South Fork Of The Pit River Canyon, “Gateway to the South Warner Wilderness Area”. The project would impact many landowners and residents within and around the project area and the many visitors to the area; the project would be diverting the river in spring and summer months during stream/river trout fishing, vacation, sight seeing season. What would be the impact on the local tourism trade? It would without a doubt make the area less attractive and it would detract from the aesthetic as well as the real value of the personal properties in the area. I personally am appalled and truly feel sorrow, especially for those property owners situated where the “destined to be drained” river runs directly through their property, it is for them, their love, a dream come true. I question if, and how, they in particular, can be so negatively impacted by forces seemingly beyond their control, and for what? In truth, in the larger (or even smaller) scheme of things, this “project” would produce very little electricity, it's promoted to provide: "power for 2000-2400 households at max output" (note “households”... no grocery, hardware, sports or other stores, no farms/ranches, street lights, or anything else, so it sounds bigger; and “max output” equals a few months a year, and during some months... zero .. zip .. none! Many of you visit the area and will agree with us about this, most that
we've talked to do, and we still hope there's hope. The National Forest
Service's Jayne Biggerstaff and Bureau of Land Management's Phil Rhinehart
are monitoring the whole thing and are soliciting inputs; and oh, did
I forget to mention that this entire project is to be situated totally
on PUBLIC LANDS... NFS & BLM (who needs to invest in property for
your business when you can get it for FREE... PUBLIC land?!). The project
is about to have environmental evaluations done by the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) which should show how problematical this
project is. |
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| ©2007 Friends of the South Fork Pit River
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