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BUDGETS: Many thanks to
constituents who called to express their opinion on fee
increases – particularly residential burn permits. To date,
the Board has passed increases on weights and measures and
building permit fees. Tuesday November 18, at its regular
meeting, the Board will consider increases in personal
health fees, planning permit fees and burn permits and fees.
We will also hear a proposal for special senior citizen
rates at the landfill transfer station.
On Friday, November 21 at 9 a.m. in the
County
Courthouse in Yreka, the Board of
Supervisors will reopen the County budget and hear from
Department Heads on plans to cut budgets once again. This
will include discussions on likely service reductions and
program cuts, new hours of operation, new ways of doing
things and potential staff reductions. The cuts will largely
be made in the General Fund departments, which include
discretionary programs such as the libraries, and large
departments such as the sheriff and the D.A. The public is
invited and welcome to provide input into this difficult
decision-making process. Depending upon further proposed
budget cuts by the state, additional future cuts might also
be necessary. (As an illustration, the proposed loss of
state Williamson Act tax replacement funding is the rough
equivalent of 10 Sheriff’s deputies.) This will be a
seriously difficult time for the County.
DAM REMOVAL: The United States
Government, the State of
California and
Oregon and PacifiCorp appear to
have come to an “agreement in principle” on the potential
removal of
Iron Gate, Copco 1 and 2 and J.C. Boyle dams on the
Klamath River. The agreement proposes a potential date
for dam removal of 2020, when ownership of the dam would
shift over to some non-government entity. (In this manner no
fifth Amendment property “takings” could be filed by Copco
and other affected landowners.) By agreement, PacifiCorp
would then also be absolved from any liability for damage to
people, fish/wildlife and property from any repercussions of
removal such as the transport downstream of toxic or
hazardous materials, the redistribution of sediment
currently behind the dams and any affects on the
geomorphology of the river – such as a higher river bed in
the canyon below Iron Gate.
The decision as to whether to remove
the dams would be made by the Secretary of the Interior.
Before April 2012, the United States would do independent
studies to determine whether the potential benefits for
fisheries, water and other resources from dam removal
outweighs the potential alternatives, risks, costs,
liabilities and other adverse consequences of removal. (I
believe this will be done per facility.) The agreement says
studies “may” address the economic impact of facilities
removal on
Siskiyou
County, the disposition of the Fall
Creek hydropower facility and protection of the City of
Yreka’s water supply.
The federal government will also
determine whether the cost of facilities removal will be in
excess of $450 million. If it is determined that the
liabilities outweigh the benefits, then PacifiCorp will
return to the FERC relicensing process. If it determined the
benefits of dam removal prevail, then the facilities will be
transferred to the decommissioning entity. Any disposition
of lands that PacifiCorp owns will be at fair market value
to an entity not exempt from payment of property taxes or
one that pays in lieu of taxes, (such as the
BLM.) At this point, FERC would not have
jurisdiction over the decommissioning. That means that
public’s NEPA and due process opportunities through FERC
will be affected.
The Pacific Power customers of
California and
Oregon will be responsible for
contributing $200 million from rate increases toward
decommissioning. The People of the State of
California will be asked to pass a
General Obligation Bond in the amount of $250 million to
fund the rest. There will also be federal and state
legislation to implement provisions of the agreement. If
decommissioning costs more, then the rate payers, the
federal government and the States will not be responsible
with coming up with the money. Until the decision is made
whether to decommission, PacificCorp will be required to do
several things for fish and water quality, such as add
additional gravel below Iron Gate.
The costs of this will also be passed along to the rate
payers.
Alternative energy projects will be
supported on the Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Project.
Rate offsets will be given accordingly to the Klamath
Project irrigators.
The agreement also accepts the Klamath
Basin Settlement Agreement, (with its governance structure
that includes no representation for agriculture in the Scott
and Shasta
Valleys, timber or mining,) as part
of a “unified approach” to handling
Klamath
Basin issues. This will also require
passage of legislation.
SCOTT VALLEY INCIDENTAL TAKE PERMIT:
The Department of Fish and Game will hold a public meeting
on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR)
for the proposed Coho programmatic Incidental Take Permit (ITP)
for the Siskiyou R.C.D. as applies to agriculture in Scott
Valley on November 18 at the Community Center in Fort Jones
from 7 -10 p.m. Public comments are due by December 9. The
hearing for the Shasta Valley
ITP version will be held on November 19 from
7 - 10 p.m. at the Siskiyou County
Superior Court at the Courthouse in Yreka.
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