A Huge Victory For Medicine Lake!!

There has been a major VICTORY in the fight to save Medicine Lake. The Native Coalition/Pit River Tribe has won two key rulings in the federal 9th District Court of Appeals. The rulings are based on NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) and NHPA (National Historic Preservation Act) violations by the USFS, BLM and Calpine regarding the Fourmile Hill Geothermal Project.

In reversing Calpine’s federal court win, the Appeal judges have basically ruled that Calpine’s 1998 and 2002 lease renewals for Fourmile Hill were invalid because the federal agencies failed to require Calpine to produce the necessary Environmental Impact Statement’s (EIS) for the renewals. Also ethnographic studies and consultations with the tribes were incomplete. And Calpine’s 1996 Fourmile Hill EIS/EIR failed to properly address the No Action Alternative.

Nine years ago, when we hired our lawyer, Steve Volker, he told us that the lease issues would be a very important factor in our suit. He also said that the Native American issues were highly valuable. Two years ago Steve filed a friend-of-the-court brief, on our behalf, in support of the Pit River’s federal appeal and he also filed another supporting brief this summer, both briefs aided in the success of the Pit River appeal.

Twenty years ago Steve successfully established case law in a similar lawsuit which involved oil and gas leases in Montana, the affected area later became known as the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. The Bob Marshall ruling was a key factor in the Pit River’s appeal and in our friend-of-the-court briefs, which lead to Calpine’s Fourmile Hill leases being suspended.

The Pit River’s federal lawsuit was filed against the Fourmile Hill Geothermal Project, on the north rim of the caldera. Our lawsuit, which was stayed by Calpine’s bankruptcy, includes all geothermal exploration and development within the Glass Mountain Known Geothermal Resource Area (KGRA), including the Telephone Flat Project whose westernmost boundary is the Powder Hill Road, Road 49, which runs through the caldera. The Telephone Flat Project also encompasses Arnica Sink to the north and extends south to Bullseye Lake and Paynes Springs and then east to Lyons Peak and Red Shale Butte; essentially, all of the Medicine Lake caldera east of Road 49.

The Pit River’s successful 9th District Court ruling has sparked a renewed energy and enthusiasm in our fight to Save Medicine Lake. It has also greatly increased the odds of success in getting our lawsuit stay lifted through the Bankruptcy Court. We must get the lawsuit stay lifted so we can seek an injunction in the District Court to prevent any sort of land clearing, road building and exploration or development activities of the Telephone Flat leases.

To help keep the legal costs in check, Steve Volker has agreed to a step-by-step approach which will go hand-in-hand with our donation and fundraising efforts. Each potential legal task has a cost/benefit ratio which will be examined and discussed prior to any approvals. Because our case has many variables, each subsequent legal task needs to be approached individually. With your help and donations we can continue with the effort to protect Medicine Lake, the Fourmile Hill and Telephone Flat Project areas as well as all of the volcanic caldera from geothermal development.

One of the latest concerns is that on October 27th, the state Water Quality Control Hearing Board in Sacramento approved Calpine’s Waste Discharge Requirement (WDR) permit for the Telephone Flat Project. Despite our comments and those made by others including Professor Robert Curry, a renowned water quality expert, who opposed the use of thousands of gallons of highly toxic hydrofluoric/ hydrochloric acid to stimulate the meager geothermal resources at Telephone Flat, the hearing board approved the permit. However, they did stipulate that Calpine could only acidify well 31-17; the other wells could not be done until the environmental review for the process was completed. In our comments, we argued that no well should be acidified until the review was completed. Calpine is expected to appeal the Hearing Boards ruling regarding the WDR’s acid stimulation limits and the environmental review requirement. The Department of Energy’s Geo Powering the West program has a one million dollar subsidy earmarked for Halliburton to acidify the Medicine Lake wells; needless to say, Calpine wants to acidify all of their geothermal wells, not just well 31-17.

The Medicine Lake Geothermal Projects are listed as part of Calpine’s Bankruptcy Restructuring Plan. Last May, the bankruptcy judge ordered Calpine to have their Restructuring Plan completed by December 2006. If unsuccessful, Calpine may be forced to sell more of their assets. The Pit River’s winning decision in the 9th District Court will definitely have a positive affect on the Bankruptcy Court’s perception of our lawsuit stay and the Medicine Lake geothermal Projects in general.

It is imperative that we begin the following legal tasks:

We are bringing back some of our favorite past fundraisers, including the ever popular Medicine Lake ball caps and the beautiful sterling silver Medicine Lake pendants. We are featuring 3 separate caps with the embroidered logo. H & K Jewelers have just finished handcrafting another 12 sterling silver w/turquoise composite Medicine Lake pendants for us. Hat and pendant order blanks are included in this letter. Quantities and colors are limited so please place your orders early for Christmas delivery.

We also hope to bring back the Medicine Lake T-shirt and Sweatshirts.

Our largest money-making fundraiser, the annual steak and rigatoni dinner/auction is scheduled for May 19th at the Son’s of Italy Hall in Weed. More information regarding the dinner/auction will be made available in our next newsletter.

I was recently reminded that our 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, the MLCFQE, is a most worthy cause to donate to; especially now, for those who need to make that end-of-the-year donation for income tax purposes. All donations to our non-profit organization are 100% tax deductible.

Please help us in the on-going effort to save the beautiful and sacred Medicine Lake Highlands from devastation by geothermal industrial development.

Due to an unfortunate oversight in my latest newsletter, I failed to give the proper recognition to the Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center and all of the invaluable work that they have done in the on-going effort to protect the Medicine Lake Highlands from the onslaught of geothermal development. I especially want to recognize the endless hours of work done by MSBEC’s director, Michelle Berditschevsky and Peggy Risch, environmental researcher.

MSBEC along with the Pit River Tribe/Native Coalition, represented by their lawyer Debbie Sivas of the Stanford Law Clinic, shared equally in the recent success of the 9th District Court Appeals victorious decision regarding the Fourmile Hill Geothermal Project.

The MSBEC, Pit River Tribe and Native Coalition were also instrumental in hiring water quality expert Dr. Robert Curry. Twice, Dr Curry along with Michelle and Peggy went before the State Water Quality Control Hearing Board in Sacramento to voice concerns and object to the approval of Calpine’s Waste Discharge Requirement (WDR) Permit allowing well acidification. After several months of deliberation, on October 27th the Hearing Board unfortunately approved Calpine’s WDR with the stipulation that well 31-17 could be acidified. The board denied acidification of the other wells until a complete environmental review for the acid process is presented and fully evaluated. Last week, MSBEC and the others with the help of the Stanford Law Clinic have filed a Petition to the State Water Resource Control Board objecting to Calpine’s WDR allowing any sort of well acidification.

The many individuals, groups and organizations that have come together and who are united in the effort to save Medicine Lake from the onslaught of geothermal development deserve recognition for their tireless efforts. Thank you MSBEC, Michelle and Peggy.