Wednesday, April 3, 2013

USA, California:

Lake County Board of Supervisors Supports Bottle Rock Power Permit Extension (Willits News)

Bottle Rock Power Plant (Courtesy BRP)
Bottle Rock Power could be on its way to continuing geothermal-energy activities in The Geysers for another three decades.

The Lake County Board of Supervisors (BOS) made an intended decision Tuesday to deny Friends of Cobb Mountain's appeal of the county planning commission's Feb. 28 approval of extending a Bottle Rock Power LLC (BRP) use permit until 2043.

Friends of Cobb Mountain, a nonprofit group, challenged the commissioners' decision last month, arguing they didn't follow state environmental law and failed to adequately address issues related to the payment for final decommissioning of the BRP steam field.

The commission found the 30-year permit extension was exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in part because the company did not propose to expand the existing use on the property, located on High Valley Road in Cobb.

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